The Reader on the 6.27 - a book review

The Reader on the 6.27

By Jean Paul Didierlaurent

Jan 2017

I don't know how this book came to be kicking around on the welsh dresser in the kitchen. Its almost certainly one of Helen's literary acquisitions, maybe bought to satisfy the reading demands of her long running book group.

Whatever its origin,s I know it wasn't bought for me and at no time did she proffer a "this is a really good book - you should read it" endorsement, which of late has tended to introduce worthy and often ponderous tomes. Books which no doubt have great literary merit but so often fall short of gripping plot lines or heaven forbid, a half way decent body count!

And so in silent protest at this onslaught of the worthy I have tended to indulge myself in the type of lightweight action thriller offered by Clive Cussler or Dan Brown.

However, finding myself bookless and wanting a read I aligted on the above book, its spine unbent and its pages unread. The blurb offerd no suggestion of references to long dead playwrights, so I carefully opened the book to page one, which is always a good place to start. Now I have to say that I am a bit notorious for reading books lightly, and its quite possible that I can read a complete work and replace it in a condition which leaves almost no clue that a pair of eyes have travelled this way before. So, if this book was not for consumption by the Captian lets leave it that way, as a little secret between the two of us ok? 

The book is an amazingly charming translation of a short story written and first published in France written by, for and about book lovers. In fact its fair to say that books and the reading thereof forms the the core of the plot line.

The plot centres on lonely and slightly geeky Guylain who's life in publishing is certainly one less travelled. His job is the operator of a book pulping machine, a machine which reduceds remaindered books to their essential pulp, ready to be turned back into - more new books. This endless cycle of loss of the written word troubles Guylain deeply, and each day as he cleans the hated machine he recovers odd pages which he dries out and, for some inexplicable reason, he reads aloud each morning on the 6.27 train.

Words have power and Guylains snatched fragments reach out with unexpected consequences, enriching the lives of those he encounters and transporting them in directions they could never forsee.

Its only 200 pages long but each is crafted with care, sucking you in. As with all short stories, it will come to a conclusion of sorts and leaving you wanting more - a bit like the snatched readings on the 6.27.

Helen - if the book was meant for someone else I havn't read it, honestly, and this review is entirely plagarised form other on line reviews! ;-)

The Book of Strange New Things - book review

The Book of Strange New Things

by Michel Faber

December 2015

I am struggling to categorise this rather excellent book. On the face of it is sci fi with the main action taking place on a distant outpost called Oasis but in reality its a hauntingly evocative book about faith and love.

The tale is set in the near future with Peter, the central character, transported billions of miles to Oasis to serve as a missionary to the indigenous population. He leaves behind him Bea, his wife with whom he corresponds by "shoot" which is a basic form of word only e-mail.

The imagery offered by Faber is exquisite and whilst the plot is slow the description is compelling and its as hard not to engage with this strange new planet as it is to put the book down. All the way through you are wondering what its all about and what lies behind the motivation of the shadowy organisation who manages the operation.

But in some ways the story line isn't about life on Oasis, or the strange inhabitants who are so hungry to hear the Gospel of Jesus, or indeed why satisfying this desire is so crucial to the non believing human colonists. In fact the real story is about the love between Peter and Bea which is stretched to the limits as the world at home falls to bits and the limits of their written communications cause their relationship to start to crack. There are times when you can hardly bear to read another of their missives as as everything comes unglued.

I always find it hard to read / watch stories of relationships failing, and the limitations of their written communication remind me of the stresses of maintaining our own long distance relationship before we married all those years ago. 

Whilst one party is set in sci fi land,  the tensions between the two central characters is very down to earth and reflects the pressures which exist where one party is removed for long periods of time - the armed forces come to mind.

Don't be put off by the Sci Fi veneer - thats just geography which allows Faber to explore faith set in different contexts. 

This is a "thinking" book with depth and gravitas - intensely gripping and good fodder for the book group.

The Martian - book and film review

The Martian

By Andy Weir

This debut novel has just been released a a major film starring Matt Damon and the book is everywhere. That is usually a reason to avoid it but I have always been fascinated by space so it's bang on the money for holiday reading.

It's no deep literature but it is an engaging, if somewhat predictable, tale of disaster, endurance and ultimately survival against the odds in the same vein as Apollo 13, but based on a theoretical manned mission to Mars in the near future.

The plot is that a crew member gets left behind on Mars and has to adapt his surroundings, initially to survive till a rescue mission is possible but then in a desperate escape plan in which his crew return to pick him up.

There is just enough real science to keep the plot plausible in the make do and mend sense seen in Apollo 13, inspired by the authors lifelong fascination for space exploration. It's a real page turner if you are keen on the subject and it's easy to see it becoming a massive film.

As I said, no literary classic, little character development but heaps of plot. I liked it!

Continuing this theme, I went to see the film version with Dan the other day and having just read the book it made me super sensitive to and fast and loose with the plot line.

As it turned out the bulk of the film stays very true to the book, which is something of a novelty. Where bits were cut they were non essential which was ok.

However, and you know there had to be a however, the script writers did tinker with the end but not in a manner which spoiled the film.  In the book there is a somewhat outlandish plan conceived by our "just been rescued" hero to claw the final yards he needed to get to safety. In the book this was discounted but in the film the opportunity to show Watkins flying like a super hero was too much to resist, so in it went. 

Finally, and perhaps more interestingly, the book closes inside the space craft with the crew recoiling from the stink of their comrade who hadn't washed for about three months. In American blockbusters your hero is fresh faced and clean so we saw him having a good shave just before he blasts off. I can see why they did this but it did amuse us somewhat.

Entry Island - book review

Entry Island

by Peter May.

This is a book borrowed from the QM 2 Library, picked out on the basis that I really enjoyed the Lewis trilogy by the same author.

I reviewed the other books by Peter May and selected this because 1. It is a stand alone tale and 2. It has a Hebridean link which I so enjoyed in his previous publications. 

The author has something of a formulae in his book structure, which involved jaded detectives investigating current murders with a personal back story with both strands coming together at the end. Providing you don't overdose on them this predictable pattern is ok.

In this case you have a murder on a remote island in the Gulf of St Lawrence linked to the clearances in the highlands which accompanied the ten year potato famine. Both stories rattle along at a good pace, sucking me in and saw me completing its 500 pages in just over a day - not that I did a lot else! Both locations are wild and windswept and it seemed fitting that as I was crossing the same stretch of ocean albeit 150 years later and in the luxury of a state of the art ocean liner rather that steamship steerage in which 10 percent died in the three week crossing.

All in all a good page turner and an author I will no doubt return to again.

Bon Voyage - book review

Bon Voyage

edited by Michael Kerr

April 2015

This book puts me in mind of a meal I once had at Purnell's in Birmingham.

Purnells is one of Birmingham's few Michelin starred restaurants and offers a taster meal made up of about 10 courses featuring all their specialties. Bon Voyage is to watery travel what Purnells is to gastronomy, featuring 84 travel vignettes which have been featured in the Telegraph over the years.

Helen bought it for me because it features a number of articles about the early days of the Queen Mary 2 on which we will be returning from New York in October, and to offer a bit of context to this epic trans Atlantic crossing.

And yes, there are some interesting features about her construction, her groundings as she made her way out of the Clyde and the early journeys. But the book is much more than that. It offers a dazzling array of cameos or snippits of watery travel from around the globe. The geography may vary but the authors (or their subject) all seem to agree that its about the journey - not the destination. This is a sentiment I can really connect with.

The journeys cover the great liners, dirty little coasters, canoe journeys, river journeys, north and south poles with just one canal boat journey thrown in but even that was on the US Intra-coastal Waterway and not out diminutive canal system.

The problem with this sort of book is that an interesting tale has barely got started when its over, truncated and leaving you wanting more. And I guess that's the point. Its a taster of journeys undertaken begging the reader to follow in the writers footsteps or at least to buy a full account and read the account in detail.

I guess it has served its purpose in that I now haw a collection of boat based travel accounts I will trawl the shelves of second hand bookshops to find. And, of course, more material for future blog posts. 

Slow Boats to China

Slow Boats to China - book review

by Gavin Young

January 2015

I have always had an interest in travel books, particularly ones with a watery dimension.

I was therefore tempted by a 35 year old paperback called Slow Boats to China which charts a journey from Greece to China using whatever boats were available to hand at the time in the late 50's.

Young was a journalist and familiar with the middle and far east in the post war years spending much of his life either reporting or writing from the region. Rumour has it that he spent some time working for MI6 but in the main he was a travel writer, one who travelled lightly and comes across as a man well able to relate and empathisise with all those he came into contact with. Sadly Young died in 2001 but leaves behind a legacy of well written travel books and in particular his Slow Boats to China and Slows Boats Home.

Even in the 1950's when this trip took place, the journey was a challenge with few boats able or willing to carry him from port to port but only twice did he have to take to the air to link sections of the journey. I very much doubt that such a journey could be completed today and instead I suspect you would need to take your own boat.

One thing which hasn't changed is piracy. He fell foul of pirates in the Philippines ajust as surely as you would at the Horn of Africa today. With some fast talking and skilfull bonding he escaped with his life, just. 

Its a fascinating read as he explores people and places in distant locations, but always respecting those he met and taking a genuine interest in their lives.

All in all an absorbing read which was as informative as it was entertaining..

Tiny Stations by Dixe Wills

Tiny Stations

by Dixe Wills

August 2014

I have a passion for offbeat travel books, books which approach the everyday from a different viewpoint.

Suzie and Jack gave me a Waterstones book token for my birthday and it has been sitting in my wallet waiting for the right book to come along. With our summer trip looming I paid a visit to the bookshop and came upon Dixe Wills Tiny Stations, an idiosyncratic account of his travel around some of the UK's railway request stops.

Request stops, what are they? I hear you ask. Well, just like bus stops there are some stations where trains only stop on request, some with passenger numbers struggling to break into double figures over the course of a whole year. And why keep such under used stations open? Apparently the legal costs of closing them is more than keeping them technically open, hence their other name "Parliamentary stops". In all there are about 150 request stops - representing about 6% of all stations.

Dixe Wills is well travelled and decided to visit about 50 of the most promising locations. In so doing he gained an off beat insight into places so remote most us will never have hear of them.

In his own words:

Who hasn’t felt an agreeable sense of power when holding out a hand to stop a bus? Imagine then how much more pleasing it is to put your hand out and have a whole train stop for you. If you think Britain affords no opportunity for such exploits then think again – the nation sports around 150 railway request stops dotted about from Cornwall to the far north of Scotland. Little used and often shorn of their original purpose by the onward rush of the years, these stations are typically havens of tranquillity where visitors can do a little casual time-travelling to a Britain all but forgotten.

Each station has its own chapter and in some cases the travel between then justifies a chapterette, so its the sort of book you can pick up and read for  a few minutes at a time rather than as a big read in a single sitting. I did wonder if I would engage with the author but his self deprecating humour drew me in and I found myself fascinated as he travelled the length and breadth of Britain.

If you like unusual travel tales, and in particular if you like rail travel this is one for you (Jim, David and John).

The Watcher in the Shadows - book review

The Watcher in the Shadows

by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

April 2014

Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a quality writer and having previously read The Shadow of the Wind I found myself tempted by this book as I browsed the bookshop at Birmingham Airport en route to Armenia.

I like to have a good supply of reading matter for to occupy the long hours in the air and I bought this one with the return flight in mind (I already has The Bookshop that Floated away for the outbound leg).

This is a gripping, if slightly sinister tale set in 1937 which is one of Zafons early works. Its by no means as complex or as good as his later Shadow of the Wind, but it is aimed at a teen market which explains the less developed characters and the fact that I read through the 250 pages in less than four hours.

Its a dark and almost magical storyline where a mother and her two children find themselves deeply involved with a mysterious employer in his creepy gothic castle. Dark sinister going on's abound with a counterpoint love story to balance things out. Eventually good faced down evil and comes out victorious, but only after many skirmished and battles.

In some ways thew creeping darkness present in the book foretells the shadows the Second World War cast over Europe, a genie which cant be put back in its bottle.

All in all a good, fast moving book which works for an adult reader, but dont expect another Shadow on the Wind.

The Bookshop that Floated Away - book review

The Bookshop that Floated Away

by Sarah Henshaw

April 2014

I trailed this book a few days ago and a subsequent long haul business trip provided ample opportunity to read it. In fact I started it in Birmingham Airport and finished it about 10 mins before touchdown in Yerevan, Armenia.

Now before I start, how about a little competition? The above photo shows a well thumbed copy of the book against a night time back ground of central Yerevan, taken from my hotel balcony. Can anyone post a picture of this book in a more remote or obscure location - lets call the competition "The book that floated away"!

And so what about the book? Well, like its author I can, without fear of offence, safely describe it as quirky. It is a canal book like no other that I have read, not least because I discovered that the Ahabs / Tidys feature no less than four times as the Book Barge makes its slow way round the Inland Waterways.  But the main distinguishing feature of the book is that it is as much a literary voyage as it is a travelogue. Sarah Henshaw not only sells / barters books, but like a bad publican she has in insatiable urge to consume her product. However, unlike a publican, the consumption of literature has a mainly positive effect on the consumer and of course, a bookseller can always sell on what she has already read.

Its easy to imagine the author spending long solitary hours at the tiller, pondering the things she has read and people she has met over the years - and all the resulting connections come pouring out of the pages.

As an ex bank manager I particularly loved her unorthodox (and unsuccessful) way of trying to raise finance and for the die hard boaters you will be profoundly interested in discovering how she attended to her "natural needs" on a boat with no loo. I am not going to tell you - for that you will have to read the book and have a good titter!

Sarah's love of literature shines through on every page, drawing parallels and insights of a myriad of authors - some well known and some less so. All in all its a literary smorgasbord set against the backdrop of a somewhat haphazard six month canal journey where the escapades and scrapes are faithfully portrayed - I know - I was there for some of them,  not least the surge up the Severn Estuary on the top of one of the years biggest spring tides.

Its very hard to be objective about Sarah's first book because I so want it to be a success. For my money it is a canal travel book with a distinctive USP. If you like canals and literature all recounted in a slightly tongue in cheek self deprecating way  it's one for you. 

There are not many Sarah Henshaws around in the world, they are as much an endangered species as the independent bookshop she campaigns to save. So get a copy, give a copy to your literary / boaty friends, support the Bookshop that floated away.

Copies are available from the Book Barge website and at the Birmingham Spring Market in Digbeth tomorrow, Sat 12th April.

Brick by Brick - book review

Brick by Brick (the reconstruction of Lego)

by David Robertson

March 2014

I can remember it as clearly as if it was yesterday.

I was nine years old and crossing Denmark by car with my parents, returning from a holiday in Norway. We had stopped for a picnic lunch in a field and were approached by a farmer who asked in broken English "you visit Legoland?" Legoland, we were informed was a couple of miles away over the fields - in English parlance that would be somewhere as exotic as mid way between Holbeach and Boston in the Fens!

Although I didn't know it at the time, I was the perfect profile for a Lego customer: male, aged 7 to 11 and dead keen on building things - and of course I was already a Lego addict with a massive collection of those little plastic bricks which hurt so much when to stand on them, and make a lovely rattle as the go up the vacuum cleaner pipe. We had no idea that Legoland existed, indeed it had only been built two tears before, so plans were altered and we spent an afternoon in this plastic wonderland.

I was in seventh heaven, ogling the intricate models, sailing the Lego boats and to top it all I drove the little Lego cars and got my first driving license!

Life moves on and the Lego set has languished in a box under the stairs at my mothers house, but I still find the versatility of the stuff amazing. I therefore found it hard to resist a book on the shelf of the airport bookshop about the rise, fall and resurrection of this iconic brand based in the arse end of nowhere, otherwise known as Billund, Denmark.

Dont get me wrong, this is an academic business studies book written by a Professor at a Swiss University who used the Lego experience to chart the rise of a unique product / brand, its stratospehric expansion when it piggy backed Star Wars and Harry Potter.The then found themselves lashed to the virtual Millennium Falcon as they sought to achieve even greater heights, but instead lost their way and very nearly crashed and burned in what is a notoriously fickle marketplace.

In a somewhat dry way, the book reveals an insular family owner business who who deployed good business principles but utterly lost control and didn't even know which products made / lost money. As a result they so nearly lost it all when sales collapsed and they didn't know were to apply the cuts. The crash was so spectacular that the business was destroying its value at $500k per day and finally pulled out of the death dive by the classic strategy of reverting back to the core business - in this case "the brick".

Buts its not all doom and gloom because out of the mountain of Lego shaped rubble a new way of operating was developed which embraced consumer wishes, was fleet of foot and most crucially provided a process which delivered a steady stream of appealing products with appeal to a broader range of customers.

If you are "into" business and retain an inexplicable fondness for that nobbly construction system this may be a book for you. Not an easy read - but no harder than the instructions which accompanied their Technics range....

Can you tell that there has been more business than boating in my life just recently?

Barrow's Boys - book review

Barrow's Boys

by Fergus Flemung

March 2014

I have been picking at this book for over a year and to be honest I can't remember where I bought it. This in itself will probably tell you that its not exactly a riveting page turner, but rather a book one has to persevere with.

Its redeeming feature is the bulk of its subject matter - the search for the North West Passage.

The book pivots round John Barrow, Second Secretary to the Admiralty, who wrote:

"To what purpose could a portion of our naval force be, at any one time, but more especially in a time of profound peace, more honorably or usefully employed than in completing those details of geographical and hydrographical science of which the grand outlines have been sketched by Cook... and many other of your own countrymen."

A bit ponderous in its delivery but what it is expressing is that in a time of peace how can we usefully employ some of the many naval ships and crews who are kicking their heels on half pay? His answer was to sponsor a long series of explorations which with hindsight all appear to be lost causes and to some extent pointless.

So whilst Barrow is the connecting feature in these tales, he was no explorer himself and it is the stories of the crews which are unpacked in painstaking detail.

Sadly, whilst the book has many redeeming features such as the insights into Arctic and Antartic exploration, it is also a slave to historical accuracy with its five page bibliography and eleven page index. No one could accuse Fleming of skimping on accuracy or playing fast and lose with history - this verges on an academic work and its readability suffers as a consequence.

And then there is the African element. In the main the book is about water based polar exploration, which is a hugely interesting subject, but in the pursuit of comprehensive accuracy there are large chunks devoted to African expeditions to find the source of the Niger and the location on Timbuktoo. Quite possibly valid subjects for research, but completely at odds with the polar elements and to me, as boring as Hell!

So I pressed on with this book, taking it with me on several boat trips last summer and finally, over a year after I embarked on my journey through its 500 pages, I have completed the trip and returned to port safe and sound. That may sound slow going but for many of the crews seeking out a North West Passage they found themselves icebound for several successive seasons and could easily spent three years or more locked in these desolate arctic regions. Against this background it is perhaps fitting that the account of their journey is unpacked with glacial slowness!

So, 10:10 for historical authenticity, 9:10 for literary quality, 7:10 for interest factor and 4:10 for readability.

If you are interested in the subject matter read on. If not - move on!

Bedsit Disco Queen - book review

Bedsit Disco Queen
by Tracey Thorn
February 2014

This is a real left field book for me - one of Helens which I picked up in the absence of anything else to read but found myself strangely engaged by Tracey's life with Everything But The Girl (EBTG). Tracey could well be described as an atypical pop star, one who found fame gradually and by the time it came she was mature enough to see it for the fickle and shallow thing it really is. 

Whilst EBTG has never really been my cup of tea, reading the story of her emergence from the indie music scene on the early 1980's really engaged with my early adulthood, her contemporaries providing the soundtrack to the start of my independent life. What was more, I have a early few EBTG albums on my i-pod so I listened to the evolution of their music as I read along tracking the changes from their bedsit start in Hull through to the international acclaim for their surprise hit "Missing" in 1994.

Its also great to see someone so level headed that they can appreciate the musical phase of life and then to settle in domesticity of home family and a whole new era with equal enthusiasm.

If you cant remember Missing search on You Tube and it will all come flooding back to you!

End result - I have belatedly gained an appreciation for the EBTG body of work and their albums are now regularly played as I drive to and from work.

A change is as good as  a rest!

Small Boat Down the Years - book review

Small Boat Down the Years

by Roger Pilkington

February 2014

I am usually a stickler for reading books on strict chronological order but Roger Pilkington's Small Boat series has become more than a bit repetitive so I jumped to the last book in date order as it was thinner and seemed to have moved from the formula which has become something of a straight jacket.

When I say straight jacket I mean that the series started as mostly narrative about his inland waterways travels, where he went, who he met and the escapades they got up to - which was great. But as time progressed the travels became more convoluted and kept covering old ground so the focus shifted to the history of the surrounding areas. This was OK but the absence of maps to ground the description left it all a bit up in the air and unsatisfactory and my thirst to read on has waned.

So, faces with a "last book" written in 1987 (remembering that he started his cruising in the last 1940's) this had scope to be a neat retrospective summary. And so it turned out to be.

The book was written when Roger was over 70 and had decided to hang up his windlass, using the book to cameo some of the highlights of a long and varied boating history. In some ways this condensed version delivered all the best of the previous books - all the boating with none of the history.

Its a good sampler book with the short accounts whetting the appetite to delve deeper into his extensive back catalogue. Its more like a series of disconnected short stories shared on from of a roaring log fire than a travelogue but well worth a read, particularly of you have never read any of his previous works.

The Sea Sisters - book review

The Sea Sisters

by Lucy Clarke

February 2014

This was the last book to be read during our recent holiday in the sun and if I am honest I think it is probably best read from the perspective of an exotic beach, where most of the action takes place.

Its a debut novel by Lucy Clarke, an avid diarist who travels for much of the year with her professional windsurfer husband - so I guess its no surprise that the book is based on a diary which follows the world of the roving surfer.

The book is really about two sisters and the love / hate relationship which can so easily exist. Siblings where one is conventional (Kate) and the other (Mia) a "free spirit", but in many ways they are more similar than they think. 

Mia runs off to travel the world but veers off track and apparently commits suicide in Bali leaving her sister and friends searching for answers. To try and make sense of the tragedy Kate sets off to retrace Mia's six month journey with the tale being narrated in the two voices of Kate and the parallel ghostly account coming from Mia's comprehensive journal.

Perhaps the big leap of credibility is Kate's discipline to only read one day at a time and never to read ahead of her own journey. I find this an unlikely premise, but it is the interweaving of the two strands which makes this book a bit special so I will happily set this observation aside. In fact the story line is so compelling that I read it in a single 24 hour period, completing it during the wee hours as we flew back from the Caribbean, turning page after page till a gripping climax is reached.

It is an insight into the world of siblings and the betrayal which can occur, where relationships fracture, where communications fail but where ultimately love can restore.

Confused? Grab a copy of this book from Amazon - its a cut above the average its skilful delivery will have you hooked by the end of the first chapter.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - book review

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

by Rachel Joyce

January 2014

Another book read from end to end in little more than 24 hours and what a contrast to Never Coming Back, my last review.

I was attracted to the quirky title and dust cover synopsis:

A newly retired man of 65 receives a letter from a colleague he lost track of 20 years ago telling him that she is dying of cancer.

His response? To walk from his Devon home to Berwick on Tweed with no preparation or hiking kit, leaving behind his bemused wife Maureen and her relationship with their son David.

To Harold it wasa man on a mission - he believed that if he could each her on foot she would live, but it was so much more than that. It was a journey of discovery about Harold, Maureen, their lives together and all the baggage they carried. But it was even more than that. It was a journey which touched the lives of all those around them and far from being a pointless pilgrimage it highlighted the only thing that really matters - the impact we have on one another.

There were large chunks of Forrest Gump on his cross country run, but its all very quirky and English. 

In the end the further he and Maureen are from each other in the physical sense the closer they become emotionally. I guess its a love story with a couple of twists at the end. but on both counts I have to admit to having my suspicions all along.

If I have whetted your appetite, go get a copy. It will make you laugh and make you cry but it will never leave you short changed.

Never Coming Back - book review

Never Coming Back

by Tim Weaver

January 2014

No, its not a statement of intent, but given our current location is could very well be!

In the final few days before we left the UK I realised that I had no holiday reading material so I piled onto Amazon and to narrow things down a bit I picked five likely looking books from Richard and Judys list from 2013.

Yeh, Yeh - Richard and Judy - all very passe I hear you cry, but how else was I supposed to filter the options?

Never Coming Back sounded like an interesting read, although I didnt realise that it was the third in a series following David Raker, a private investigator with a specialism in finding missing persons. Not that this mattered - the book was stand alone and although you can tell that there was history to the key character, you were given enough to fill the background gaps.

In brief its the story of a damaged individual who is running from his own past and seeks closure by helping others find loved ones. He is hauled out of seclusion by an exgirlfriend and is soon on the trail of a missing family, butting horns with nasty characters who want the past to stay very hidden. In fact, anyone who starts to get close to the truth soon finds themselves very dead and the bodycount rises inexorably.

The book uses flashback for the various characters to weave in all the plotlines and Weaver cleverly brings them all to life is a clear and coherent manner. Sometime I lose the thread of who is who in complex plots, but maybe reading the book in just two days helped here.

The book is a pacy roller coaster of a tale. It grabs your attention and then holds it firmly in its grasp till the tale is told and the endgame is reached. The ends are all tied off and I am left thinking I would  like to read the earlier books in the series.

 I think that classes as a positive review!

Crescent Dawn - book review

Crescent Dawn
by Clive Cussler
December 2013

I picked this book up at the Norbury Book exchange, a free copy from an escapist author which, when the mood is on me, I rather enjoy.

Its one of the Dirk Pitt novels, this time set between Israel and Turkey where Pitt and his son and daughter become embroiled in a plot to de-stabilise the whole area and we end up with a high octane race against time and the odds.

Of course, as in all such novels, good triumphs over evil and the goodies thwart the baddies on the last turn of the page.

Predicable, yes, but if its imaginative action you want Cussler is a bankable author. You get what you expect but a word of caution - a little goes a long way. One Cussler in six months is plenty!

Narrowboat - book review

Narrowboat

by LTC Rolt

November 2013

Its not every day that I review a book which I am reading for the third time - but that fact alone has to say something about it.

Narrowboat is a standing classic item of waterways literature, unique in its style, period and approach. It was written by Tom Rolt in 1939 / 40 as he and his new bride undertook a slow 400 mile figure of eight journey through England aboard Cressey, their home for several years.

The ground covered is very familiar to me, but it was a different age when some commercial traffic remained but many canals were falling into disrepair. His experience led directly to his pivotal contribution in the founding of the IWA and everything which has followed in the restoration movement.

Tom wasnt so much a leader as a man with a way with words. Sure, the writing has more than a little clipped "pathe news" about it but his writing is both evocative and insightful. This book, more than anything else raised the public awareness about the plight of the canal network and proved once again that the pen is mightier than the sword.

Every time I read it (about once every three years) I find something new. This time is was his his account of travelling the Shropshire Union and Staffs and Worcester (the Stour Cut) which took them past Norbury Junction. At that time he debated on a trip to Wappenshall, the then assumed head of navigation, but he passed it by hoping to return another time. That time never happened and the canal became derelict soon after - what a shame.

Then he was consudering his route to Braunston and rejected a trip up the Hatherton Branch Canal and out via Huddlesford. In the event he took the easier route via Gt Haywood on account of the high lockage and industry in the norther reaches of the BCN. ITS such a shame that we were not left with a Rolt description of these two canals which have been largely obliterated from the map.

Its an evocative and sometimes wistful look at the country, hankering back to the agricultural way of life. But for all the changes his description of mooring under the lee of a hedge whilst a storm rages overhead, snug and safe beside the cabin fire is as true today as it was 70 years ago. The essential appeal of the canals remains unchanged to the enthusiasts among us.

If you havn't read the book for a while and fancy some canal escapism of the highest order over the dark winter nights take another look at it.

It was and remains the finest book of its genre.

Race Against Time - book review

Race Against Time

by David Bolton

November 2013

The sub title to this book is "How Britain's Waterways Were Saved" but perhaps more accurately it should be called "IWA - the early years" or "Robert Aickman - a biography of the IWA years".

This book was given to me by my brother with the comment - you may find this interesting. And he was right. The formative and pioneering days of the IWA were played out before I was born and this book traces the key events of those years.

My take away is that we owe a greater debt of gratitude to Robert Aickman than I had realised. Tom Rolt tends to get all the plaudits as the founder of the IWA and the movement to save the canals due to the widespread appreciation of his beautifully written books, but Robert Aickman was certainly the dynamic powerhouse who made the campaign his own and never gave up the fight over a period spanning a crucial two decades. 

All this and he wasn't a died in the wool boater! He was certainly a complex man who found in the canals a cause which was big enough to consume him but not so big it overwhelmed him The book only lifts a small corner to provide an insight into the man himself, but his passion and sometimes abrasive personality shines through.

One of the more interesting observations made is the time it takes to change a public perception. His view was a generation, or 20 years, and as he managed turn the tide public opinion about the canals in 15 he was well pleased.

All in all its an excellent account of those early days when the agenda slowly moved from a restoration of commercial carrying to the creation of an embryonic tourist led strategy. I don't believe that even in his wildest dreams he could have foreseen the way the network would develop, and for that we all owe him a debt of gratitude.

Its well written and fairly pacy and fills in many blanks. If you like to put things into historical context this really is a must read book. 

Victorian and Edwardian Boating - book review

Victorian and Edwardian Boating
by Neil Wigglesworth
October 2013

Another book on loan from Chris Chesher - this time its the story of the rise of boating in the Victorian and Edwardian times using captioned photographs.

Its not particularly canal focussed and spends most of its time looking at the craft used by the masses who flocked to the waterways at this time. 

Cheddleton on the Caldon Canal

I an sure you have seen that classic photo of  Boulters Lock on the Thames, absolutely jam packed with, skiffs, punts and Rob Roy Canoes. Well this book charts the rise on boating as  popular pass time for the masses as opposed to the rich few. It therefore is mostly covering more humble craft and charts what was probably the intensive period of recreational boating the rivers have ever seen.

I am particularly taken with the Rob Roy Canoe with the sail option. I seem to have become too old for my kayak but dont want to lose the ability for some hand propelled journeys from which I can use my camera. I think I feel a plan coming on.....

All fascinating stuff.