Alastair Reynolds, ‘Galactic North’
This is a collection of short stories set in the ‘Revelation space universe’. The quality of the stories ranges from OK to pretty good. An enjoyable collection, but nothing special.
Gollancz, 332 pages
David Tremayne, ‘The Lost Generation’
As a British F1 fan growing up the 1970’s the three drivers whose short careers are covered in this book are all familiar to me. In fact, as a regular at Brands Hatch, I attended Tom Pryce’s only F1 victory and saw Tony Brise race in F5000, and I can remember where I was when I heard that they had died. They, along with Roger Williamson, who perished before I became an F1 fan, are covered in this book. All three seemed destined for greatness but died before they could fulfill their potential. This could make the book rather morbid, but although it is ultimately sad, the author maintains a clear and factual narrative, and manages to avoid sensationalism and excessive sentiment. I felt that the book is well researched, and the events are accurately covered. If you are interested in Formula One during the 1970’s I am sure that you will enjoy this book.
Haynes Publishing, 264 pages
Christa Ludwig, ‘In my own voice, memoirs’ (trans. Regina Domeraski)
“If the audience can see that it’s difficult, then you haven’t worked hard enough. The greatest skill is to hide the skill!”
This is a generous and honest book. I’ve read several singers’ memoirs, but this is certainly the best. Here we are given an insight into the life of a top opera singer; hard work, sacrifices, and chronic job insecurity, balanced out by the sheer pleasure of singing and communicating with an audience.
I found many interesting things in this book; how changes in pitch have affected singers, the different types of voice, what makes a good accompanist, how to prepare the day of a concert and what to wear, even a recipe. These are nicely complemented by chapters written by other people, such as an accompanist and her second husband. Christa Ludwig is remarkably candid in her description of a vocal crisis in the early 1970s and concerning her complex relationship with her mother.
This book was a pleasure to read, and I will listen to singers with a greater understanding of the drive, determination, care and fragility that lies behind the performance.
Highly recommend.
Limelight Editions, New York, Kindle edition
Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown, ‘Wings on my sleeve’
This book nicely complements Wolfgang Späte’s ‘Test Pilots’. Here with have the perspective of a British Naval pilot who was responsible for collecting interesting Germany aircraft at the end of World War two and who got to fly every major and most minor combat aircraft from that period. Although there is much common ground with the earlier book, this one is told from a single point of view and consequently has a much stronger narrative flow. I read the book quickly, enjoyed it very and was left wanting more. Checking on Amazon I can see that the author has written several other books which go into more detail his experiences flying a huge number of different aircraft; I suspect that they may appear in these reviews before too long!
A recommended read if you have an interest in aircraft.
Orion Books, 296 pages
Michael Hall, ‘Leaving Home, a conducted tour of twentieth-century music with Simon Rattle’
This book was published to accompany a TV series. Despite having never seen the series, I found the book a fascinating journey though the well known and some less well-known parts of twentieth-century ‘classical’ music. The style is accessible, although not afraid to get a bit technical when required and there are plenty of illustrations. This book gave me lots of leads for Spotify exportations and has led to some rewarding and interesting listening. If you have any curiosity about classical music in the twentieth century, then I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Faber & Faber, 288 pages
Robin Lane Fox, ‘Alexander the Great’
This is another book that had sat unread on my selves for too long. There are few illustrations and the print intimidatingly small. It looks like heavy going. In fact, it is extremely readable. Lane Fox writes with passion and enthusiasm and tells his story well; and what a story it is!
The only criticism that I had concerned the poor illustrations and maps. Although there are detailed maps, I found these confusing and needed to keep checking elsewhere to discover roughly where Alexander’s expedition had reached. I think that a set of better-quality maps at various scales would greatly enhance this book. Overwise, the book is excellent and highly recommended.
Penguin, 568 pages
Isaac Asimov, ‘Foundation and Empire’
It was good to revisit a classic that I have not looked at for, well quite a while! Remembering that this was not my favourite Asimov work, I wondered how I would find it. Actually, I enjoyed it a lot, despite remembering the broad outline of both parts. I think that I enjoyed the second part, which concerns the mutant called The Mule far more than the first time I read the book. I appreciated Asimov’s talking heads style and the lack of the kind of stuffing which can make some of the newer authors so long winded. A sci-fi classic, well worth revisiting.
Panther, 172 pages
Aidan Dodson, ‘Sethy I, King of Egypt’
This is an interesting, but rather frustrating book. Frustrating because, like most Egyptian kings, there really isn’t that much biographical information about Sethy I. Dodson does a very good job of the ‘times’ part of ‘life and times’, but the man himself remains hidden. I think that Dodson is to be commended for not filling in the gaps, but this does give the book a bit of a hollow feel. Still, I found the book interesting, and it is nicely illustrated. However, I think it is a ‘specialists only’ book.
The American University in Cairo Press, 187 pages
Phil Kerr, ‘To Finish First, my years inside Formula One, Can-Am and Indy 500’
I expected to enjoy this book more than I did. As a founder of McLaren, Phil Kerr as quite a story to tell; but somehow, I found it less engaging than I expected. Perhaps I’m just more interested in the technical than the commercial side of racing. Anyway, engagingly written and very nicely illustrated, this book should appeal to anyone interested in the history of Formula One.
MRP,384 pages
Daphne du Maurier, ‘Rebecca’
I found this to be a strange and rather haunting book, which kept coming back to me after I had finished it. Good and evil become strangely mixed up, did I end up hoping for a happy ending in which the villain triumphs; but then who is the villain?
I shall go to Manderley again.
Highly recommended.
Viago Modern Classics, 429 pages
Adrian Tchaikovsky, ‘Children of Time’
This is a good sci-fi novel; well-paced and remaining interesting until the end. Set in the distant future, it contrasts a drying empire, which is basically our own civilization writ large, with an alien species, all be it one that humanity has created. While humanity continues dumbly repeating the same mistakes over again, the aliens, helped by their human generic artifact, learn from their mistakes. At the novel’s end stupid humanity are saved by their alien children and together they reach out to a newly discovered remnant of humanity. The novel has a sequel, I will certainly read it.
Pan Books, Kindle edition
Edward Brooke-Hitching, ‘The Sky Atlas’
This is a terrible book! What could have been a fascinating exploration of mankind’s developing understanding of the heavens become a series of scientific and historical titbits. Brooke-Hitching writes for the BCC series ‘QI’, and if you like ‘QI’ then chances are you’ll like this book. I don’t and didn’t! The illustrations are terrific, just don’t expect to learn much about them from the text.
Simon & Schuster, 255 pages
Marc van de Mieroop, ‘The Eastern Mediterranean in the age of Ramesses II’
This fascinating book presents an overview of the Eastern Mediterranean around 1’279 BC. The great powers: Egypt, Hatti, Mittanni, Babylonia, Assyria and Mycenaean Greece are described and their interactions examined. Politics, war, trade, and culture are investigated in some detail. Finally, the author discusses the question of what happened to them, since by 1’100 BC the Eastern Mediterranean was a different world, and most of the great powers were gone. This book is not always an easy read but van de Mieroop does a good job at keeping a lay reader interested. My only criticism is that the notes are not hyper-linked to the main body of the text, the publisher seems to have made little effort when preparing the electronic version.
However, that is a minor issue; overall I really enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in this area.
Blackwell Publishing, Kindle edition