Bill's 2018 Musical Advent Calendar
Day 23 - Mary Chapin Carpenter - The Hard Way.
I discovered Mary Chapin Carpenter when I was stationed in Germany. I
saw one of her videos on Armed Forces TV. It was humorous, catchy and
just a darn good song. Since that time I've purchased and enjoyed 5 or 6
of her albums. She is definitely my favorite country singer. I saw this
song on You Tube, she performs at the Country Music Awards and is
accompanied by the female greats of Country music.. It always chokes me
up to watch it.
I finished the second book of the Nevil Shute double-book that I started a couple of days ago.
Just Finished
1. Nevil Shute - Stephen Morris / Pilotage (1923).
"Stephen Morris & Pilotage were the first two books written by English author, Nevil Shute. The completed manuscripts were discovered by his estate in 1960. They were written in 1923. It was decided to put the two stories into one book as both related to flying and both had some of the same characters, especially Stephen Morris.
In the first book, Morris advises his fiance Helen that they will not be able to be married as a job he'd hoped for, in the rubber industry, has fallen through. Now Morris must find work. He has finished courses at Oxford, specializing in mathematics, and during WWI was a pilot. He manages to find employment with a small flying company, with 3 aircraft, that flies passengers, does air shows and that sort of thing. Of course, this being the nascent period of commercial flying, the business isn't successful. Morris manages to get a job with another company,which also struggles but is in the business of designing and building aircraft.
That is the gist of the story. It is a down-to-earth, often sensible story, but at the same time, a fascinating story of the beginnings of the aircraft industry. There is an air race, there is tragedy and ultimately, there is romance. Morris is, like Shute's writing style, sparse, sensible, but smart and innovative. This story introduces you to Shute's excellent story-telling and the enjoyment that he gets out of telling a story. It also shows how much he loved being in the aircraft business. It's not overly technical, but just enough to make that side of it interesting as well. (3.5 stars)
Morris does play a key role in Pilotage, the 2nd book, but this story focuses on one of his acquaintances, Dennison (I don't think we ever hear his first name... lol). Once again, the story starts with a relationship. Dennison asks Sheila to marry him and go with him to Hong Kong for his new job. He feels this job will pay enough to allow him to support a marriage. Sheila turns him down as she doesn't think Dennison will be happy in Hong Kong.
Dennison in a fit of depression, takes his sail boat for a ten day cruise but unfortunately has a collision with a larger yacht. This sets in place a sequence of events that will see him involved with Stephen Morris in a secretive flying operation. The plan is to launch a sea plane off of a cargo ship and see if it might be commercially feasible to carry cargo on the plane to speed up cargo / mail operations.
The process described by Shute is fascinating. In this book, as well, he more successfully incorporates the romantic relationship aspect that he does so well in future stories. There is also the high tension of whether the experiment will be successful. Consider that during this period, commercial flying is in its very early stages, there is no such thing as radio communication between the plane and shore. It is a fascinating story in that regard. And of course, you have the relationships between Morris and his wife and between Dennison and Sheila.
All in all, I enjoyed this story even more than the first. There is tension, enough technical information to make that interesting and there are wonderful relationships and characters.. Shute continues to show to me how wonderful a story teller he can be, understated but at the same time able to bring out great emotional impact. (4 stars)"
Currently Reading
I'm starting a new series now. I gather this is a bit like the James Bond books.. Introducing Dr. Jason Love.
1. Passport to Oblivion by James Leasor (1964).
"As K pushed his way through the glass doors of the Park Hotel, he realized instinctively why the two stumpy men were waiting by the reception desk. They had come to kill him. ...'
Who was K - and why should anyone kill him? Who was the bruised girl in Rome? Why did a refugee strangle his mistress in an hotel on the edge of the Arctic Circle? And why, in a small office above a wholesale fruiterers in Covent Garden, did a red-haired Scot sift through filing cabinets for the name of a man he knew in Burma twenty years ago?
None of these questions might seem to concern Dr Jason Love, a country practitioner of Bishop's Combe, Somerset. But, in the end, they all do. Apart from his patients, Dr Love has apparently only two outside interests: his supercharged Cord roadster, and the occasional Judo lessons he gives to the local branch of the British Legion.
But out of the past, to which all forgotten things should belong, a man comes to see him - and his simple, everyday country-life world is shattered like a mirror by a .38 bullet."
I should have time to read at least one more book by year's end. We'll see. Almost Xmas Eve... Woooo hoooo!
I finished the second book of the Nevil Shute double-book that I started a couple of days ago.
Just Finished
"Stephen Morris & Pilotage were the first two books written by English author, Nevil Shute. The completed manuscripts were discovered by his estate in 1960. They were written in 1923. It was decided to put the two stories into one book as both related to flying and both had some of the same characters, especially Stephen Morris.
In the first book, Morris advises his fiance Helen that they will not be able to be married as a job he'd hoped for, in the rubber industry, has fallen through. Now Morris must find work. He has finished courses at Oxford, specializing in mathematics, and during WWI was a pilot. He manages to find employment with a small flying company, with 3 aircraft, that flies passengers, does air shows and that sort of thing. Of course, this being the nascent period of commercial flying, the business isn't successful. Morris manages to get a job with another company,which also struggles but is in the business of designing and building aircraft.
That is the gist of the story. It is a down-to-earth, often sensible story, but at the same time, a fascinating story of the beginnings of the aircraft industry. There is an air race, there is tragedy and ultimately, there is romance. Morris is, like Shute's writing style, sparse, sensible, but smart and innovative. This story introduces you to Shute's excellent story-telling and the enjoyment that he gets out of telling a story. It also shows how much he loved being in the aircraft business. It's not overly technical, but just enough to make that side of it interesting as well. (3.5 stars)
Morris does play a key role in Pilotage, the 2nd book, but this story focuses on one of his acquaintances, Dennison (I don't think we ever hear his first name... lol). Once again, the story starts with a relationship. Dennison asks Sheila to marry him and go with him to Hong Kong for his new job. He feels this job will pay enough to allow him to support a marriage. Sheila turns him down as she doesn't think Dennison will be happy in Hong Kong.
Dennison in a fit of depression, takes his sail boat for a ten day cruise but unfortunately has a collision with a larger yacht. This sets in place a sequence of events that will see him involved with Stephen Morris in a secretive flying operation. The plan is to launch a sea plane off of a cargo ship and see if it might be commercially feasible to carry cargo on the plane to speed up cargo / mail operations.
The process described by Shute is fascinating. In this book, as well, he more successfully incorporates the romantic relationship aspect that he does so well in future stories. There is also the high tension of whether the experiment will be successful. Consider that during this period, commercial flying is in its very early stages, there is no such thing as radio communication between the plane and shore. It is a fascinating story in that regard. And of course, you have the relationships between Morris and his wife and between Dennison and Sheila.
All in all, I enjoyed this story even more than the first. There is tension, enough technical information to make that interesting and there are wonderful relationships and characters.. Shute continues to show to me how wonderful a story teller he can be, understated but at the same time able to bring out great emotional impact. (4 stars)"
Currently Reading
I'm starting a new series now. I gather this is a bit like the James Bond books.. Introducing Dr. Jason Love.
"As K pushed his way through the glass doors of the Park Hotel, he realized instinctively why the two stumpy men were waiting by the reception desk. They had come to kill him. ...'
Who was K - and why should anyone kill him? Who was the bruised girl in Rome? Why did a refugee strangle his mistress in an hotel on the edge of the Arctic Circle? And why, in a small office above a wholesale fruiterers in Covent Garden, did a red-haired Scot sift through filing cabinets for the name of a man he knew in Burma twenty years ago?
None of these questions might seem to concern Dr Jason Love, a country practitioner of Bishop's Combe, Somerset. But, in the end, they all do. Apart from his patients, Dr Love has apparently only two outside interests: his supercharged Cord roadster, and the occasional Judo lessons he gives to the local branch of the British Legion.
But out of the past, to which all forgotten things should belong, a man comes to see him - and his simple, everyday country-life world is shattered like a mirror by a .38 bullet."
I should have time to read at least one more book by year's end. We'll see. Almost Xmas Eve... Woooo hoooo!
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