New Books and the History and other Items...

It's raining! Carry on to the mainland please. They need it too!

My morning rant... such as it is. How petty, childish and dangerous is the current resident of the White House that he thinks it's OK and I guess funny to retweet a video of him hitting his presidential opponent in the 'back' with a golf ball. I wonder if his mouthpiece will think that's a fireable offence when she meets the press next week. And calling another of the dangerous leaders to the world, Rocket man? I wonder if he actually called him that in his telephone call to the President of South Korea. The F***wit - in - chief probably can't pronounce or spell the other guy's name so it's easier to make up a name for him. Do you really want to goad a guy with nukes that way? Oh well, maybe he's getting nervous about addressing the whole world at the UN this week, eh? Can he actually come across as balanced and informed?

Oh well, on to more interesting items, at least, to me anyway.

New Books

 While the missus was Skyping with a friend from the UK this week, I took a short visit to my local book store, Nearly New Books, to see what new (used) books they might have acquired. I was pleasantly surprised to find three books that I liked.

1. Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders by John Mortimer. I've enjoyed the Rumpole books I've read so far, always fun and entertaining. I liked the looks of the book cover for this one and it was just like new. This was Mortimer's first full-length Rumpole novel.








"Rumpole took the liberty of altering Shakespeare a little when he offered the meeting at his Chambers a choice quotation from Henry V. It reflected what he was thinking: that it was about time he committed to paper his memories of the Penge Bungalow affair. It would be scandalous, after all, and an affront to history, if the details of such a famous case were to become lost in the mists of time.
Horace Rumpole had been a novice at Number 4 Equity Court, fresh from a quiet war in RAF groundstaff and a law degree at Oxford, when the murders at Penge fist hit the headlines: two war heroes, bomber pilots who'd flown numerous sorties together over Europe, apparently shot dead after a reunion dinner by the son of one of them, young Simon Jerold.
Young he might have been, but in those dark post-war days Simon Jerold was facing the ultimate punishment. There seemed little he could hope for, since the evidence was so incriminating. Even old Wystan - head of Chambers, father of Hilda and ostensibly there to conduct Jerold's defence - seemed to have given up the game. But not Rumpole. There was something about the evidence which bothered him and, though he was only Wystan's Junior in the case, when the time came for him to seize the initiative, he did it triumphantly - like King Harry himself."

2. John le Carré, the Biography by Adam Sisman. I've read many of le Carré's spy novels and, for the most part, enjoyed them. George Smiley is one of the great characters. I had seen this book when it first came out and wanted to try it. I was glad to find it when I was checking out books.







"Over half a century since The Spy Who Came in from the Cold made John le Carré a worldwide, bestselling sensation, David Cornwell, the man behind the pseudonym, remains an enigma. Little is really known of one of the world's most successful writers.
Adam Sisman's masterful and insightful biography reveals a man whose own life - from a difficult lonely childhood, through marriage and family life, to recruitment by both MI5 and MI6 and eventual emergence as the master of the spy novel - has been as complex and confounding as any of his novels. Written with exclusive access to David Cornwell himself, to his private archive and to the most important people in his life, this is the definitive biography of a major writer."

3. Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood. Margaret Atwood is one of Canada's more unique writers, whether writing fiction, science fiction or poetry. The Handmaid's Tale remains one of my all-time favourite novels. This is one of Atwood's latest ventures and I'm happy that I found this copy. As I understand it, it's part of a group of books by different authors, with their takes on Shakespeare's plays.





"Felix is at the top of his game as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he's staging a Tempest like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, it will heal emotional wounds.
Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge.
After twelve years, his chance finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Here, Felix and his inmate actors will put on his Tempest and snare the traitors who destroyed him. It's magic! But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall?"

Great Historical Events

As we approach the end of the 1700's, today's excerpt covers the First Constitutional Congress.

"1789. March 4. - First Congress under the National Constitution assembled at New York. (Ed. Note - Trying to imagine what the first US Constitution would have been like if the likes of the current President and his racist cronies had been involved. *shudder*)
Mackenzie, in the employment of the Northwestern Fur Company, made an overland journey to the great polar river named for him, which empties into the Arctic Sea.
Aug. 22. - John Fitch exhibited a boat on the Schuylkill, at Philadelphia, propelled by steam, and afterwards a stock company was formed, which built a steam packet that ran till the company failed in 1790.

THE ORIGINAL THIRTEEN STATES

When the National Government was established, the number of the States was thirteen, viz.: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia (Ed. Note. OK, I recognize that I'm on a rant today but ..... I assume this is a US citizenship question, or it should be. Would the current President pass this or maybe one of his immigrant spouses? OK, I'll stop now)

1789. Congress passed first tariff bill. The departments of State, War, and Treasury created."

Next excerpt will discuss the first President of this newly minted country.

Science of Common Things

Today's excerpt from Prof. L.G. Gorton discusses stars. (Ed. Note. I should caveat this, if I haven't before, that I haven't checked in every case to see if the Professor's answers have adjusted with new scientific knowledge in the past 200+ years)

"Why do stars twinkle? Because there are a great many non-luminous bodies in space, and when they pass between us and a star they cut off its light just for an instant, thus causing the twinkling. What are 'shooting stars'? They are not stars proper, but are non-luminous bodies coming in contact with the earth's atmosphere, and becoming ignited by their friction upon the air have the appearance of stars. Why are meteorites or shooting stars seen most frequently between the 12th and 14th of November each year? Because the earth at that time is passing through a portion of space where the greatest number of these bodies is found." (Interesting.)

Next excerpt will discuss mirages. (Ed. Note. Wouldn't it be nice if 2017 was a mirage?.. Nope, I said I'd stop!)

The Birth Date Thing 10 November 2010

(I hit 55 years of age on this date, five years from official retirement from the military.)

US Billboard #1 Single 10 November 2010

Like a G6 by Far East Movement. Far East Movement (FM) is an American hip hop / electronic pop band based out of Los Angeles. Like a G6 featured The Cataracs and singer, Dev.

UK #1 Single 10 November 2010

Promise This by Cheryl Cole. This is the 2nd consecutive for Cheryl Cole on this date. This single came out in the aftermath of her divorce from footballer Ashley Cole.

New York Times #1 Fiction Best Seller 10 November 2010

Worth Dying For by Lee Child. This is the 15th Jack Reacher novel. I think I'd better get moving on this series. I've read 3 so far. As of 2017, there are 22 books in this series.









"There’s deadly trouble in the corn county of Nebraska ... and Jack Reacher walks right into it. First he falls foul of the Duncans, a local clan that has terrified an entire county into submission. But it’s the unsolved, decades-old case of a missing child that Reacher can’t let go. 
The Duncans want Reacher gone - and it’s not just past secrets they’re trying to hide. For as dangerous as the Duncans are, they’re just the bottom of a criminal food chain stretching halfway around the world. For Reacher, it would have made much more sense to put some distance between himself and the hard-core trouble that’s bearing down on him. For Reacher, that was also impossible."

Pulitzer Prize Winner 2010

Tinkers by Paul Harding. Another new book for me. This book was American author Paul Harding's first novel.










"An old man lies dying. Propped up in his living room and surrounded by his children and grandchildren, George Washington Crosby drifts in and out of consciousness, back to the wonder and pain of his impoverished childhood in Maine. As the clock repairer’s time winds down, his memories intertwine with those of his father, an epileptic, itinerant peddler and his grandfather, a Methodist preacher beset by madness."

Nobel Prize Laureate 2010

Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru / Spain). Llosa is a Peruvian writer, politician, essayist, etc. He was awarded his Nobel Laureate "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat."

Hugo Award Winners 2010

In 2010, the award was shared -

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. This biopunk science fiction novel was the debut by American writer Bacigalupi. I've never read but it does sound interesting.








"Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko.
Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe. "

The City & The City by China Miéville. I have read one of English writer Miéville's books, Perdido Street Station, and loved it. I hope this is as good. I will be looking for it.









"Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad finds deadly conspiracies beneath a seemingly routine murder. From the decaying Beszel, he joins detective Qussim Dhatt in rich vibrant Ul Qoma, and both are enmeshed in a sordid underworld. Rabid nationalists are intent on destroying their neighbouring city, and unificationists dream of dissolving the two into one."

Edgar Award Winner 2010

The Last Child by John Hart. This is the second time in three years that Hart was awarded this prize.










"Thirteen-year-old Johnny Merrimon has to face things no boy his age should face. In the year since his twin sister's abduction his world has fallen apart: his father has disappeared and his fragile mother is spiralling into ever deeper despair. Johnny keeps strong. Armed with a map, a bike and a flashlight, he stalks the bad men of Raven County. The police might have given up on Alyssa; he never will. Someone, somewhere, knows something they're not telling. Only one person looks out for Johnny. Detective Clyde Hunt shares his obsession with the case. But when Johnny witnesses a hit-and-run and insists the victim was killed because he'd found Alyssa, even Hunt thinks he's lost it. And then another young girl goes missing."

Man Booker Prize 2010

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson. The Finkler Question was the 11th novel by English writer Jacobson.










"Julian Treslove, a professionally unspectacular former BBC radio producer, and Sam Finkler, a popular Jewish philosopher, writer, and television personality, are old school friends. Despite a prickly relationship and very different lives, they've never lost touch with each other, or with their former teacher, Libor Sevcik.
Dining together one night at Sevcik's apartment - the two Jewish widowers and the unmarried Gentile, Treslove - the men share a sweetly painful evening, reminiscing on a time before they had loved and lost, before they had prized anything greatly enough to fear the loss of it. But as Treslove makes his way home, he is attacked and mugged outside a violin dealer's window."

Giller Prize Winner 2010

The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud. Skibsrud was born in Nova Scotia in 1980 and this was her debut novel. She has since published two more novels and two books of poetry.









"In this riveting debut, a daughter attempts to discover the truth about the life of her father, a dying Vietnam veteran haunted by his wartime experiences. Powerful and assured, The Sentimentalists is a story of what lies beneath the surface of everyday life."

So there you go. Sunday is almost passed and it's still raining here, quite making it up for the lovely, sunny summer we've had. Have a great week!