Having been bogged down recently in some turgid anthologies, I decided to aim for lighter fare and had a bit of a December splurge...
A collection of Asimov's short stories, all based on earth. It being Asimov, there is a proportion of silliness and a couple of groaners, but on the whole good stuff.
The sub-title says it all, really.
More of the same...
Both of these books took me back 30 years to a period in which my future wife was introducing me to the glories of green Penguins. Some good memories there.
I really must read some Margery Allingham and Dorothy L Sayers soon.
Haynes is well-known as a stand-up comic and classicist - I strongly recommend that you look online and find some of her work (in the UK, you should be able to listen here).
But there aren't many laughs in this marvellous re-telling of the women (and nymphs and goddesses) entangled in the Trojan War. Epic tradegy, but highly recommended.
A brief look at how the Chronicles of Narnia came to be written. Aimed at younger readers and a large part is taken up with a summary of the books, but Sibley knows his stuff, of course (I imagine he could have done this in his sleep).
C S Lewis, The Magician's Nephew
It makes me feel very old to say that it's over 45 years since I first read this. There are images in this book that still colour my approach to fantasy - nevertheless, one can still find new sides to old favorites.
C S Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
CS Lewis, The Horse and His Boy
CS Lewis, Prince Caspian
Peter Moore, Endeavour: The Ship and the Attitude that Changed the World
CS Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Being a contrary child, I never read this along with the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia. I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've read it at all!
Jonathan Tucker, The Troublesome Priest: Harold Davidson, Rector of Stiffkey
Biography of the Rector of Stiffkey - famously defrocked for immoral relations with prostitutes he was 'rescuing' and pestering shopgirls - who later became a sideshow performer and was killed by a circus lion in Skegness.
Tucker's verdict that Davidson was a fool, but not immoral, might have been alright in 1932 or 2004 (when he was writing), but makes unconvincing reading in 2020. The man was obviously both a fool and a sex-pest.
Lewis takes beyond the borders of Narnia into his Arabian analogue for this tale of runaway orphans, princesses and horses.
The Pesvenie children make their second visit to Narnia, and help legitimise a dynasty.
Currently Reading
A splendid biography of Capt Cook's ship.
For a little while I lived in a house of an age and location to have overlooked the yard in which Endeavour was being built, so the early chapters were of particular interest to me.
The book that introduced me to Narnia over 45 years ago. Reading it now, it makes me long for those island-hoping holidays we had in the Western Isles when I was a boy.
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