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Author Archives: vhk10
Geoffrey Tyack, Simon Bradley and Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Berkshire
We have a copy of the original Pevsner for Berkshire (1966). It is not one of the best in the series. Firstly, it was mostly written soon after his wife’s death and his heart was perhaps not in the work. … Continue reading
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James Runcie, Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death
I was recommended this in the course of a ‘book spa’ at a local bookshop. It’s the first in the series of ‘Grantchester Mysteries’ featuring a vicar with a habit of stumbling into crime and then solving it. This volume … Continue reading
Victor Bridges, Trouble on the Thames
No plotlines have been spoiled in the writing of this review. I’ve been discovering some of the recently reprinted ‘Golden Age’ detective stories and thrillers. They are celebrated for their ingenious plotlines, but score less highly when it comes to … Continue reading
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B. S. Johnson, Christie Malry’s Own Double-Entry
A few years ago new copies of a book called Never Say Boring Again, about a group of accountants, was sometimes to be seen on sale at bookstalls in suspiciously large numbers. It would undoubtedly seem boring, however, beside this … Continue reading
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Judy Bryant, An Adoptee’s Search for Identity
This is a self-published memoir by someone I think I may have met when I was an ‘extra’ on an Open University Chapel Choir tour to Southwell Minster. (I wonder whether she was the person who enjoyed running baths very … Continue reading
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Hesketh Pearson, The Smith of Smiths
Alan Bell, Sydney Smith: A Biography
The Rev. Sydney Smith would seem a good potential subject for a biography. No need to speculate about his views, as (like the reviewer, but more eloquently) he loved to shoot his mouth off on any subject on which he … Continue reading
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Francis Meynell, By Heart
This is an anthology of poetry intended to be memorised. It was compiled in 1965 towards the end of Meynell’s life, and this shows in the selection of poets; only a handful were born after 1914, and as far as … Continue reading
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The Odes of Horace, trans. Edward Marsh
This translation dates from 1941, and I suspect it was made so that the author could prove he could do it. I don’t doubt his understanding of Latin; my problem is the archaic nature of the English. Did Edward Marsh … Continue reading
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Simon Winchester, Krakatoa: the Day the World Exploded
I felt rather guilty about enjoying reading this, as it isn’t a disaster movie but a real-life event that killed tens of thousands of people. However, if you want to find out about the cataclysm of 1883, then this is … Continue reading
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Faber’s The Great Languages: French, Italian, German, Latin
I came across Palmer’s The Greek Language, published in the 1980s, and when offered the chance to acquire some others in the series, seized the opportunity, thinking they would be of a similar vintage. But this series has a very … Continue reading
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