Just Finished Reading: Poe’s Cat by Brenda Walker (FP: 1999) [234pp] 

Normally with my fiction reviews I’d start with a quick synopsis (spoiler free as possible) before moving onto my thoughts and feelings about the text. I’d throw in what I liked, what I didn’t like, styles etc... and then finish off with my recommendation (or not). But as this was my strangest read of the year (so far!) I’m going to need to do something different.  

The main characters/protagonists are cousins Thea and Finn. When they were growing up, they had spent many summers at their grandparent's house in the country. Now as adults they find themselves back there after their grandparents have died. As they go through various rooms and pick up various items, they both muse about the past and their complicated family history. But that’s only really the top-level story which kind of holds the essentially non-linear narrative together. Both Thea and Finn are authors. Finn has been commissioned to write a biography of an Australian General (the main story takes place in Australia but no actual geographic location is mentioned) whilst Thea is looking for ideas for her next novel. Whilst looking through her grandfather’s bookcases she comes across a whole set of books either by or about the American author Edgar Allen Poe. What fascinates Thea is not Poe himself but his young wife Virginia who Poe married at the age of 13(!). Prompted by what she finds, Thea begins writing stories around Virginia’s life with Poe and especially towards the end when Virginia was dying from TB. In these stories Virginia also tells stories she has created to anyone who is around at the time. When no one else is available Virginia tells the stories to the family cat. Mixed in with these tales are retellings of some of Poe’s stories from different points of view or as if they were actual historical events (which some of them were actually based on). 

All of the above sounds messy – incoherent even. The surprising thing is – it REALLY works. The author has a wonderfully lyrical way with language. There’s a dreamlike quality throughout the book which almost feels like floating in a hot bath at the end of a long day and hovering at the edge of sleep. Reading it felt like you were surrounded in that weird light you sometimes get on late summer evenings when it seems like time has stopped or slowed to a snail's pace and will last forever. Haunting is a word that continually came to mind. It was, as I’m hoping I’m getting across, quite the experience. I actually picked this up in one of those ‘book exchange’ things that appear for a while and then (sometimes) vanish. The title intrigued me (and the word ‘cat’ definitely helped) and I was attracted by the cover. I’m really glad I chose it even if it took me a few more years to actually getting around to reading it. Definitely recommended if you can source a copy. This is her third book and I’ll be looking out for her others but I think they’re quite difficult to find. 

"In a way, the world-view of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird."

George Orwell, Nineteen Eight-Four.  

"In the end the Party would announce that two and two make five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy."

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Just Finished Reading: Divine Might – Goddesses in Greek Myth by Natalie Haynes (FP: 2023) [277pp] 

You would thing, or at least I would, that when we created gods to explain our world, we would have imagined them to be better than us. Sure, we often ended up making them stronger and faster than us but in other ways we were much their superiors. Greek gods (and goddesses) tended to have the morals of feral teenagers and the emotional temperaments of toddlers. Being noticed by a god was bad enough – even when they liked you (mostly a fleeting thing) - but being disliked, well THAT was often a death sentence or worse! The main reason they were worshiped (it seemed) was not to get on their bad side. They were deities who firmly believed that it was much better to be feared than to be loved. I suppose the fact that they were immortal and couldn’t easily be hurt never mind killed helped explain much. If you had almost unlimited power and an eternity to use it in then it's not surprising that you would end up pulling wings off flies, starting years long wars (for entertainment purposes) or meddling in the lives of short-lived mortals. Oh, and then there was the fun of turning said mortals into trees, cows or magpies when they offended you... Anything really to have something to distract you for a moment or (if lucky) two. 

It's difficult not to be fascinated with them though, and I definitely share the authors interests if not (maybe) to the same degree. We tend to absorb the tales of the Greek gods without even thinking of it. Like the author I grew up with movies like ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ and ‘Clash of the Titans’ which couldn’t help colour my appreciation of later divine encounters in books, comics and more modern cinematic interpretations. Greek gods, and honestly to a somewhat lessor extent goddesses, are a pervasive recurring theme through our culture so it’s nice to have someone like the author looking at the original stories (in MANY variations) who can put them into their original context, draw out more modern interpretations and then place them within western cultural thought down the ages.  

A goodly portion of the details of the goddesses portrayed here were new to me – despite being pretty familiar with the individual icons themselves – which was a plus and I’ll be following this up with more investigations both in fiction and non-fiction. We do seem to be living through a new revival of all things Greek mythish which is fun. It’s especially good that we’re seeing many of the lessor known or ignored mythic characters (oddly mostly women – who'd have thought it, right?) which I know several of my readers (and I!) have been enjoying. Hopefully at some point we’ll move beyond the Greek world into other areas like Egypt or points East. We’ll see (I hope). Anyway, if you have any interest in Greek gods and goddesses this is definitely the book for you. Full of interesting stories, strange characters and quite a bit of humour. Definitely recommended and much more to come. 

Happy Birthday: Adeline Virginia Woolf (née Stephen; 25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941) was an English writer. She is considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors. She pioneered the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.

Woolf was born into an affluent household in South Kensington, London. She was the seventh child of Julia Prinsep Jackson and Leslie Stephen in a blended family of eight that included the modernist painter Vanessa Bell. She was home-schooled in English classics and Victorian literature from a young age. From 1897 to 1901, she attended the Ladies' Department of King's College London. There, she studied classics and history, coming into contact with early reformers of women's higher education and the women's rights movement.

Woolf began writing professionally in 1900. During the inter-war period, Woolf was an important part of London's literary and artistic society, and its anti-war position. In 1915, she published her first novel, The Voyage Out, through her half-brother's publishing house, Gerald Duckworth and Company. Her best-known works include the novels Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928). She is also known for her essays, such as A Room of One's Own (1929).

[I've only read - and enjoyed - her first novel, but intend reading them all in publication order. It should be quite the adventure...]

Just Finished Reading: Guns Off Cape Ann by Kenneth Poolman (FP: 1961) [154pp] 

After years of having their ships harassed and their crews ‘pressed’ into service American patience finally gave way and war was declared. Already deep into its own war with Napoleon, Great Britain was dismissive of this latest act of an upstart nation and with good reason. The Royal Navy, who would be taking the first actions of the conflict, had over a thousand vessels it could call upon whilst the newly formed United States Navy had SIXTEEN. The ‘war’ was going to cause barely a ripple.  

The shock of the first ship to ship fight can be imagined. When the two frigates faced off the outcome was confidently expected – an easy and clear victory for the British. Unfortunately for the pundits at the Admiralty in London it was quite the reverse with the British ship being comprehensively defeated. Tricks, it was proposed, or bad luck! Yet when the navies met again, and again, each time the British ship was roundly defeated. Disbelief was followed by panic. Could the minute American navy really represent a credible threat? More ships were sent across the Atlantic to bolster the overwhelming force already present but it wasn’t a matter of numbers, not at all. It was a matter of neglect, pride and complacency. Something needed to be done to regain the pride and place of the senior service and the British had just the man to do it. 

Captain Philip Broke of the British frigate Shannon was a man who knew his ship and his crew very well indeed. They had sailed together and trained together for years and the ship was renowned for its skill in gunnery. Facing him, presently in Boston harbour, was his opposite number Captain James Lawrence of the American frigate Chesapeake. He was new to the ship (only taking command a matter of days previously) and had hardly begun to know the officers or crew who manned her. Without the benefit of a shakedown cruise or a much-needed refit, Lawrence was determined to make his mark and his name by continuing Britain’s humiliation. Sailing out of harbour he was determined that he would use no tricks, no finesse, no clever tactics but would face his British adversary broadside to broadside. That would be a fatal mistake. 

A mere 13 minutes after the sound of the first cannon shot had faded both ships were wrecked and over a hundred men lay dead or dying. But the Chesapeake took by far the most damage. Barely able to keep afloat and with all of its officers either dead, dying or injured (including its captain who was mortally wounded), boarded and with its ensign struck it was eventually towed to Halifax, Nova Scotia as a prize. Honour had been restored at a great cost to all involved and many lessons had been learned – at least for the British. 

The War of 1812 seems to have been largely forgotten by the world and by historians. Naturally it was overshadowed by the much larger and much more significant Napoleonic Wars but still it does seem somewhat more than an oversight. I can’t help wondering if both sides aren’t more than a little embarrassed about it all. The notable absence (or at least rarity) of books on the subject seems to point that way. I came across this old, slim and out of print volume almost by accident and have only managed to acquire two more books – one almost as old – on the subject. It was an interesting little scrap for a number of reasons and I’m interested to find out more about it. This book filled in a very small part of the story but I need something a bit more expansive. I hope that will be covered by my next book on the subject. A recommended read, especially for all Age of Sail enthusiasts, if you can source a copy.   

The Universe (or The Matrix) is being particularly playful today....! I'm presently reading a book about Greek Goddesses and was just finishing up a chapter on Aphrodite when my radio - tuned to Classic FM - started playing Venus (Aphrodite's Roman name) from the Planet Suite by Holst. If that wasn't enough I have just returned home with a pair of books by Julian Stockwin from my local charity shop. They're Age of Sail historical adventures books 2 & 3 in the series (I *think* I already have the first book). The 2nd books title is Artemis - which just so happens to be the NEXT Goddess in the book I'm reading.... Well played Universe... Well played..... [rotflmao]

Just Finished Reading: Spynest – British and German Espionage From Neutral Holland 1914-1918 by Edwin Ruis (FP: 2012) [239pp] 

Spies are apparently the second oldest profession but the kind of espionage we easily associate with World War Two was very new during the Great War. Part of the problem was, it seemed, that “Gentlemen do not read each other's letters”. So, what is a covert organisation to do? Hire, use or otherwise acquire people who are most definitely NOT gentlemen to do the dirty work for you. In both the case of the Germans and the British, and indeed the Dutch who kept an eye on both parties as they operated in their country, they employed conmen, swindlers, thieves and, when required, prostitutes. Very few of these would be considered ‘professional’ spies in the modern sense. What we now regard as such is a surprisingly modern arrival. 

Needless to say, such people were anything but reliable – either they simply took the money on offer and ran or reported back with completely or partially fabricated ‘information’. They were, as a class, either practically useless or positively harmful. Such activities couldn’t really last and, after much trial and error, a more professional organisation – on all sides began to emerge using military and ex-police as operatives although a thief or professional burglar still had their uses. 

The Dutch position was an interesting one. Unlike in the Second World War Holland remained unoccupied and neutral. They knew that their neutrality was somewhat fragile and made great efforts to neither antagonise the Central Powers or the Triple Entante. They did, however, have their favourite. It was considered that Germany posed the greater threat to their sovereignty despite a sometimes-adversarial history with Great Britain. In both cases they made a simple deal – share your findings with us (the Dutch) and don’t use violence on our streets and you can do as you please (within reason). The British accepted the deal with pleasure, the Germans were much more reluctant and suffered for it. It was over the war period a difficult balancing act – especially as both the British and Germans used Dutch nationals in their endeavours to spy and counter-spy on each other but the alternative was far more dangerous. They had Belgium, their next-door neighbour, as an example of what might happen if their neutrality went up in flames. 

As I knew almost nothing about Great War espionage (or, to be honest, the role of Holland in the war) this was often a most interesting read. A few things surprised me including just how amateur espionage was in the early years of the war. The other thing that really struck me was the number of spies executed in England – by firing squad at the Tower of London no less!  - for often very minor spying activity. What was clear from the outset was that Germany wasn’t very good at the whole spying game and their efforts generally fell flat (as they did by and large in the re-match 20 years later). The Brits, eventually, go their act together although overall espionage didn’t (apparently) account for very much in the end. A fairly quick read and (often) quite the eye-opener. More on this subject – from those involved – to come. Recommended for those interested in early espionage and who like reading around the edges of the World Wars. 

Happy Birthday: Takeshi Kitano (born January 18, 1947), also known as Beat Takeshi in Japan, is a Japanese comedian, actor, and filmmaker. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host.

During his time as a student at Meiji University, he became a comedian at the strip theater France-za in Asakusa, Tokyo. In 1973, he formed a comedy duo called Two Beat with Kiyoshi Kaneko, who later became Beat Kiyoshi. Kitano adopted the stage name Beat Takeshi. Riding the wave of the comedy boom, he gained popularity with satirical and sharp-tongued black humor. In the 1980s, he appeared in TV shows such as Oretachi Hyōkin-zoku which recorded the highest viewership rating of 29.1%, and Takeshi's Castle which recorded 24.7%, becoming explosively popular on television. He gained recognition as an actor in director Nagisa Ōshima's film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983). In 1989, he made his directorial debut with the film Violent Cop after Kinji Fukasaku stepped down. He won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his film Hana-bi (1997), becoming the third Japanese director to receive this honor after Akira Kurosawa and Hiroshi Inagaki. In October 2017, Kitano completed his Outrage crime trilogy with the release of Outrage Coda. He is also known internationally for hosting the game show Takeshi's Castle (1986–1990) and starring in the film Battle Royale (2000).

Takeshi co-starred in the live action adaptation of the manga Ghost in the Shell, marking his return to American cinema nearly twenty years after Johnny Mnemonic in 1995. Although he has expressed his dislike of anime and manga in the past, he accepted the role because "even though this stylish piece of entertainment is totally different from the films I've directed, I thought it was interesting that Aramaki, the role I play, is a character who gives off a peculiar vibe and, in various episodes, is set at the core of the characters' relationships. I'm looking forward to see how the movie turns out."

Just Finished Reading: How to Survive a Crisis – Lessons in Resilience and Avoiding Disaster by David Omand (FP: 2023/2024) [315pp] 

Crisis seems to be THE word of the 21st century, be it economic, environmental or political. Crisis is everywhere and those without direct experience of its effects are becoming quite the rarity. But if crisis is becoming more common, which seems to be the case, what can be done about it? This is the question raised, and largely addressed, in this interesting book. Somewhat disappointingly, however, it doesn’t look at things from the street level as I’d hoped. Instead, the author, who REALLY knows his stuff, looks at crisis survival from the level of governments and business leaders which is understandable given his expertise. 

Despite the disappointment I felt on putting the book down I did find many parts of it quite fascinating. Not only did the author range over a huge landscape of crisis after crisis – from nuclear accidents (and near misses), to various wars (Indo-China, Vietnam, the Falklands, Ukraine, Iraq/Afghanistan), Covid-19, Cyber-attacks, depressions and supply chain failures, Brexit, and much else besides – he was actually ‘in the room’ for some of it actually advising the UK government and other agencies about how they should cope with an emergency (to avoid it becoming a crisis), how to clean up afterwards or how to prepare for things ahead of a crisis.  

As you might imagine a lot of this was high-level and theoretical, calling on real-world events where applicable. The author worked through the ‘arc’ of a crisis pointing out break points, areas of opportunity when an emergency could be prevented from becoming a full-blown crisis and most definitely not a disaster! He looked at ways that organisations and states could increase their resilience to weather the initial shock so enabling them to respond to events in a co-ordinated planned manner. He looked at the difference between a slow-burn crisis and one that arrives completely out of the ‘blue’ and how to monitor the slower burning one so it doesn’t end up sneaking up on you. To drive the points home, at the end of each chapter are ‘takeaways’ to enable the building of plans and strategies to cope with, recover from and (hopefully) avoid any crisis coming our way. 

Although this was more interesting than useful this was still worth the effort of reading. The main themes of watching for the often overlooked slow-burn crisis and the building up of resilience (in practical terms as well as psychologically) are important ones that can be applied even down at ‘our’ level at the individual shallow end. If you’re a member of a larger organisation, and most especially if you’re involved in any kind of support role, there are many lessons that can be taken on board here and applied to your profession. One of the things I did find particularly interesting – with several crisis events ongoing – was regarding media use. Seeing/hearing various organisations using the playbook the author mentioned when using various types of media was instructive especially when hearing the same type of language used by very different organisations dealing with apparently very different circumstances. Recommended for a number of reasons.  

Happy World Logic Day............... Yeah, good luck with that... [lol]

I'm old enough to remember 'life' before remote control. It was the age of the smallest kid in the room being tasked to change channel at an order from the parent (or older sibling). Kids of today have NO idea what it was like back then.... THREE channels and if you missed the show or showed up late you missed it - FOR EVER...... 

Just Finished Reading: The Wild Girls by Phoebe Morgan (FP: 2021) [303pp] 

It was an invitation out of the blue. After two years, after the trauma, Felicity was back in touch and with her usual flamboyant style. She was celebrating her birthday and wanted to get the gang back together, her closest friends, the Wild Girls. But this wouldn’t be just any celebration, she was really pushing the boat out. This was going to be an all-expenses paid safari in Botswana! How could her friends possibly refuse – despite being a teacher, despite being a young mother, despite being desperate and broke... One by one each of her friends replied with a positive and then started talking to each other again. Maybe this was the start of them all getting their lives back on track, maybe each of them could now start putting the past behind them. Maybe... Although when of then had other ideas, one of them had decided to bury the past for good – along with her so-called friends. 

Over the last 5 years or more I’ve been picking up the odd modern/contemporary thriller/crime novel. What I haven’t been doing, generally, is actually reading them. With the New Year still in sight over my shoulder I thought it was a good time to start. Unfortunately, I started with this one... If I hadn’t already DNFd one book so far this year, this would’ve been my first. But, instead of throwing it across the room towards the nearest bin I gritted my teeth and finished it. Overall, it wasn’t THAT badly written despite a few ‘continuity errors’ I noticed sprinkled throughout the story. What I really didn’t like about the book (or should I say mostly disliked) was the characters – ALL of them. These where a group of four ‘friends’ who had apparently known each other since age 9. Yet, throughout the book they seemed to neither know very much about each other nor to actually LIKE each other all that much. Living inside each of their heads – the PoV was constantly changing as was the move from 1st to 3rd person – even for a short time was both painful and frustrating. One particular bugbear I have in stories is when a character has an important piece of information that can save lives and yet they don’t share it for stupid reasons. Here we had that in spades – repeatedly! Its lucky that my hair has strong roots (even at my age) or I’d be bald around now. 

The scenes in Botswana were particularly annoying as the ‘victims’ struggled to understand what was going on and the danger they were in and repeatedly failed to make even the most basic attempts to protect themselves or survive what was coming at them. If I had been with them at the resort I would’ve happily left them to their fates and left by the simple act of lifting a phone.... [screams in frustration]. Needless to say, I am NOT recommending this and will be dropping off my copy at the local charity shop along with any other books by this author that I might have also bought (I think I *might* have one, but I’m not 100% sure). Hopefully my future reading of contemporary ‘thrillers’ will be better, but we’re definitely not off to a good start!   

Reading Plans for 2025 and Beyond 

Following the Labels   

There’s still far too many label ‘buckets’ that aren’t getting the attention they deserve with more than a few languishing in single figures. I’ll see what I can do about that and might make a seriously targeted effort to increase their base numbers. That will also prompt me to get out of my UK/Europe/US country focus.  

The ‘Knowledge Streams’  

I’ll be continuing looking at what I’ve called ‘knowledge Streams’ - Britain Alone 1939-41, World War to Cold War and USA: WTF. Going forward I’ll be focusing on an issue I know many of us are scratching our heads about these days: WTF is going on with the (mostly western) world presently? This means I’ll be reading more post-1945 history and looking at works that prioritise analysis over simple narrative.       

Rolling the Dice 

To introduce some randomness into my sometimes too controlled/rigid reading I shall continue to roll a pair of dice after every finished book to see if I’ll be adding something ‘different’ to the mix by rolling a double. An even double will add a work of non-fiction whilst rolling an odd double will add a work of fiction.  

Finishing/Progressing Series 

There are still far too many series I’ve started that have stalled for some reason. I finished a few in 2024 and will be attempting to finish a few more this year. It will also give me an excuse, if I needed any, to read more science-fiction.   

Classics and Re-Reads 

I read a LOT of classics last year including 18 novels, 2 collections of short stories, 6 Sherlock Holmes books and a non-fiction! This year I’ll be easing back a bit and will be concentrating on reading my Imperial War Museum WW2 classics. I expect to manage at least 5-6 of them. There will be, naturally, other classics too but I doubt that the total will exceed 10-12 in 2025.    

Deep Dives 

I will, of course, still be deep diving this year. I have a few lined up already starting off with Bombs and Female Spies. There probably won’t be as many as last year as I have quicker more shallow dives lined up too.  

Ukraine – and More 

I’m sure that I’m not alone in hoping that the war in Ukraine would have been over by now. I’ve been accumulating books on the region and the conflict since it started and was hoping that I could look back after the war to discover exactly what it was all about. Hopefully it’ll all be over THIS year but even if it is (or isn’t) I’m going to schedule in at least a few books on the subject. If I’m feeling brave I’ll also read/review a few on Israel/Palestine I have waiting in a pile and if I’m feeling PARTICULARLY brave I might even read/review a book or two on Gender and Identity...!   

BIG Project 

I’ve been accumulating a number of books for a ‘Big’ project I’ve been thinking about for a few years now. It’s nothing really ‘amazing’ of anything and is much more just a bit of fun. I was hoping to start it early this year but that might have to be pushed back a bit. I expect that the ‘output’ should take about 5-6 weeks. 

Coupling 

As my TBR could be called, without too much hyperbole, IMMENSE I’m always looking for ideas of how to organise exactly what I’m going to be reading next. I find that too much random reading doesn’t satisfy something in my psyche so I need *some* organising principle to salve that need. So, I came up with the idea of ‘coupling’. This essentially means that I’m going to match two books together to be read sequentially. They may be two books on the same or similar topic. They may be simply two books with a similar (or sometimes the same!) title or plays on words. You’ve seen a few already with the last coupling being the two books on brains, music and mood altering “plants”. Definitely expect some more like that. Coming up will be 3 classics coupled with much more modern sequels or reinterpretations.  

BIG event 

Towards the end of the year the Blog reaches a significant milestone. I’m not exactly sure presently how I’m going to ‘celebrate’ that event, but one thing I am thinking of is instituting (from that point) a ‘Year of Reading Radically’. What that will *exactly* mean I’m still mulling on. Some thoughts are: more translated works, more reading about areas of the globe I know very little about and climbing out of any of my ruts into completely new areas. I expect to throw in some books that will surprise me as much as it should surprise me.  

I think that lot should keep me busy for another year!