The Last 10 Books (I added to my Wish List) - April 2026 

It’s been reasonably quiet on my Wish List – adding-wise anyway – during the last month. As usual, the additions have been prompted by YouTube prompts, paperback upgrades and the odd in-book reference or bibliographic entry from whatever I’ve been reading at the time. So, the latest are:  

A Kingdom and a Village: A One-Thousand-Year History of Moscow by Simon Morrison 

Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer 

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen 

The Word: On the Translation of the Bible by John Barton 

A History of the Bible: The Book and Its Faiths by John Barton 

What Is Free Speech?: The History of a Dangerous Idea by Fara Dabhoiwala 

Norway's War: A People’s Struggle Against Nazi Tyranny, 1940–45 by Robert Ferguson 

The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict and Warnings from History by Odd Arne Westad 

Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War by Jane Rogoyska 

Mary Wollstonecraft: A Very Short Introduction by E. J. Clery 

That’s a slightly unusual mix for me this time with the usual History heavy bias displaced by politics and religion. We’ll see just how long it takes to get around to any of them! I think the average is 2-5 years, so.... 

Happy Birthday: Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent.

He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe for the news division of CBS. During the war he recruited and worked closely with a team of war correspondents who came to be known as the Murrow Boys. A pioneer of radio and television news broadcasting, Murrow produced a series of reports on his television program See It Now which helped lead to the censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, Bill Downs, and Alexander Kendrick considered, as does Dan Rather, Murrow one of journalism's greatest figures. Murrow's life has been dramatized in several films, including Good Night, and Good Luck, which takes its name from the signature sign-off phrase Murrow used to end many of his wartime broadcasts.

Murrow's reports, especially during the Blitz, began with what became his signature opening, "This is London," delivered with vocal emphasis on the word this, followed by the hint of a pause before the rest of the phrase. His former speech teacher, Ida Lou Anderson, suggested the opening as a more concise alternative to the one he had inherited from his predecessor at CBS Europe, César Saerchinger: "Hello, America. This is London calling." Murrow's phrase became synonymous with the newscaster and his network.

Murrow achieved celebrity status as a result of his war reports. They led to his second famous catchphrase, at the end of 1940, with every night's German bombing raid, Londoners who might not necessarily see each other the next morning often closed their conversations with "good night, and good luck." The future British monarch, Princess Elizabeth, said as much to the Western world in a live radio address at the end of the year, when she said "good night, and good luck to you all". So, at the end of one 1940 broadcast, Murrow ended his segment with "Good night, and good luck." Speech teacher Anderson insisted he stick with it, and another Murrow catchphrase was born.

For some strange reason.... that sounds awfully familiar..... [lol]

The Best...

One of the things I like doing at the start of each year is to post my Best of the previous years reading. As with everything on the Blog these are my personal opinions (how could they be otherwise?) regarding books - both fiction and non-fiction - that I've enjoyed. Until now there was no easy way to access previous Best of lists, so I've created a new label cunningly entitled: Only The Best. This now contains the Best of lists from the last 15 years. If you're so inclined I hope that you find something to enjoy in there! 

Just Finished Reading: Lemons Never Lie by Richard Stark (FP: 1971) [221pp] 

He knew it was a mistake as soon as he pulled the arm on the slot machine. Confirmation came swiftly when the three lemons came up and paid out in a clashing of nickels. It was bad luck. That afternoon, only part way through the ‘presentation’ he had decided to leave early. Alan Myers’ plan to knock over a brewery was too elaborate and far too violent for his tastes, plus Meyers was an idiot. But when he left his friend and sometimes partner Dan left with him and Meyers didn’t like that – not one bit. With no flights out of Las Vegas till the next day Dan decided to throw some dice in a craps time to pass a few hours. Unlike Alan Grofield, Dan was having all the luck and walked away with a few thousand. Unknown to either of them Myers was watching them and decided that the money was rightfully his... Weeks later Alan was getting ready for the summer crowd when Dan unexpectedly showed up. Even more surprising was what Dan had in the trunk of his car – Meyers, trussed up like a pig getting ready for a roasting. Unfortunately for both Dan and Alan they removed the gag and let Meyers talk. He told a tale of easy money waiting to be taken... and they believed him. The bad luck wasn’t over yet. 

The Hard Case Crime series has been VERY hit and miss so far. Whilst the majority have been generally OK there have been a few stinkers that still resonate in my memory. One or two have been very good, but they’re very much the exception. This one was at the higher end of the reasonable pile, so I was more than happy with that. The writing is solid and I was pleased the way the story unfolded. I wasn’t ever sure which way things were going to go, but I was more than willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt seeing how he handled things. Whilst none of the characters were particularly outstanding, they were all well drawn, down to earth and believable. Their actions matched their motivations, and nothing felt ‘off’. Being the nature of such books there was a smattering of violence (not too explicit) and ‘mild threat’ (as they say just before a movie) but nothing that would disturb too much. The plot moves along at a fair clip and is well constructed. Alan Grofield is a smart cookie and professional part-time criminal (with the emphasis on professional) and it shows in the way he operates. It's all very believable. Entertaining if not exactly great literature. Reasonable. 

Yes..... THAT'S the reason I buy SO many books.... Yes.... [lol]

Just Finished Reading: Twilight Cities – Lost Capitals of the Mediterranean by Katherine Pangonis (FP: 2023) [254pp] 

Whenever we think of ancient Mediterranean cities our minds quickly go to the Big 3 – Rome, Athens and Alexandria. But what of the others? Those cities that rivalled the Big 3 or simply pre-dated them. What of them? What are THEIR histories and where are they now – apart from largely forgotten. This is their tale. 

Starting in Tyre (Lebanon), home port of the Phoenician traders of early antiquity the author moves to their most famous settlement – Carthage (Tunisia), now a rather underappreciated part of the capital Tunis. From there we move to the much fought over strategic port of Syracuse (Sicily), site of encounters between the Carthaginians and Romans during the three Punic Wars that made Rome the Mediterranean super-power of the period. On then to Ravenna (Italy) which had a very varied history including, for a short period, being the capital of the western Roman Empire itself. Finally, we visit Antioch (Turkey) so recently [at time of the book’s publication] virtually destroyed in a massive earthquake. 

Whilst certainly being aware of the history of Carthage and most especially the series of wars between it and Rome I was initially unaware of the other places beyond their names and rough locations. Needless to say, I learnt a LOT here. Although the history of the region is dominated by Rome, Greece and Egypt – often for very good reasons – there was much more going on here. The other cities and other empires were not just bit-players in the well-known stories of the Big 3, but players in and of themselves. Missing them out not only leaves the other, more well-known, players without either foundation or motivation for their actions but diminishes the rich cultural environment of the ancient world of which they were part. This informative book revives that importance and left me with a greater appreciation of the interplay of these cities in the history of the region itself. One thing I particularly liked was how the author put each city into its historical context, often bringing things up to the present as she visited each site and talked to the locals about their own histories. This certainly whet my interest to dig deeper into the non-Big 3 cities/states/empires. So, more to come. Recommended to anyone interested in the ancient world and looking beyond the Roman Empire.

Oh, and a shout-out to a quite lovely cover - which is why I spotted it to begin with!