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From Earth to Heaven - Isaac asimov 1966 (Dobson 1968)



I'm not a fan of Asimov's science fiction but he was a brilliant explainer and populariser of science fact. He wrote a monthly essay for "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" from 1959 to 1992 and most of them were later published in book form. This is the fifth volume (1965-66) and it covers the usual eclectic range of subjects including the uncertainty principle, Avogadro's number and earth grazing asteroids. The pieces are all written for the layman and explain their subject in a historical framework which means that they often read like detective stories as generations of scientists strive to understand a particular observation or phenomenon. Some of the science is now a bit outdated but the historical context means that they are all still well worth reading.

The Blood of the Lamb - Thomas Monteleone 1992 (Orion 1993)




"Inspired by prophecies contained in the Bible and the writings of Nostradamus, Jesuit-educated Monteleone delivers a forceful novel of the politics of power and the power of belief. A young priest suddenly develops frightening, miraculous powers, leading to an apocalyptic battle between good and evil..." (from Goodreads)

Basically a thriller with horror and supernatural elements, it's not a spoiler to reveal that the priest is the product of an experiment by a cabal inside the Vatican to bring about the second coming by using blood from the Turin Shroud to clone Jesus.
I quite enjoyed the book without ever fully suspending disbelief in the daft premise. It won the Bram Stoker award for best horror novel of 1992.

Jennings and Darbishire - Anthony Buckeridge 1952 (Collins 1954)




"Jennings and Darbishire set up their own newspaper, the Form Three Times, have a confusing chat with some French natives, accidentally set a photography developing dish on fire, try a spot of fishing - down Old Wilkie's chimney - and get lost in the environs of Pottlewhistle Halt. Old Wilkie's sister comes to their rescue when Venables makes a ghastly bish, and gives them a scoop about Old Wilkie's sporting past." (From Wikipedia)

This is the fourth (out of twenty four) humorous novels about Jennings and his fellow boarders in a 1950s prep school in Sussex. I read a few of them when I was in short trousers myself and on a whim, and hoping to cheer myself up, read one of them during lockdown last year. I enjoyed it so much that I bought the whole set. I'd recommend the earlier (pre 1990s) editions published before the hatchet faced commissars of political correctness got their grubby paws on them.

Tripwire - Lee Child 1999 (Bantam 2000)




"Hanging around in Key West, digging pools by hand and moonlighting as a bouncer for a topless bar, Reacher finds himself wanted in New York by a Mrs. Jacob.

She turns out to be the divorced wealthy attorney Jodie Garber, daughter of General Leon Garber, Reacher’s mentor and surrogate father in the Army. Jodie hired an investigator to find Reacher because her father was dying.

Jack and Jodie begin investigating her father’s last project, a search on behalf of the elderly parents of their military MIA son. They soon find themselves hunted by a psychopath businessman and military criminal crippled in the Vietnam War, who has a shadowy business and other secrets to protect." (from LoveJackReacher.com)

A reviewer called this book "daft but fun" and that's about right. A good writer can make far fetched plots seem plausible but I never "believed" this one. It doesn't help that the Reacher character is almost superhuman with pectoral muscles which can stop .38 bullets.
This is my first Lee Child book (£1 on a charity stall) and I enjoyed it despite the implausability and it is an easy read if that's the mood you're in. I've got another one of the series and I'm sure I'll read that one but probably won't be ordering any more.

259 poems from the mid 20th century published as a set text for A-Level English in the 1960s, this had been lying around the house for years so I thought I'd give it a go.

Some of the poets are well known such as Dylan Thomas and T.S. Eliot but most I'd never heard of and only a handful of the poems were so famous that I had read them previously.
I'm not really a lover of poetry but most of these were short and it was quite easy to read two or three a day. As it was used in schools it comes with a booklet of notes which define some of the more obscure words, people and places and also help explain what the hell the poet was drivelling on about which in most cases was pretty opaque. Even after reading the notes I was sometimes non the wiser and in my opinion few of the verses reach the giddy heights of Temple's entry to The Form Three Times poetry competition in "Jennings and Darbishire":

"This is going to hurt"

Real life diaries of a junior doctor, a recommended read, easy to read some of it and carry on at a later date, some gruesome stuff and some good light hearted humour on true events

The Midnight Library

A story of a lady transported to a place where it gives her a chance to undo regrets and try out alternative routes

Decent read so far

(from wikipedia)

This is the third book in a series that I read as a grubby kneed tyke and which I revisited during lockdown. The nostalgia hit from re-reading the first one was so strong that I did a "Jennings" and bought the whole lot. This one involves hidden treasure in the titular hotel in the Sussex town of Rye and has no relevance to the sexual orientation of the family Delphinidae.

Awful Ends: The British Museum Book of Epitaphs
David M. Wilson 1992 (British Museum Press 1994)



Another one given as a present donkeys ago has finally hit the bedside table. I always have a book like this on the go, one which you can dip into for the odd five or ten minutes.

It was a mildly entertainging read with the humourous ones being the best although the author does point out that many of them are probably fictional.

Scotland appears to be a rich source of material but John's mates might well have slapped their foreheads when they saw this carved in stone:
and I ought to ask Stevie Lou how accurate this one is:

Here lies the bones of Elizabeth Charlotte,
Born a virgin, died a harlot.
She was aye a virgin at seventeen
A remarkable thing in Aberdeen

Martin Gardner's Sixth Book of Mathematical Games from Scientific American
Martin Gardner - 1971 (W.H. Freeman 1971)





"The 25 chapters of this Gardner collection are based on the columns published in Scientific American but never before in book form. The author has updated and expanded his materials, and has included source references, letters from his readers, and answers to all problems. Here are many hours of instructive mathematical diversion. Readers who are looking for good fun and intellectual stimulation will find them in this book." (from stem.org.uk)

Martin Gardner wrote about 300 "Mathematical Games" columns for Scientific American between 1957 and 1986. They were all later published in updated form in fifteen books. Gardner didn't have any mathematical training himself but these columns were read by mathematicians and inspired many young people to study maths. I've got all fifteen books and am working my way through them and I'm deriving a lot of enjoyment although I tend not to attempt the problems and puzzles (too hard!).