More reading in 2011

One thing I certainly resolve to do this year is read more. For some reason I have read relatively few books (by my standards anyway). I think the rot set in when I damaged my knee and spent a lot of time housebound. That should have been the ideal opportunity to make inroads into the huge pile of unread books and DVDs in the back bedroom but I found myself lacking the energy or concentration. Even when I was mobile again I was not reading much,

This will change. I've just started Napoleon is Dead: Lord Cochrane and the Great Stock Exchange Scandal by Richard Dale, a very readable account of a scandal that ended with the disgrace of Lord Thomas Cochrane, one of stars of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars (and he was up against a lot of stiff competition) and a national hero (and one of my personal heroes).

The Great man himself

Perhaps as a result of his disgrace (I am not convinced he was guilty) he went on to be a hero in South America, being instrumental in the the Independence of both Chile and Brazil. The Chilean Navy has had at least four vessels bearing his name (a fifth was under construction in Britain when WWI, It was commandeered by the Royal Navy, converted into the Aircraft Carrier HMS Eagle). The Royal Navy has had two ships named HMS Cochrane and a shore establishment in Rosyth.

The Current Almirante Cochrane when still HMS Norfolk

But I digress. Despite the huge pile of unread books in the back bedroom my next read (or read after next) will be Architects of the Resurrection by R M Douglas.This deals with a small political party Ailtirí na hAiséirghe created in 1942.

Accoding to Wikipedia the party's objectives included the creation of a one party state under the rule of an all-powerful leader; the criminalisation of the public use of the English language; discriminatory measures against Jews; the building-up of a massive conscript army; and the reconquest of Northern Ireland.

Apparently it had support from people who went on to be influential in politics and other fields later in life.

I will be interested to read more about this fascist rabble

5th sentence page 123

I saw this meme over at Finding Life Hard? and I thought I'd give it a go. THe rules are

1. Look up page 123 in the nearest book to you at the time.

2. Find the fifth sentence and write it down. Then write down the three sentences that follow.

3. Once you've done this find three other people you'd like to tag and pass it to them.




The nearest book to hand is the one I'm currently reading: The Irish and the Spanish Civil War by Robert Stradling.

The fifth sentence is:

• If ever a complete list of members had existed at NCP offices, it had gone missing

The next three sentences are:

• At least a third of the corps had possessed passports in 1936.
  

• But these documents were collected by Tom Gunning in Spain, and many were never returned.
  

• Gunning was supposed to be making a complete list of names and addresses, though it seems likely he never completed this task.

I won't pass it on but feel free to have a go if you want.

The great unread

Vernon God Little may have won the the Booker Prize but it also appears to have won a more dubious accolade: According to a survey pubblished today, DBC Pierre’s satire was the book least likely to be finished - 35% of respondents who bought or borrowed the book failed to get to the end (Me, I loved it but his second book Ludmilla’s Broken English was dreadful), beating Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire into second place. Ulysses came third.

According to the survey Fifty-five per cent of those polled said they buy books for decoration, and have no intention of actually reading them. This suggests that some readers buy "intellectual credibility for the bookshelf" rather than books they actually want to read. "Far too often people are buying books because they think they will be good for them, rather than because they think they'll enjoy them," said Rachel Cugnoni from the publisher Vintage.

Oxfam and other charity shops have had quite a few unfinished books off us over the years. I really don’t get why people would buy books just for decoration though. Then again both myself and the not-wife are old enough and ugly enough to give a damn about what people thought of the contents of our bookshelves!