Review: Murray McCAIN - “Books”

Publ: 1963
My own copy
ISBN: -
Genre: Children’s non-fiction / picture book
Pages: c20p
Came across it sorting in the loft!
Rating: ***** ****

A book I bought in 1971 in a second-hand bookshop in London and have never seen anywhere else.

It is a delightful little children’s book about books. Full of lovely quotations.


Quotations

A book is full of surprises, feelings and learning and what growing up is like and loving and all the really big things there are.

....Anyway, a book will tell you if you want to find out. The whole world is in books.

A book is like a friend because when you read a book you feel close to someone. Some books are Valentines. They seem to say I LOVE YOU.

A book is like another room, another town, or another world where someone is waiting to speak to you.

Review:- A W BOYD – “The Country diary of A Cheshire Man”

Publ: 1946 Collins
My own copy
ISBN: -
Genre: Non-fiction –Diary
Pages: 320p
I read and do research on diaires
Rating: ***** *****

What led you to pick up this book?
I read and do research on diaires – especially ones with a countryside content.

Describe the book.
This is my favourite country diary and the third time that I have read it. A W Boyd was a noted English naturalist and the diary covers the period from 1933 to 1945. Since I live in Cheshire the book is especially relevant to me and reading about agricultural practices that have gone for ever is very nostalgic. The changes in the wildlife are not so much nostalgic as sad – in most cases they reflect a loss of birdlife of enormous proportions. There are however bright spots as the book shows an increase in insects which in those days were scarce and are now quite common.

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
Regrettably, although I have two copies I don’t have one with a cover. (I have now ordered another copy - this one will have a dust jacket and I am looking forward to it arriving. I am hoping that it will be in the tradition of the New Naturalist series.)

Would I recommend it?
Absolutely – to anyone interested in the countryside, Cheshire, natural history, superstitions, diaries... in fact anyone!

A.W. BOYD (1885-1959) was a countryman and naturalist, author of A Country Parish (1951) one of the famous Collins New Naturalist series. One of the last of the old-style amateur naturalists; agent of the family yarn business James Boyd & Son. A Cheshire man to his fingertips, the GIlbert White of Great Budworth.

Great field skills; among the most active pioneer bird-ringers. Original papers on the tree sparrow, greenfinch and swallow; put sewage farms and the Staffordshire lakes on the birdwatcher's map. Left vast archive of notebooks and nature diaries, all in his characteristic neat minuscule hand.

Editor of British Birds 1944-58, and a leading light of the BTO, BOU and RSPB in the 1940s and 1950s. His long-running column in Manchester Guardian resulted in The Country Diary of a Cheshire Man (1946). Master of country lore; observed ancient local customs, always raising his hat to magpies as he rode along in his high car.

Served in the Lancashire Fusiliers at Gallipoli, losing an eye and gaining an MC. The most modest of men, kind, affable and without enemies. Uncle and Mentor of James Fisher

Review:- Dennis S Wood and Vanessa Field – “The Vincent Family Diary”

Publ: 2002
My own copy
ISBN: 1 84220 029 1
Genre: Non-fiction – Annotated Diary
Pages: 180p
I read and do research on diaires
Rating: ***** **


What led you to pick up this book?
I read and do research on diaires – especially ones with a countryside content.

Describe the book.
The years 1885 and 1886 as seen through the eyes of the Vincent family – a Victorian gentry family from near Bangor in North Wales. The original book in which it was written was given by the family’s mother to Mollie Vincent to keep and on those odd occasions when she wasn’t available some of her brothers kept it. At first it takes some getting used top because the diarists wrote in the third person but overall it was a very enjoyable read and good insight into the 1880s of the Victorian country gentry.

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
A couple of good prints.

Would I recommend it?
Yes but nothing overly special.

A Jewel of a Site

There are occasions when I wish I was a woman. No, this is not a deep sex-change posting, merely a whim about the beauty of jewellery and the fact that 60 year old men don’t tend to look good in too much of it.


Lisa at Bluestalking pointed me in the direction of a fantastic reading-oriented jewellery site. If you know any woman who loves books there is a jewellery item to suit them at The Well Dressed Reader.

Review - Ellis PETERS - "The Potter's Field"

Publ: 1988
My own copy
ISBN: 978-0-7515-2733-9
Genre: Historical mystery
Pages: 229p
Rating: ***** ***


The last of the Cadfael books for me to read (though the 17th of 20 in the series). A wonderful cosy crime / mystery series set in medieval Shrewsbury in the time of King Stephen.

As an aside - the covers of one of the publications of this series is among my favourite series covers.

ELLIS PETERS see The Will and the Deed