Reviews and Comments

What a title!  I read this during the Coronavirus madness and the title fits that situation perfectly.  This was a collection created after Bukowski died and they've done a good job pulling together material that showed his mood in those years.  From unwanted visitors telling him how great he is to freeloading friends trying to get a few bucks from him to his cats.  Each time I read one of his poems about cats I can see how much he lived his life like a cat, eating, drinking, going after ladies and then spending the rest of his time chilling.

There are a number of pieces here about death, other writers, artists, friends, women, his mother and his own.  Highlight of mine was him describing himself as being in no hurry to meet death, he'll just sit there drinking wine and watch the stars whilst waiting for Death to make its move.  He is also very open about himself and tries to explain why he is like he is, "beast" is incredible, it leaves you with a lump in your chest.

Favourite poem for me in this book was "lifedance"

"the area dividing the brain and the soul
is affected in many ways by
experience--
some lose all mind and become soul:
insane.
some lose all soul and become mind:
intellectual.
some lose both and become:
accepted."

There is so much in this book, how one man could right so much that could have meaning to so many people is mind blowing.  The man was a genius and this book rocks!

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/05/10/what-matters-most-is-how-well-you-walk-through-the-fire-by-charles-bukowski/

This is quite a unique book, Thubron must have been the last person to freely walk around Cyprus in the 1970's before things went to hell and the island was split in two.  During his walk he interviews both Greeks and Turks to try and judge their level of animosity towards each other.  On the whole they seemed quite peaceful, not much hatred towards each other...surprisingly there wasn't any hatred towards the British who had carried out their usual colonial brutality on the locals.  Everybody he met was kind and they fed him, gave him shelter and asked how much his boots cost.

I've read a lot of travel books and this is one of those rare books about a country I have visited and it was nice to see Thubron visit a village that I have been to, each place got a little cheer from me.

The best part of the book was when Thubron found a small cave at a popular ruined site and he went exploring, soon the cave got smaller and darker.  Thubron was relieved to see some daylight coming from a gap in a paving slab above him and had a look through it, so see a lady looking back at him.  Just imagine the shock of seeing an eye staring back at you from beneath the paving slabs.

This was an interesting read, I liked how much the focus was on the history of the island,  there is so much to learn about Cyprus and this only touches the surface.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/05/09/journey-into-cyprus-by-colin-thubron/

What a difference there is between reading paper copies of books over their digital counterparts!  I first read Alice in Wonderland on a kindle many years ago, whilst I didn't enjoy it much I could see it was a clever book,  I felt that Alice was a bit of an obnoxious brat who had no respect for anybody else.  Reading this beautiful Penguin clothbound version was a very different experience.  It was a joy to read, very clever usage of words and riddles and this time Alice came across as a girl with a smart imagination, somebody who finds joy in everything but who gets easily annoyed by the bizarre characters she finds herself hanging out with.  I especially enjoyed the Queen of Hearts this time, demanding everybody gets executed and then conveniently forgetting that fact when she needs some friends...I can see who President Trump has modelled himself on.

This was the first read through of Through The Looking Glass for me and it is ok, a very strange story.  Carroll being able to create a fantastical story based around a game of chess was impressive, I fear for the next person to challenge me to a game of chess cos I have found new rules in this book.

The longest part of this book was the introduction, it seemed to go on and on, way too in-depth to be included in this book.  It starts off quite shocking, the real life relationship between Alice and Carroll would raise all kinds of alarms these days,  it was very very dodgy and crazy that he got away with it.   

I have enjoyed this and I reckon that maybe Lewis Carroll was the father of Bizarro fiction, I certainly haven't read much that is crazier than this.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/04/30/alices-adventures-in-wonderland-and-through-the-looking-glass-by-lewis-carroll/

My knowledge of Salzburg before picking up this book was Mozart was born there and then booted out, it is a pretty city surrounded by mountains and the hills there seem to be alive with music.  There is a lot to learn about Salzburg in this book and you realise this as Nowak drops a very interesting fact on the first page, this instantly drew me in with lots of "no ways" from this reader.

The best way to to describe this book is one of those city tour guide books but written by somebody who adores the city.  Nowak tells you all the best museums, he lets you know of some of the best views and introduces you to some really interesting locals.  Visiting the city you're not going to meet these hotel owners, architects, gallery directors and artists so reading this book will give you an extra edge on anybody else.  

One of the most interesting things I learnt was about crime novels, there are so many that are based at Salzburg and yet there is barely one murder a year there and that always gets solved.....and as Nowak points out this is perfect for a crime novel as cases there always get solved too.  Also covered in the book that I found quite interesting is city planning,  there is very little space available and getting a new building through planning or even resurfacing a road takes an age.

This was a good book and there is something for everybody here I reckon.  One day if I ever decide to leave the safety of this island I live on then this would be one place I'd visit, both my daughters are quite artistic and I think they'd love it there.  One bug bear with the book....no map...I love finding the places talked about on a map so had to keep going to google to have a look.

Many thanks to Haus Publishing for this copy.  I've noticed they have a book about Hemingway in Italy so might have to check that out.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/04/25/salzburg-city-of-culture-by-hubert-nowak/

What a fascinating read,  just like Robert Penn and his Ash tree I got so much from this book.  Penn one day decides to find the perfect ash tree, chop it down and see how many things he can make from it.  Each chapter is based around an item being made, from Axe handles, to bowls, and even a deadly arrow.  In the chapter you find out the history of how ash wood has been used to make that product, a history of it's use, how it is made and the person who Penn has located to make it.  So many interesting little things to learn about. 

My favourite part of the book has to be Robin Wood and his bowl making, he uses a pole lathe, no electric lathe with CNC programming or big kilns for drying the wood, this is all done with man power.  I've seen a pole lathe in action before and it is mesmerising, the fact that the wood worker can't see what he is doing as the wood turns and yet somehow create something smooth and beautiful is insane, I own a Spurtle (porridge stirrer) that was made on a pole lathe and it is a thing of beauty.


I liked how much respect Penn had for the tree, he takes the time to pick the right one, he feels the guilt about cutting it down and promises the tree it will not be wasted and looking at the list of items at the end of the book he kept his end of the bargain.  He also makes sure that some of the tree (the brash) is left behind to rot down for local insects, he also goes back a couple of years later to check on things which was a nice addition to the book.

I do have a couple of issues with the book, 1:  the title, Penn doesn't actually make anything out of the tree, I think it should be called the PEOPLE who made things out of trees.  2:  it is hard to picture a few of the items being made, especially the desk, luckily Penn has many pictures and more information on his website, it is really worthwhile checking it out HERE, great to have a read if you are deciding whether this book is for you or not.

This was an excellent book, I enjoyed every page of it and goes onto my list of books to recommend to everybody.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/04/13/the-man-who-made-things-out-of-trees-by-robert-penn/

Eothen is a rather witty guide book, it isn't so much a travelogue in the traditional sense, it is a memoir of a series events that happened around the author with most of the focus being on the author himself and how he handled those situations...he just sat there looking the part and let his "man" deal with things.  Kinglake has quite a modern sense of humour,  he doesn't see the point of doing the standard travel book because all those places have been visited and written about before, so go read one of those books if that's what your after.  With this book you're gonna get info on how to handle yourself like a true Englishman.  


I read this book during the Coronavirus lockdown and I found it interesting the similarities to Kinglake's journey through plague ridden Egypt, the social distancing is in effect there...use a donkey to charge at people whilst yelling at them to get out of the way...and the self isolation undertaken by some.  A surprising topic first book I read during the events here.

Kinglake is a very good story teller and this book is full of little stories that draw you in easily, every now and then he gets quite comical, for example describing his old headmaster as using his very bushy eyebrows as arms to direct pupils.  There is the odd satirical comment dotted here and there,  he mentions Britain using Egypt to plant her feet in her efforts to control India.  I did wonder at times how much of this was true, did he really get lost in the desert and instead of backtracking to safety he carried on regardless?  Whether it was true or not it made for some good reading.

The book is finished off with a mini biography by Hannah Rogerson, which was a nice edition, a chance to find out more about the man, relive a couple of his best jokes and to find out that he was one of the first people to be cremated...interesting pub quiz fact if they ever happen again.

Eland has managed to pluck another forgotten classic out of history to bring to the modern reader, so kudos to them for that and thanks to them also for this review copy.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/04/04/eothen-traces-of-travel-brought-home-from-the-east-by-alexander-william-kinglake/

Thank god this is over, the final book in the Harry Potter series was the worst of the lot, up until this point I was able to read each book without hitting any walls, but this one was full of so much filler that I struggled to the end. I guess they call it a slow burner?

Harry Potter is on the run, he won't let anybody help him, which he says is because he doesn't know who to trust but I think it is because he just doesn't know what he is doing. There are huge chunks of pages where nothing happens, the kids are just siting in a tent....at one point they read another book. The end battle scenes are good, would have been spectacular if Rowling had shown it from different peoples perspectives, but she refused to move away from the focus on Harry, which was a real shame cos the battle was big enough to have left you out of breath. She does a good job of tying up loose ends, answering all those questions about Dumbles and revealing whether Snape was actually good or evil, to me he'll always be the hero of this series. As for the epilogue??? this was one of the most sickening sweet things I've ever read, almost threw up, I would have loved Rowling to make one last little twist.

For the series as a whole it gets 2 stars from me. I am impressed that Rowling got millions of kids around the world reading some pretty hefty books, what I don't get is the adults and why they love it so much, there are better books out there...obviously not To The Lighthouse cos that is still the worst book ever!

This Folio edition of the classic short story collection by Hans Christian Andersen is beautiful, it comes in a protective box, bright red with gold writing on the cover, inside mixed in with the stories are some lovely coloured illustrations by W. Heath Robinson, you can spend ages gazing at these beautiful pictures.  I would also like to thank my Goodreads friend Jazzy Lemon for sending me this book to read to my daughter.

Like the Grimm's Fairytales these famous stories many of which have been made into children's movies by Disney, are nothing like like the story you probably know.  I had great joy at work when I found out a colleague's favourite movie was The Little Mermaid, I told her about how the original played out, she was not impressed.  There is a lot of violence and cruelty in these stories, there is a lot of piousness (I think that is the right word) too which can feel a bit sickly at times.

Whilst reading this to my daughter I enjoyed seeing her eyes light up when we started a story that she knew, she loved the differences from Disney had shown her, I don't think she enjoyed the unknown stories as much though.  She must have enjoyed it though as she has demanded the book to read again herself.

Favourite story for me was The Emperor's New Clothes,  reminds me a lot of Boris and his "brexit deal"  :-)

Blog review with pictures> felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/03/14/hans-andersens-fairy-tales-by-hans-christian-andersen/

I have been reading bits and pieces online by Dara for a while now and I'm always impressed with how eloquently he writes.  He sees nature in a way that so few can, he sees beauty in everything (because of Dara I now leave dandelions alone, no more ripping them up) and he has possibly the most patient parents ever,  mine would given me a slap if I started picking apart animal scat to find bugs, instead of freaking out Dara's parents discuss with him what his found.  This book shows that it is this parenting that has helped to create "A Rock-star of the Natural World".

Dara puts all his emotion onto these pages, telling the reader about the bullying he experienced at school, feeling so alone and not fitting in, he shares how close he came to ending it all.  I still see him getting bullied on twitter, it doesn't seem to be kids anymore, this is adults now and anybody with a soul can't help but defend him, it is great to see so many rallying to his defence.  I know a couple people who are autistic and reading this book gave me an insight into what is going on with them and how they deal with being overwhelmed.

One of my favourite books is Notes From Walnut Tree Farm by Roger Deakin and I couldn't help but compare when reading, it has that same smooth writing that hooks the reader.  The smallest thing Dara writes about, from a feather to a stone, becomes so easy to picture.  I reckon this book will be heavily quoted by writers in future nature books for years to come.  One of the best debut's I have ever read...still can't believe somebody so young could write something so wonderful and I look forward to what is next for him.

I'd also like to thanks Little Toller for the copy of this book they sent me.  This gets a 100% recommendation from me.

Blog reivew: felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/05/03/diary-of-a-young-naturalist-by-dara-mcanulty/

What an incredible homage to a Mother!  Sarah has had to deal with so much grief and all in a relatively short space of time, taking that many hits from life in one go makes grieving almost impossible.  She gets herself into more trouble which adds more stress and pushes her very close to the edge.  She needed to find a way out of the darkness and quickly.   A cue for the mighty hills to step in and give her grief an outlet.

Being out and about walking in the hills is very therapeutic, alone with your thoughts, able to calmly think things through and being untethered from all those gadgets that cause stress in life.  I work in IT and am lucky to have across the road from my work a common, lunchtime walks splashing through puddles can get me through some tough days.  It's not just humans that feel this, the happiest my dog has ever looked is when up in the hills.

Sarah takes to hill walking big time, tackling the Munros, Kilimanjaro and the Himalayas.  As she walks she tells the reader about her life, about her mum, grandparents, sons and loves.  All her dark moments are put onto the page full of raw emotion.  You start of this book not knowing who this person is but by the end you feel as if you've know her all your life.

This has been a wonderful book to read, I did invest myself emotionally big time and at the end of certain chapters I was left with a heavy lump in my chest.  Near the end Sarah does a bit of investigating and I found myself on the edge of my seat, hoping that she would find the answers that she wanted.  This book comes highly recommended by me, give it a read to see the magical healing that nature has.

Blog review with pictures: felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/03/24/just-another-mountain-by-sarah-jane-douglas/

Dilys Powell was one hell of a woman, way ahead of her time in some aspects, it is not often you would find a woman travelling on her own in the 1940/50's, especially in a country that was very male oriented.  She handles herself well, she doesn't shy away from any experience...she doesn't get too fazed with how often she gets lost.  She started her love affair with Greece in the 1930's when she joined her husband on archaeology digs and it must have taken a huge amount of character to go back after his sudden death. 


I have to admit I found this book a little tough to get into, the first 50 pages are brief memoirs of early visits, the villagers get mentioned in a way that implies you should know them already, but when she goes back for her first proper visit after WWII things improve big time.  She travels a lot of the time by foot, meeting a lot of locals, her main purpose for being there is to find out how the Greeks are recovering from WWII and the civil war they had immediately afterwards.  One thing that stands out about the Greeks was how hospitable they were, always offering a free drink, food, lift or a roof to sleep under.  Another visit was to document one of the first instances of aquatic archaeology using a new fangled invention....the aqualung.  She shows just how independent she was by giving one of these a go without any training and nearly killing herself, this didn't put her off from trying again later.

There is one underpinning feeling the reader gets throughout these travels and that is grief, revisiting these places she spent so much time with her husband brings back a lot of memories.  When she visits his grave for the first time in a couple of decades you really can feel her pain in the words.

Yet another fine release from Eland Publishing, part memoir and part history book this was a fascinating read.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/02/23/affair-of-the-heart-by-dilys-powell/

This is such a harrowing read, it shows the worst and best of humanity. The worst being Bashar al-Assad the psychopath in charge of Syria as he rampages across a country full of culture and history, torturing and murdering those who disagree with him and his beliefs. The worst is also the rest of the world sat idly by saying things along the lines of don't you cross that red line, so Assad does and there is zero response. It is also the media, not keeping focus on an event like this, keeping it in the public eye is the one way to guilt a response from world leaders.

The best of humanity is those who stayed behind to rebel against Assad's rule to fight for freedom of speech without the threat of prison, for the right to live their lives and get an education. You have some who aren't there to fight but are there to offer medical aid, some stay to protect their home and one even stays because he was training in dentistry and he saw all the dentists leaving for safety.

Mike Thomson starts off this book well, a little story about the unique grapes that grow only in Darayya, a beautiful place, and then that all gets torn down by what has been happening there in recent years. Mike tries to get there to report but it is deemed too dangerous for him, instead not giving up he manages to contact people still in the town so that he can tell their stories and let the world know what is happening. What he wasn't planning on was uncovering one of the most extraordinary stories to come out of a conflict zone. A group of people risking all to save books and create a secret library so that the people can still educate themselves. It becomes a sanctuary for many from the almost continuous bombardment from pro-Assad forces.

Their ability to survive, on such a small amount of food, to live under such immense stress and yet still hold out hope for a positive future blows my mind....incredible people. As soon as I finished this book I went online to see a headline that Assad is still getting warnings from other countries, this time Turkey, and yet still nothing happening.

Everybody should read this book showing just how strong the Human spirit is and once they've read it, share it.

Blog review is here> felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/02/04/syrias-secret-library-by-mike-thomson/

A while back I was given 3 Alan Bennett books, I'd never read anything by him before and started off with The Lady in the Van (because I had seen the film), next was Father Father Burning Bright (because it was the one in the middle) and whilst they were very good they were nothing compared to the 3rd book. The Clothes They Stood Up In is funny, quirky and quite absurd, if the twist was more sinister then it would have worked as an episode of The Twilight Zone. The Ransome's come back from the opera to find they have been burgled, everything has been taken, the carpets, toilet paper, underwear, everything was gone....they even took the casserole that was in the oven! Totally bizarre, why would anybody do that and how could they do it without anybody noticing?

The story then becomes a journey of self discovery for Mrs Ransome as she feels lighter having been released from a lifetime of clutter she finds joy in rebuilding her life, finding new shops and changing her character of talking to people far different from her. It is a rather sweet little book, plenty of laughs and it kept me interested with the various plot twists trying to figure what was going on. I was surprised to find this was Bennett's first book, a hell of a start to his career.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/02/01/the-clothes-they-stood-up-in-by-alan-bennett/

Good old Brian Blessed, a national treasure, you gotta be pretty evil to dislike him. He has been on the TV for many many years and any scene he is in he steals it. Most memorable is his part in Flash Gordon, loved that movie when I was a kid. I picked up this book thinking it was a biography, instead it is a collection of anecdotes with a whole load of side-stories thrown in.

What I loved about the book was hearing about his childhood, he was one crazy young man that caused his parents no end of grief, even at such a young age you can still see the man he was going to be. His first job at the undertakers was very interesting, especially from Brian's outlandish point of view. Also reading about his time with his Dad, some real love there, was great. His dad seemed like quite a character too.

Reading about how he got roles, the people he met and the movies he saved was interesting at first, but I did find myself getting a bit bored with all the unbelievable stories and all the name dropping. Some of the stuff he did on set was borderline worrying, his treatment of some of the smaller actors in Flash Gordon would definitely cause him to get fired today. One thing that was only briefly covered was his time up mountains, I would have loved to read more about that, I think it may be covered in a separate book so will have to look into that.

I've learnt loads and been inspired to watch a number of his movies. I've also recently seen that the man himself actually reads the audiobook so maybe that would be a better format to check out for this book. All in all it was good fun even if it has it's weak points.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/01/30/absolute-pandemonium-my-louder-than-life-story-by-brian-blessed/

Review coming soon once the book haThis is a wonderful, almost lyrical, a book that makes you want to go outside and have a look at all the stars. I did this whilst reading the book, I live in a large town that absolutely loves excessive lighting and I was able to see 8 stars and the moon. How depressing!

Matt Gaw takes the reader with him when he goes out into the night, his writing really captures your imagination and you feel his joy when the clouds part and he sees the stars, you pick up on his fear when he gets lost in the forest and you feel a pit in your stomach when he becomes overcome in the dark and is reduced to tears. Such magical writing to be able to create those feelings in a reader. I had a flashback when reading this, the only time I have nearly crapped myself in fear, as a scout doing a night walk, we were lost and walking down a track by a field, suddenly the field erupts as 1000s of roosting birds took off at once and flew just over our heads. It wouldn't have been nearly half as scary during the daytime, but at night it felt like the end of the world.

The book's chapters each have their own focus, from the moon, to a nighttime city walk and to spending time on an island in Scotland called Coll. You really see a change in Gaw, as he adapts to the darkness he develops a natural aversion to light, it becomes overwhelming being in all that noise and light, it was also great to see his child-like wander at shooting stars...which resulted in a telling off from his wife. Also enjoyed reading as he tries to get his wife and kids involved but often that was impossible when they were warm and cosy in bed.

I have enjoyed this book and it has made me pine for a view of the stars, I'm sure I saw them when I was a scout but that is a lost memory now. I'm up in Scotland this summer, will have to see how dark it gets up there.s been released.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/02/05/under-the-stars-a-journey-into-light-by-matt-gaw/