Howard Batey reviewed Friends and heroes by Olivia Manning (Balkan trilogy -- vol.3.)
Illuminating book set in Bucharest during the 'phoney war' from September 1939 up to the fall if Paris.
Reviews and Comments
Enjoying fiction again after reading for 2 degrees in History. Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Crime, Classics, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Thrillers, Horror, Satire, Humour, Biography, etc., etc., etc....
About me - short version: A Cwmbranista in political exile in Llandaff. Happy Public Servant. Loves Heidi (Wife), reading, History, Rugby, Elvis, & Tea. Posting here in personal capacity.
About me - longer version: I'm in my mid-50s, originally from Cwmbran but lived in the Swansea/Neath area for 20 years (in that time I also spent 6 months living/working in India) before relocating to Cardiff 6 years ago.
I work for the British Council & am a big believer in education in general & lifelong learning in particular.
Love reading, photography, travel, food & drink, arts/theatre, & listening to BBC Radio 6.
I also have a ridiculous moustache.
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Howard Batey reviewed The great fortune by Olivia Manning (Balkan trilogy -- vol.1.)
Review of 'The Great Fortune'
4 stars
Howard Batey reviewed Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
London, 1965. An unworldly young woman believes that a charismatic psychotherapist, Collins Braithwaite, has driven …
Case Study
5 stars
Terrific!
Howard Batey reviewed The lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon
The Lonely Londoners is a 1956 novel by Trinidadian author Samuel Selvon. Its publication was …
Review: The Lonely Londoners
3 stars
Howard Batey reviewed Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
Go Set a Watchman is a novel by Harper Lee written before the Pulitzer Prize-winning …
'Go Set A Watchman'
3 stars
Odd book, it is well written and relatively easy to read but I felt it didn't really go anywhere, and left me wondering what the point of it was.
Howard Batey reviewed Treacle Walker by Alan Garner
Review of Treacle Walker
3 stars
Quite short and presents as a children's book but I'm not entirely sure that kids would understand it. I'm not sure I did.
Howard Batey finished reading Treacle Walker by Alan Garner
A short, mystical story.
Howard Batey reviewed Midsummer Night's Dream by SparkNotes
My review of A Midsummer Night's Dream
4 stars
Howard Batey reviewed The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (The Forever War, #1)
The Forever War
4 stars
Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain by John Grindrod
4 stars
An enoyable non-fiction read on a subject - the postwar rebuilding of homes in Britain - that does not immediately suggest that it would be so engaging. As I read I was struck by how many of the places of my life - Cwmbran, Hemel Hempstead, Plymouth, Milton Keynes, etc. - featured in the book, but if you are interested in mid-century modern design, brutalism, etc. then there's something here for you even if you don't know these places.
I'd score it 4 out of 5, it misses out on a higher score for the (frankly lazy) mistake of stating Cwmbran's location as being "between Cardiff and Newport", a 30 second look on Google maps would've shown this as nonsense.
Howard Batey finished reading Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain by John Grindrod
An enoyable non-fiction read on a subject - the postwar rebuilding of homes in Britain - that does not immediately suggest that it would be so engaging. As I read I was struck by how many of the places of my life - Cwmbran, Hemel Hempstead, Plymouth, Milton Keynes, etc. - featured in the book, but if you are interested in mid-century modern design, brutalism, etc. then there's something here for you even if you don't know these places.
I'd score it 4 out of 5, it misses out on a higher score for the (frankly lazy) mistake of stating Cwmbran's location as being "between Cardiff and Newport", a 30 second look on Google maps would've shown this as nonsense.
Howard Batey rated Unbearable Lightness of Being: 5 stars
Howard Batey rated A House for Mr Biswas: 5 stars
A House for Mr Biswas by V. S. Naipaul
A House for Mr Biswas is a 1961 novel by V. S. Naipaul, significant as Naipaul's first work to achieve …
Howard Batey rated The Promise: 4 stars
Howard Batey rated The Darling Buds of May: 3 stars
The Darling Buds of May by H. E. Bates
The Darling Buds of May is a novella by British writer H. E. Bates published in 1958. It was the …