Reading

Whilst I was on holiday I finished the last in the twenty book series of the Aubrey/Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian. This is the third time I have read them. The first time was in random order. The second and third time were in series order. I even annotated the reads on the third pass! It is only recently that I have discovered reading for pleasure. Perhaps it is the new glasses. Perhaps I am getting old or tired of shouting at the TV.

H gave me a book to read "The Time Travellers Guide to Medieval England" by Ian Mortimer. It is written like a traveller's guide, as the title suggests. It was an entertaining, informative and quick read. I was watching a programme on TV the other evening only to find great swathes of the presenters narrative being lifted straight out of this book.

I am not reading anything for the moment. I am hoping H will come up with something. I got a copy of "The Condition of the Working Classes in England" by Frederick Engels whilst on holiday. Not your typical holiday bodice ripper novel. I am a bit scared to start it. Engels toured Britain in the 1840's, especially the industrial NorthWest and was appalled by the conditions the populace endured. I am no political animal so I am not sure I will "enjoy" the read but I might be able to read it as a piece a social history since Engels and his mate, Karl Marx, have Manchester connections both spending time in Manchester considering the plight of the proletariat and Marx writing the Communist Party Manifesto, or part of it, in Ryland's Libary. As we know a bunch of people [The Russians to name but several million] took up his manifesto. It has shaped world history. The grubby herberts toiling in the cotton mills of the NorthWest of England had an impact in the world, unfortunately, well after their time on the planet was past.