Review: A SHORT HISTORY OF THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SHEEP, Sally Coulthard

• 
  This edition on Kindle (Amazon.com)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08CP7LLT2
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Apollo (August 6, 2020)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 237 pages 

Synopsis  (Amazon.com)

From the plains of ancient Mesopotamia to the vast sheep farms of modern-day Australia, sheep have been central to the human story. Since our Neolithic ancestors' first forays into sheep-rearing nearly 11,000 years ago, these remarkable animals have fed us, clothed us, changed our diet and language and financed the conquest of large swathes of the earth.

Sally Coulthard weaves this fascinating story into a vivid and colourful tapestry of engaging anecdotes and extraordinary ovine facts, whose multiple strands celebrate just how pivotal these woolly animals are to almost every aspect of human society and culture.

My Take

This was a very entertaining, and at the same time easy, read. And of course not my usual crime fiction.

Who knew there would be so many aspects of our relationship with sheep to consider: from how they were originally tamed, to the properties that make wool so useful,  how long we have been relieving sheep of their woolly coats, and then the employment that sheep have sponsored in the human race, the importance they have had economically and socially speaking, the role they have played in the history countries all over the world? 

Each chapter is entertaining with myriad anecdotes. For those who want the serious stuff of history there are scores of references to follow up. I just enjoyed the stories.

Highly recommended.

My rating: 4.6

About the author
Bestselling author and columnist Sally Coulthard has spent the last two decades writing about her favourite things – nature, history and craft. Many of her books delve into the traditions of rural life – from artisans to agriculture – the people, plants and creatures who make the countryside tick.

Sally’s work often weaves together different disciplines, pulling threads from social history, anthropology, archaeology, design and nature writing to bring her diverse subjects to life.

After studying Archaeology and Anthropology at Oxford, and a brief stint working in factual television production, Sally moved back to her beloved Yorkshire, married a gardener and set up a smallholding; it’s from there, surrounded by her family and other animals, that Sally writes from a shed in the old orchard.

Her books have covered a wide range of themes – from native bees and hedgehogs to folklore and the history of rural buildings. The countryside remains a constant source of inspiration – whether it’s barn owls or earthworms – and many of Sally’s books share her love of native wildlife and sustainable living.

Sally also writes a column for Country Living magazine, A Good Life, in which she reveals the triumphs and disasters of growing her own fruit and vegetables, and keeping an unruly gaggle of livestock including Soay sheep, runner ducks and hens.

Sally’s written over twenty-five non-fiction books. Her titles have been translated into a dozen languages and many of her more recent publications are also available as audiobooks

Review: THE OTHER SIDE OF NIGHT: The Carpathia, the Californian and the Night the Titanic Was Lost- audio book

• audio book from Audible.com
• Written by: Daniel Allen Butler
• Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
• Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins 
• Unabridged Audiobook
• first published 2009

Synopsis (Audible.com)

After every disaster, someone has something to hide....

A few minutes before midnight on April 14, 1912, the "unsinkable" RMS Titanic, on her maiden voyage to New York, struck an iceberg. Less than three hours later she lay at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. While the world has remained fascinated by the tragedy, the most amazing drama of those fateful hours was not played out aboard the doomed liner.

It took place on the decks of two other ships, one 58 miles distant from the sinking Titanic, the other barely 10 miles away. The masters of the steamships Carpathia and Californian, Captain Arthur Rostron and Captain Stanley Lord, were informed within minutes of each other that their vessels had picked up the distress signals of a sinking ship. Their actions in the hours and days that followed would become the stuff of legend, as one would choose to take his ship into dangerous waters to answer the call for help, while the other would decide that the hazard to himself and his command was too great to risk responding.

After years of research, Daniel Allen Butler now tells this incredible story, moving from ship to ship on the icy waters of the North Atlantic - in real time - to recount how hundreds of people could have been rescued, but in the end only a few outside of the meager lifeboats were saved. He then looks alike at the U.S. Senate investigation in Washington, and ultimately the British Board of Trade inquiry in London, where the actions of each captain are probed, questioned, and judged, until the truth of what actually happened aboard the Titanic, the Carpathia and the Californian is revealed.

My Take

This is part of my attempt to read a little more than crime fiction: so this is history and non crime fiction.

It is a very compelling account of what happened on the night of April 14/15 1912, when the unsinkable Titanic sank. It is strongly read, although there are passage that I suspect in the book were accompanied by maps and charts, and so the technical details would have been clearer. Nevertheless the account is very clear, almost vindictive, not just an account of what happened but an attempt to explain why it happened.

Like both the official inquiries, the author concludes that Captain Smith of the Titanic was not sufficiently cautious given that he was entering an ice field, and therefore must take some of the blame for the loss of life. The inadequacy of the life boat provision was a major cause of loss of life, plus the fact that the Titanic sent some boats off only half full, and the fact that they had no clear life boat drill, because of course the Titanic was assumed to be unsinkable.  He concludes that the Carpathia was just too far away to get there in time, but that the Californian, though closer, could not have got there in time to pick up all the Titanic's passengers. Nevertheless he claims that a further 300 lives could have been saved.

The loss of the Titanic resulted in considerable changes in safety regulations particularly in relation to provision of life boats, 24 hr radio watches, and clarification of distress signals.

The arguments are well presented and well supported. Makes very interesting reading.

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Daniel Allen Butler, a maritime and military historian, is the best-selling author of "Unsinkable": The Full Story of RMS Titanic, Distant Victory: The Battle of Jutland and the Allied Triumph in the First World War, and The First Jihad: The Battle for Khartoum and the Dawn of Militant Islam. He is an internationally recognized authority on maritime subjects and a popular guest-speaker for several cruise lines. Butler lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

Review: THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG, Muriel Barbery - audio book

• audio book from Audible.com
• Written by: Muriel Barbery
• Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat, Cassandra Morris
• Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins 
• Unabridged Audiobook
• first published 2006
• see Wikipedia

Synopsis  Audible.com

An enchanting New York Times and international best seller and award-winner about life, art, literature, philosophy, culture, class, privilege, and power, seen through the eyes of a 54-year-old French concierge and a precocious but troubled 12-year-old girl.

Renee Michel is the 54-year-old concierge of a luxury Paris apartment building. Her exterior (short, ugly,and plump) and demeanor (poor, discreet, and insignificant) belie her keen, questing mind and profound erudition. Paloma Josse is a 12-year-old genius who behaves as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter. She plans to kill herself on the 16th of June, her 13th birthday.

Both Renee and Paloma hide their true talents and finest qualities from the bourgeois families around them, until a wealthy Japanese gentleman named Ozu moves into building. Only he sees through them, perceiving the secret that haunts Renee, winning Paloma's trust, and helping the two discover their kindred souls. Moving, funny, tender, and triumphant, Barbery's novel exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.

My Take

This novel is a departure into the world of non-crime fiction.
Perhaps listening to the audio version was probably not my best move because it tends to turn the  book into a series of short vignettes. Nevertheless I enjoyed the venture into philosophy in the form of the thoughts of both Renee the concierge and Paloma the teenage school girl.

The novel consists of items from Paloma's journal as she contemplates the meaning of life and Renee's narration about her life as the concierge of a large residential building. The two gradually interweave with each other and pictures are created of other residents in the building and there is a progression of events. In addition there is quite a bit of background about Renee's life over the years.

In the long run I enjoyed it more than I expected to, as I too thought about the philosophical issues they raised.

My rating: 4.2
  
Muriel Barbery (born 28 May 1969) is a French novelist and professor of philosophy.
Her novel L'Élégance du hérisson (translated into English by Alison Anderson as The Elegance of the Hedgehog) topped the French best-seller lists for 30 consecutive weeks and was reprinted 50 times. By May 2008 it had sold more than a million copies. It has been a bestseller in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, South Korea, and in many other countries. It concerns the inhabitants of a small upper-class Paris apartment block, notably its crypto-intellectual concierge, Renée. She and Paloma, the likewise intellectual (even radical) teenage daughter of a resident family, narrate the book in turn. Renée also features briefly in Barbery's first novel, Une Gourmandise, which appeared in Anderson's English translation as Gourmet Rhapsody in 2009. The Elegance of the Hedgehog was also turned into a film called Le Hérisson (in English The Hedgehog), directed by Mona Achache. It was released in 2009.

Review: BRING UP THE BODIES, Hilary Mantel - audio book

• published in 2012
• #2 in the Wolf Hall Trilogy
• winner of the Man Booker Prize 2012
• this edition from Audible
• Narrated by Simon Vance
• Unabridged, length 14 hours 30 mins
• Read an extract

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

The sequel to Hilary Mantel's 2009 Man Booker Prize winner and New York Times bestseller, Wolf Hall delves into the heart of Tudor history with the downfall of Anne Boleyn

Though he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends and the noble families of England. When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice.

At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over three terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned wedding ring. But Anne and her powerful family will not yield without a ferocious struggle. Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies follows the dramatic trial of the queen and her suitors for adultery and treason. To defeat the Boleyns, Cromwell must ally with his natural enemies, the papist aristocracy. What price will he pay for Anne's head?

My Take

BRING UP THE BODIES gives a fascinating insight into Henry VIII's court and in particular into the way Thomas Cromwell, "Master Secretary", manipulated the families around the throne. Cromwell is as much concerned with keeping himself on top as with keeping Henry VIII happy.  The novel focusses on the period of 1535-6, when Anne's attempts to give Henry a male heir fail, and Henry's dissatisfaction, coupled with rumour and innuendo, result in her trial and eventual execution.

I am fairly familiar with Tudor history but this gives the reader a detailed "insider" point of view. I found it impossible to pick "real truth" from fiction, and the characters really do come to life. It is a wonderful way to learn history, or at least to get a commentary on it. The events described will send you off to check the novel against historical fact. Mantel's explanation of what motivates Thomas Cromwell makes you think twice.

Simon Vance does an excellent job of the narration.

You will notice that I am counting this as a non-crime-fiction title, although you could argue that an immense amount of crime is committed.

My rating: 4.7

Read some articles and reviews

• Winner of the Man Booker Prize for the second time running
• New York Times
• The Book Score

Review: TAMAM SHUD, Kerry Greenwood

• Published 2012 by NewSouth Publishing
• ISBN 9-781742-233505
• 220 pages
• source: I bought it

Synopsis (ABC Shop)

In 1948 a man was found dead on an Adelaide beach. Well-dressed and unmarked, he had a half-smoked cigarette by his side, but no identity documents.
Six decades on we don’t know who he was, how he got there or how he died. Somerton Man remains one of Australia’s most mysterious cold cases.
Yet it is the bizarre details of this case that make it the stuff of a spy novel. The missing labels from all his clothing. The tiny piece of paper with the words 'Tamam Shud' found sewn into the lining of the dead man’s coat. A mysterious code found etched inside the very book of Persian poetry from which this note was torn.
Brimming with facts that are stranger than fiction, the case has intrigued novelist Kerry Greenwood for almost her whole life. She goes on a journey into her own past to try to solve this crime, uncovering a new way of writing about true crime – and herself – as she goes.

My Take

Let me point out first of all that there is only a tiny bit of crime fiction in this book - a short story in the last pages titled Tamam Shud: A Phryne Fisher Mystery in which Greenwood's popular sleuth solves the Somerton Man mystery.

The majority of the book covers the Somerton Man mystery and Greenwood uses it as a vehicle for paying tribute to her story telling wharfie father, a mountain of autobiographical detail, and telling us about Adelaide which seems to specialise in peculiar murders.

The book was of particular interest to me on two counts: the first related to hearing Greenwood speak at Adelaide Writer's Week yesterday, and the second because of the Adelaide setting, which is of course where I live.

The book provides an opportunity for Greenwood to tell us a lot about her background, which we don't get much of in either her Phryne Fisher or Corinna Chapman books.
To me it feels a less disciplined book than either of those series, with Greenwood allowing herself to ramble tangentially from topic to topic, in fact over a diverse range of topics.
There's a glimpse of Adelaide just after the war, as well as in the 1970s. There are peeks into Greenwood's family history as well as references to her childhood and adult life. There are references to the nature of poisons, the use of ear shapes for identification purposes, to events in world and Australian history, to the murders and disappearance of children in Adelaide, and then to some of the more popular explanations for the death of the Somerton Man.

All that "true crime" detail is nicely complemented by the Phryne Fisher story at the end.

My rating: 4.3

You might like to also check these reviews and websites

• Radio National audio interview
• Sydney Morning Herald - short extract
• What Book to Read?

Review: MRS QUEEN TAKES THE TRAIN, William Kuhn

Published by Allen & Unwin Australia 2012

ISBN 978-1-74331-287-2

374 pages

Source: my local library

Synopsis (Amazon)

Mrs Queen Takes the Train wittily imagines the kerfuffle that transpires when a bored Queen Elizabeth strolls out of the palace in search of a little fun, leaving behind a desperate team of courtiers who must find the missing Windsor before a national scandal erupts.

Reminiscent of Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader, this lively, wonderfully inventive romp takes readers into the mind of the grand matriarch of Britain’s Royal Family, bringing us an endearing runaway Queen Elizabeth on the town—and leading us behind the Buckingham Palace walls and into the upstairs/downstairs spaces of England’s monarchy.

She could recall Nanny taking her on the train to Sandringham all by herself one Christmas. What a treat that was! (Photo by Edward G. Malindine/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) Copyright: Getty Images

 
My Take

This might be my sole venture in 2013 outside of the crime fiction genre. It proved to be a delightful romp, witty and at the same time poignant.  Spending the weekend on her own at Windsor Castle, the Queen becomes, dare she admit it?, just a little bit depressed and wonders what she can do to cheer herself up. Back at BP she decides to visit the Mews to see Elizabeth, the horse born on her own birthday. And her adventure begins. The Queen, in an effective although unwitting disguise, on her way to visit Britannia, (where she knows she has been happy) sees herself as her subjects see her. Worried that she is "not quite herself" members of her household set out in search for her to prevent scandal erupting.

Meanwhile "Little Bit" is enjoying herself buying cheese and making new friends. Her personal skills stand her in good stead, making conversations with strangers, many of whom think she reminds them of "someone", but can't quite put a finger on it. Perhaps Helen Mirren? one thinks.

The central story is surrounded by insights into the royal household and the problems they face as the Queen ages.

My rating: 4.2

Author's website includes some discussion questions for book groups and some of the pictures from the book.

Read an Excerpt

My review of Alan Bennett's THE UNCOMMON READER