el collado kid

The three kings; A great book really enjoyed this. The story of probably the three most recognized names in British football. And only 99p on kindle!!!

scot47

"The Case For Scottish Independence : A History of Nationalist Political Thought in Modern Scotland" by Ben Jackson, academic at Oxford University

scot47

And anything I can get my hands on by Orlando Figes and also Montefiore (author of "Stalin : At The Coiurt of The Red Tsar") To be reminded of the Purges is to focus on the horrors of Revolution and Tyranny.

BEVS

Crikey Scot47. Bit grim around the edges.
Currently reading an assortment of tales from americans in France at the outbreak of and during WW11 . It was in the pop up library.

I hope ECK is OK. He usually updates his kindle choices. I know he has tests and the like.

robin1234

WW11

Skipping over world wars 3-10??

BEVS

Why not. Saves time.

robin1234

I just reread two books I last read nearly 60 years ago.

Rosemary Sutcliff - Dawn Wind
George Orwell - 1984

But yeah, I read new stuff too. It’s not all revisiting my childhood.

Lion in Winter

I used to love Rosemary Sutcliff. I got my son into The Eagle of the Ninth stuff, too

robin1234

I belatedly realised that she wrote many more novels than I knew about - because I stopped paying attention to her work in the late 1960s, and she lived till the 1990s. Amazon UK (kindle) has a big list of them, very good editions with the original illustrations, and extremely cheap. Dawn Wind was 99p, for instance. Amazon US kindle has a crappy selection of poor quality editions, and five times the price.

Why the two branches of the same company operate totally differently, I don’t know. I realise that there’s much greater interest in her work in the UK than in the US.

Lion in Winter

I'm still addicted to pnysical books. Books on screen remind me too much of being at work and I spend far too much time looking at a screen as it is since my whole job is now virtual.

It must be a market difference, re availability and price. I noticed somebody was asking over 700 for a hardback of Dawn Wind though. My sister has all our childhood books - there may be $000s on the shelves there

robin1234

The original OUP editions of most Sutcliff books have always been very pricey. For whatever reason, they stopped issuing them in that format early on, so there’s only a limited number available. They have the really good illustrations, notably by Charles Keeping but some other artists too. Then, they were only available as paperbacks for many years, with no illustrations. More recently, there’ve been new editions with the original illustrations again.

I saw a nice copy of The Lantern Bearers in England for £30. I should have bought it. I looked a few days later and it was gone. But prices in the hundreds of pounds are standard.

Charles Keeping is a wonderful artist, much under appreciated during his lifetime. He had his first ever exhibition in London last year, I only read about it recently after it had closed. He and his wife, also an artist, had a studio in south London which I believe you can visit to see their work. His work has an evocative 50s-60s vibe - if you like book illustrations.

robin1234

Yeah, I only reluctantly moved to kindle (free app on the iPad) when in England during the pandemic, when normal sourcing of tangible books became much harder. I’m still using Amazon kindle uk because there’s lots of good stuff surprisingly cheap.

Expatrick

Rosemary Sutcliff! Takes me back to schooldays. Eagle of the ninth, etc. I had completely forgotten.

spouse of scouse

Scouse and I got Kindles a few years ago, we persevered with them for a few months then gave them away. I love physical books too, although probably unlike you Lion I treat mine atrociously. I read while I eat, when I'm in the bath, by the pool. For that reason I buy second-hand paperbacks, and I still have favourites from years ago. Battered and splattered, but still readable. Scouse's books are always in perfect condition, he's my polar opposite when it comes to neatness and order.

Lion in Winter

I remember the drawings in the Sutcliff books, because they were different from the usual sanitised, wholesome drawings in children's books. I didn't know anything about him though. Interesting life.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/07...illustrator-x/