Category: Books & Reviews

Fear: Trump in the White House – Bob Woodward

Does the final paragraph say it all?

But in the man and his presidency Dowd had seen the tragic flaw. In the political back-and-forth, the evasions, the denials, the tweeting, the obscuring, crying “Fake News,” the indignation, Trump had one overriding problem that Dowd knew but could not bring himself to say to the president: “You’re a fucking liar.”

Posted in Books & Reviews Tagged with: Bob Woodward, Fear

Fear – Bob Woodward

Almost halfway through yet another remarkable insight into the inner workings of the US government by Bob Woodward.

Although full of reports and detailed accounts of events, Bob Woodward always employs his great skill as a journalist in writing about events in such a way as to make them eminently readable.

Fear: Trump in the White House – Bob Woodward

Posted in Books & Reviews Tagged with: Bob Woodward, Fear, Trump

Freedom at Midnight – Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre

An amazing insight into events leading up to Indian Independence and the horrors that ensued after partition which still resonate today in the strained relations between India and Pakistan.

Do not be tempted to read Viceroy’s House (the book of the film) – the original is an absolute must.

Freedom at Midnight – Amazon

Posted in Books & Reviews Tagged with: Amazon, Dominique Lapierre, Freedom at Midnight, Larry Collins

Daughter of the Desert – Georgina Howell

I loved this book about an incredible and not terribly well-known woman’s life and the impact and influence that she had in the Middle East in the early twentieth century.

Why she isn’t extremely famous in the UK is something I don’t quite understand.  We’ve all heard of Florence Nightingale, Grace Darling, Emmeline Pankhurst etc, but not the amazing Gertrude Bell.

Observer Review

Posted in Books & Reviews Tagged with: Daughter of the Desert, Georgina Howell, Gertrude Bell

Lord of the Rings

My original copy some forty years ago.

The anniversary edition – a treat for myself – possibly 30th anniversary, so around 1984 at a guess.

First read when I was around eleven or twelve years old, it took me months to get through this wonderful tome, but I have since read it on numerous occasions, finally parting with my copy last year when I made the very difficult decision to spend more time reading novels that were new to me rather than old favourites.

So many books, so little time!

Posted in Books & Reviews Tagged with: JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings