{"id":5072,"date":"2022-03-03T21:20:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T21:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=5072"},"modified":"2024-02-08T09:31:35","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T09:31:35","slug":"books-world-book-day-25th-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=5072","title":{"rendered":"BOOKS: World Book Day, 25th Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today, 3rd March 2022, is World Book Day. And this year the institution is 25 years old!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I decided to list 25 titles, in no particular order, other than that in which they occurred to me. I\u2019ll not say much about each book, but instead just post a cover pic (where I can of the edition I first owned\/read), and a few words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, here goes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ah, the nostalgia!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Epic and homely\u2019. Damn right! I read this numerous times in my childhood, and absolutely loved it. If I\u2019m honest, the growing legacy of the Peter Jackson movie franchise is kind of spoiling it all for me now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hobbit, Tolkien.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Beautiful 75th anniversary edition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before I read the LOTR I read the more kiddie friendly The Hobbit. Equally enchanting, if more modest in scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Another trilogy in its single volume guise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1812 Trilogy, Paul Britten Austen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This historical trilogy, a tapestry of interwoven first-hand accounts, condensed into a single volume with Bible-thin pages, was an incredibly exhilarating read. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
My copy doesn\u2019t have the hard slipcase, alas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Picasso, The Early Years, 1881-1907, Josep Palau i Fabre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was my first \u2018plush art book\u2019. I was somewhere around 16-18 yrs old at the time. Massive, and massively inspiring. (The book, not me!) I mean no disrespect to the author, but for me it\u2019s all about the pictures, not the text. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A much more recent purchase.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Picasso, Cubism, 1907-1917, Josep Palau i Fabre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many moons after buying i Fabre\u2019s first voluminous work, I got the second. This time with the slip-case! And it\u2019s equally flabbergasting in terms of Picasso\u2019s Krakatoan artistic powers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A whopper!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Michelangelo, Complete Works, Zoller et al.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is both the biggest and most expensive art book I\u2019ve ever bought. But that kind of befits the Titan that was Michelangelo. World Book Day is primarily about reading, one supposes. And with my art entries to this list of books, it\u2019s all about the pictures. But hey, picture books have their place!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ok, so I\u2019m obsessed\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1812, Adam Zamoyski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another 1812 themed book? And it\u2019s not the last on this list. This was a cracking good read. Not at all like Paul Britten Austin\u2019s \u2018word film\u2019, this more trad\u2019 history nonetheless crackled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
What is it about invading Russia?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Barbarossa, Alan Clark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018An unimaginable harvest of sorrow\u2019 sayeth Alan Clark. Aye, and a rollicking good read. An oldie, but a goodie. Now, with Putin invading Ukraine, it all seems frighteningly close or familiar\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jack\u2019s debut.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Town & the City, Kerouac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fantastic book. The descriptions of the everyday minutiae of life are spellbindingly rhapsodic and beautiful, in a very real, humble and down to earth way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
This was the edition I first read.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Doctor Sax, Kerouac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my favourites by the sad-eyed Dharma Bum. Very evocative of childhood, tinged with the saudade of looking back whilst growing older, like much Kerouac. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
I racked up library fines gawping at these!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Arms & Uniforms, Napoleonic Wars Vols I & II, L & F Funcken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of the pleasures a book can give, the two Napoleonic volumes of the Arms And Uniforms series, by the prolific Frenchies Liliane et Fred Funcken, rank very highly with me. As a kid they had me totally mesmerised!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned much later that L and F Funcken worked quite a lot with\/for Herg\u00e9. It\u2019s nice to discover such connections!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Terrific!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Calculus Affair, Herg\u00ea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From arty picture books to kid\u2019s ones. I love almost all the Tintin adventures. The best are a sublime mix of fabulously evocative art with simple but stirring storytelling <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Absolutely ruddy marvellous!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Destination Moon, Herg\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bizarrely I had Explorers On The Moon years before I got and read the first part of this fab two-part adventure, Destination Moon. Once I got the latter, it quickly became a favourite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, and, by and large, I much prefer the texts in Herg\u00e9\u2019s adventures – brilliantly rendered into English by Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper*, and Michael Turner – to the cloudy verbosity of most art history\/criticism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

* She died Dec 12, 2021, aged 97!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
This was the edition I had.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Bridge Too Far, Cornelius Ryan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got a copy of this book on a secondary school trip to Ely, when we visited the market. Ryan also wrote The Longest Day (which I haven\u2019t read). Both were used as the basis for epic WWII movies. And both this book and the film based on it are integral to my childhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A dreadful cover, but\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Battle, Alessandro Barbero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst I don\u2019t like the cover of this book (it\u2019s the same edition I bought and read), it\u2019s a very good read. And, what\u2019s more, despite my dislike of the design the cover is very resonant for me; it was an Eagle Annual article on Sgt. Ewart\u2019s capture of an Eagle (the echoes are accumulating!), as depicted on this very cover, that first introduced me to the titular epochal battle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The beautiful Folio edition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Campaigns of Napoleon, David Chandler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone reading my list will detect certain themes: childhood nostalgia, Tolkien,Tintin, Kerouac, art books, and military history, with a emphasis on The Napoleonic Wars and WWII. This David Chandler trilogy on Boney\u2019s battles was terrific. And the Folio edition – which is what I have – is beautiful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
I read this whilst visiting Waterloo in 2015.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Journal of the Waterloo Campaign, Cavalie Mercer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avoid the abridged Pen & Sword version of this like the plague! It\u2019s littered with editorial errors. This full version, also from Pen & Sword, is incomparably better produced. And Mercer\u2019s tale is ace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was very poignant and affecting to read whilst visiting Belgium and the Waterloo battlefields in 2015, on the 200th anniversary of those terrible few days. I even stood on the spot, where a memorial now stands, where Mercer\u2019s artillery troop did their bloody business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A bit out of my normal way\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shanghai 1937, Peter Harmsen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For us in \u2018The West\u2019 we almost always think of WWII as 1939-45. Not so for Japan and China! They were already at it, hammer and tongs, in \u201837, as this truly excellent book relates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Yet another \u2018picture book\u2019!?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Panzer Colours, (?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again the criteria here is pleasure per square inch. And as a kid this was another military themed book that totally fascinated me. My dad and a lodger, Tim Seward (now an artist living and working in France!), made terrific 1\/72 model tanks. This was part of their ref\u2019 library. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A handsome edition, and the one I have.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On The Origin of Species, Darwin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the 200th anniversary of his birth, and the 150th of the publication of this, his major work, I was reading quite a lot about Darwin and evolution, and related stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve tried to avoid \u2018worthy\u2019 titles, and choose those books I\u2019ve enjoyed the most. But Darwin\u2019s origins is, whilst sometimes a pleasure to read, and sometimes like swimming through molasses, just too important to the development of modern science and thought, and (one can hope\/dream) the trajectory our culture might take, to be omitted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some might choose The Bible. An awful book, in my view. This is nearer to that point, for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A breeze-block of a tome. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

War And Peace, Tolstoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok, another \u2018worthy\u2019 entry. Initially Tolstoy really got my goat, but as I read on, I began to enjoy this 1812 themed epic. By the time I finished it, I loved it. Flawed, like it\u2019s hero, Pierre, and all humanity. But an epic masterpiece nevertheless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ripping good yarns.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Virgin in the Ice, Ellis Peters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, from Darwin and Tolstoy to more pulpy pleasures. I first met Cadfael in audiobook form, whilst working with illustrator Tim Oliver. Thanks Tim! I\u2019ve subsequently collected nearly all of Ellis Peters\u2019 monkish mysteries. They are formulaic. But by gum, the formula\u2019s a good \u2018un!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Flashy, in full fig.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Royal Flash, George MacDonald Fraser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have another pal to thank\/blame for more furtive pulpy paperback pleasures. Thanks to Jeffers Mayo for this one! And, as with Cadfael, Flashman is such a charmer I went out and bought the whole series, and read \u2018em all. Such fun! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kerouac, a slight return\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dharma Bums, Kerouac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictured above is one of two editions of this book I\u2019ve owned and read. I like this because it\u2019s one of Jack\u2019s more straight journalistic novels, and we find him as a mountain top fire lookout, and meet poet and fellow Dharma Bum Gary \u2018Japhy Ryder\u2019 Snyder\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u2018As your attorney I advise you to\u2026\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I laughed like a drain reading this. Often in public. And I occasionally worried folk might think me as unhinged as the gonzo lizards that populate this madcap book. Looking back on it all now, it\u2019s a bittersweet chapter in my life and my reading. But the laughter got it on this list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, so there\u2019s my 25 books. I found coming up with this list much<\/em> harder than I\u2019d an anticipated. Given how much I enjoy reading, and how much I\u2019ve read over the years, I really struggled to think of what I\u2019d enjoyed most! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, 3rd March 2022, is World Book Day. And this year the institution is 25 years old! I decided to list 25 titles, in no particular order, other than that in which they occurred to me. I\u2019ll not say much about each book, but instead just post a cover pic (where I can of the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “BOOKS: World Book Day, 25th Year”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-1jO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5072"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5072"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11504,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5072\/revisions\/11504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}