by Andrew Roberts
This is the first biography of Napoleon I have read but I found it engaging, informative and, despite its size of 800 pages, interesting both when describing battles and when describing his adminastrative acheivements which were huge. 8/10
Saturday, November 26, 2016
The Crowd in History 1730-1848
by George Rude
A book first published in 1964 this was the revised version of 1981.
It was very interesting looking at the French revolution and 1848 revolution in France and the Luddites, Chartists and Gordo riots in England along with a number of food and labour riots in both countries. He gets behind "the mob" by looking at some of the individual participants with some surprising results.
I found the style of writing a bit flat at times. I found the maps charting the spread of riots really fascinating. 7/10
A book first published in 1964 this was the revised version of 1981.
It was very interesting looking at the French revolution and 1848 revolution in France and the Luddites, Chartists and Gordo riots in England along with a number of food and labour riots in both countries. He gets behind "the mob" by looking at some of the individual participants with some surprising results.
I found the style of writing a bit flat at times. I found the maps charting the spread of riots really fascinating. 7/10
Sunday, November 06, 2016
Do not say we have nothing
by Madeleine Thien
This is a long novel covering a long and eventful period in chinese history.
The book starts in Canada and is told by a chinese woman looking back over her life' or more importantly, the life of her parents. They have both now died, her father committing suicide in Hong Kong and she tries to piece together the gaps in what she knows about her family. The result is a story covering the latter half of the twentieth century taking in the rise of Mao, the cultural revolution and Tianemen square.
It took me a while to get into this novel as I was trying to piece together who was who but by half way through I was hooked by a story examining the impact of world events on individuals and families. Definitely worth reading and close to getting the vote of my favourite from the Booker shortlist. 9/10
This is a long novel covering a long and eventful period in chinese history.
The book starts in Canada and is told by a chinese woman looking back over her life' or more importantly, the life of her parents. They have both now died, her father committing suicide in Hong Kong and she tries to piece together the gaps in what she knows about her family. The result is a story covering the latter half of the twentieth century taking in the rise of Mao, the cultural revolution and Tianemen square.
It took me a while to get into this novel as I was trying to piece together who was who but by half way through I was hooked by a story examining the impact of world events on individuals and families. Definitely worth reading and close to getting the vote of my favourite from the Booker shortlist. 9/10
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