Books ( modified 2020  Feb)

Of late I have been reading The Anarchy by William Dalrymple about the east india Company and its takeover of India... amazing stuff. I also got for xmas Banjo by Grantlee Kieza and that is also fascinating. I am reading the latest in the Villeneuve novels and I did enjoy the series on Tv Killing Eve based on them. and again I enjoyed that . I also have read the latest Bernard Cornwall.

. I finished the group of books in the series A game of Thrones by George RR Martin and this was excellent.Waiting now for the next one.. dont die George!
I have recently read :The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova was good . It made me want to visit the places she described although not to meet Dracula!
I read Wainrights mountain by Chester Eagle. ( Chester was my English teacher at Preston Tech in the old days and was a wonderful flamboyant character) This is a very complex book with all sorts of Historical aspects, magic realism and a diverse range of characters.( Chester's books are available at Trojan press.com.au).

I have recently really enjoyed the Phillip Pullman series "His dark Materials" This will go in the all time favorites list too!
Tons of imagination and ideas that I had never come across before.

All time favorites

Catch 22     Joseph Heller    Love the humour and the logic. A real wealth of characters and very insightful

The Master and Margarita      Mikhail Bulgarkov The Devil comes to Moscow with a 6 foot black cat. Two parallel stories in the one book and it is a delight of absurdity and beauty

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance   Robert M Pirsig A book I re read quite often and think about his comments. Very deep and sort of scary as the story unfolds but very profound

Lord Of The Rings   J. R. R. Tolkien Couldn't put it down the first time. I just love the wealth of detail, characters and of course the story
Technopoly        also    Amusing ourselves to death    Neil Postman
This  stuff opened my eyes to a wide range of different perceptions. Very readable and thought provoking

A short History of nearly everything   Bill Bryson I really like science that is related to our world. I suppose that is what science is but often it gets divorced . Bryson firmly attaches everthing again and this is a delight of history  and scientific concepts

The Day of the triffids   John Wyndham  An oldie but a goodie. Scary engrossing and very enjoyable
The hitchhikers Guide to the galaxy series   Douglas Adams
Such a clever man to play with language as he does. The ideas are fun and I love the idea of being "drunk" and who could not like a character with a name of slarti blart fast

The Narnia Chronicles    C. S Lewis Where do these guys get the imagination to write stuff of this quality. It just grows and grows and can be read with all sorts of views

A Mirror on the past Barbara Tuchman
A wonderful history of the 13th century. Great writing and so this is where our world came from!

Radio

I used to listen nearly every day to Life Matters on radio National, Conversations with Margaret Throsby on ABC Classic FM,.I have been listening to podcasts of conversations with Richard Fiedler, 

Now I do some of this but often have the Ipad playing music or podcasts.

 Music

. I am listening down the shed to Johnny Winter, Steve earle,quite a range of female singers and even Billie eilish
My favorite Song is "The water is wide" . This is a traditional song and I have heard many versions of this beautiful piece. The best one I have come across is Karla Bonhoff's version on "Restless Nights

"Classical

Beethoven symphonies 3 and 9, Carl Orff            Carmina Burana, Handel         Water music etc, Vivaldi  anything, Wagner      Tristan and isolde, Greig         Peer Gynt suite, Bizet              Carmen
,Tchaikovsky   anything, Smetana   Ma  Vlast, Mozart anything and a bit of ludovico Einaudi

Popular and country

Mary Chapin, Carpenter Richard Thompson,Ashley Dallas, The Dixie Chicks, Paul Kelly, Angus and Julia Stone, Skipping Girl Vinegar ,Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits, Richard Thompson, Kasey Chambers, Warren Zevon, Neil Young

Film

I Love a range of flms including the Die Hard series,

Arsenic and Old Lace

MarxBros movies especially a night at the opera

The fifth Element

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

The wedding singer

Ever after

Star Wars 4 5 and 6 and the latest set of star wars movies, Rogue, Solo and the last Jedi

Harry Potter series

Raiders of the lost ark series

Airforce one,

The science of sleep