The Price of Victory: A Naval History of Britain: 1815 - 1945 by N. A. M. Rodger
This is a long, well annotated history of British Navy up until World War II. It is best targeted to the military buff. As a casual reader, I was lost with the intricate details.
Psmith in the City by P. G. Wodehouse
Some blokes get a job in a city bank. They are not super keen on the job. On the other hand, they do like cricket. Due to some illnesses, one gets a chance to play cricket with a a club. He opts to skip work to do it and has the other help cover for him. There is some very dry humor in the book. It is now in public domain so there are various options available.
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 2 by Beth Brower
I liked the first book. It left on a cliffhanger. Alas, this book just did not stick as well as the first one. There is more involvement with the tenant and plans to gradually work out a solution through some of the problems with the relation that is occupying the house. He reluctantly asceeds to her greater involvement. She also begins to be involved in the social scene, and gets scolded for being noticed a bit more than she should.
The Anglo-Saxon World by Nicholas J. Higham and Martin J. Ryan
This book tries to be more than an academic history of the Anglo-Saxons. Despite the efforts, it slips into the boring trops of academic ancient histories. There are diversions into pottery and archeological finds. These are all nice in academic works. However, for a popular history, I would like more narrative and less pottery. The book would occasionally get on a role with a good narrative before falling back to pottery. I ended up recognizing a lot of the names from the times before William the Conqueror. However, I had trouble putting hte whole story together in my mind. We may be able to tell by place names, but it is still hard to grasp.
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1 by Beth Brower
A woman goes back to live in Lapis Lazuli house. She is supposed to inherit it when she comes of age. However, now she is subject to some evil relative that occupies it. Through the journals we discover her history and how she ended up in this state. Her parents have both died. They had took pity on the relative that lives in the house. However, he has returned that niceness by squandering the fortune and treating the protagonist poorly. She seems to be in the upper middle class. Her family is not among the poor, neither are they rich. There are relatives that have various schemes they are engaging. She participates to some extent. The book is well written, but quite short and seems to end halfway through the story. It does make a "Jane Austen" scenario actually readable.
Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes
This is a pretty well done Librivox book. Tom Brown is a boy going to Rugby school. He plays sports like football and cricket and help boys work together. He is asked to help a young boy who is starting the school. He finds himself defending the boy when he is praying. He does more to work with him and grows as a person. He gains more empathy and appreciation for others. It is a well done and accessible today. It feels like a predecessor of the many "boarding school" stories that have come out since then.
Empire, Incorporated: The Corporations That Built British Colonialism by Philip J. Stern
Much of the British Imperial endeavors were carried out by private corporations. There were companies that had narrow mandates for colonial areas as well as those that covered large areas. These persisted for significant time. The concept of limited liability joint stock companies was still being developed. They had the advantage of being able to produce money by issuing stock. As they established colonies, there was a mixture of corporate and British law applied. Other countries also started to do corporate imperialism, but none did it to the scale of England. There are even remnants into modern times. (The Falkland Islands Corporation dominates the economy in the remote islands.) The book attempts to survey all the various corporations and their influence. This is a bold endeavor that ends up a bit disjointed.
Partition: How and Why Ireland was Divided by Ivan Gibbons
Ireland was one of the earliest British colonies. It is close to England and had been tightly integrated into Great Britain. However, there is also an ocean gap and a different (mostly Catholic culture.) Conflicts in Ireland had become a drain on British resources and various attempts were made at granting autonomy. However, Ireland was not unified. The north was mostly protestant, while the remainder was overwhelmingly Catholic. Both parts of Ireland wanted greater autonomy. However, the northerners wanted to remain part of Britain, while the southerners wanted full independence. Resolving this conflict proved to be difficult. The English public was also becoming tired of the conflict in Ireland. As a compromise, Britain drew a border and gave the two parts of Ireland separate control. There remained various conflicts and civil wars. After World War I, a complete boundary commission was set up to fix the boundary. They went through detailed analysis and moved certain areas around. However, this was pretty much ignored and the boundary remained as is. There has been an understanding that Northern Ireland could join with Ireland whenever the public voted for it, however, they have remained part of the UK.
Today, Ireland is an independent country, member of the EU and not a member of the Commonwealth. Northern Ireland is part of the UK and not a member of the EU, but in a special situation that allows free movement of goods to the EU. Northern Ireland is becoming more Catholic. However, Northern Ireland continues to receive significant financial assistance from Britain. Joining with the Republic of Ireland would result in the loss of tens of thousands of government jobs. Northern Ireland have a bit of both worlds, being able to be part of Ireland and the UK. Ireland was one of the first of the European powers "geographic partitionings". The impact is still felt.
The book focuses on the partition. The resultant civil wars and unneeded deaths are mentioned in passing. The focus is instead on the politics and process that lead to the partition. It feels that something is lacking, but does make for a much more readable book on the event it is covering.
Whatever Happened to Tanganyika?: The Place Names That History Left Behind by Harry Campbell
This is a short book with a page or two for various place names that are no more. The descriptions provide a brief description, complete with history and some dry British humor, The audience is clearly British. Some of the modern British political discussion went right over my head. The place names are a smattering of different ones that are "gone" for different reasons. Many of the cases are of colonial place names being replaced by "local" ones. (Though in more than one case, the local one is the name of a dictator, and the name disappears shortly after their death.) The local one may not be without other controversy. (Madras to Chennai sparked some debate, and even questions over which is more "native")
Other times the political entity may no longer exist. There are islands that were once inhabited that no longer have permanent residents. There are countries like Yugoslavia that splintered off to individual countries. The other even threw in an April Fools "San Serriffe" place name.
The book is an ideal "bathroom reader", with many short section that can be thumbed through and read on their own.
Good Material: A Novel by Dolly Alderton
A mediocre comedian broke up with his girlfriend. He struggles with his life. He still has mutual friends with her. Just when things can't get worse, a scathing review of his performance appears online. Eventually, he uses the breakup as a way of reinvigorating his comedy career. At the end we learn of her side. She also brings up that she is looking for somebody that has the 10% that he lacked, but then realizing the other 90% is missing. I got lost a bit at the start, but book flowed nicely after I got a grasp of what was going on. The change of perspective at the end was a nice touch.
Mid 19th-century Thailand was quite different from Victorian England. There were many different morals, beliefs and customs. A woman learned that the hard way. As a widow, she had used connections to seek employment as a governess and English teacher in the Siamese court. She struggled to learn how things worked there. Eventually, she was able to use some of her influence to help people that were in trouble and thus build up a strong reputation. In spite of these, she still continued to struggle with Siamese customs and taboos.
Middlemarch is the name of a fictional English town. Things happened there. Railroads were still a new fangled thing. Dorothea did things. The book is long, but not my cup of tea.
