Napoleon’s Egypt: Invading the Middle East by Juan Cole
cbr18bingo Maps cbr18bingo - Maps I know far more about Napoleon’s later career than his earlier one, so this was pretty much all news to me. Seems that after his initial successes in various battles in the Italian states, the French government decided that he was just the … [Read more]
The Impossible Job: The Truly Unbelievable World of Football Referees by William Ralston
In a nutshell: Author Ralston explores the world of football (soccer in the US) refereeing told via interviews with some of the top professionals in the game. Best for: Anyone who claims to be a football fan. Anyone who has yelled ‘REFEREE?!’ at their TV (or at a live match). Referees. Quote … [Read more]
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
Bingo: Refuge. The main character Anna serves as a refuge to others in times of hardship. My dad likes to poke fun at my tendency to read about heavy topics. When I told him I was reading a book about the plague, he thought it was par for the course. But as horrifying as the Black Plague was, … [Read more]
Ways of Seeing by John Berger
If you are the kind of person who would enjoy reading a historical oil painting to filth; if you would like to understand why art museums are "like that"; if you have always been slightly confused by the (financial) system of worship so easily observed in art galleries around the world: Ways of … [Read more]
Super Normal: Sensations of the Ordinary by Naoto Fukasawa & Jasper Morrison
Fitting, that my first reviewed book begins with a photo of a trash can. Fitting also, that the only book of substance in Foyles' Interior Design section should be so slim and so plain. I only found this unassuming paperback after about fifteen minutes of rifling through glossy tomes. But perhaps … [Read more]
Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen
I have an almost forty-year history with Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen); I spent the night I was born apparently listening to my mother read Out of Africa/Shadows on the Grass out loud. (A year or two ago I managed to read them myself, as I hated not knowing how it ended.) Which sparked in me a … [Read more]
