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Of Matters Great and Small
Isaac Asimov 1975 (Doubleday 1975)



"A new collection of seventeen science essays that once again demonstrate the profound knowledge and imagination which have become the hallmarks of Isaac Asimov's work.
Here, Dr. Asimov explores such topics as: the farthest distance in the universe; why astrology is sheer nonsense; how eclipses occur and how they were predicted by the ancients; why antievolutionists should consider the chimpanzee, why the north star keeps shifting, and how it proves that Bacon didn't write Shakespeare's plays; and why fusion, and not fission, is the only solution to the energy crisis." (publishers blurb)

Essays from F&SF 1973-74. The ones on solar eclipses are excellent, they really give you a feel for when and how they occur and how the even "primitive" societies were able to predict them. The one on aluminium is also very good, he can make even apparently prosaic subject matter interesting. Also the one on Skewes' number, the biggest finite number that has appeared in a mathematical proof, will have your head spinning.
Only one of the essays warns of how civilisation will collapse when the world runs out of oil thirty years in the future (ie about twenty years ago).

The Giant Book of Science Fiction Stories
Martin H. Greenberg et al (editors) (Magpie 1992)



101 stories of ten pages or less edited by the prolific team of Martin Greenberg and Charles Waugh. According to wikipedia Greenberg compiled over twelve hundred anthologies of short fiction often in association with Waugh and Isaac Asimov. The cover of this one has Asimov as the editor but the publisher was telling porkies, knowing that the Asimov brand would shift a shit load of extra copies. Asimov's introduction doesn't mention the contents but just bemoans the fact that Greenberg didn't ask him to be co-editor.
I bought the book because it was the only anthology available in Britain that contains Andre Norton's third genre short story "All Cats are Gray". Alas this story is another dud as are at least 80% of the others. I'd say about one in five (being generous) is alright and one in twenty, maybe I would describe as good. The best story is Bob Shaw's much anthologised "Light of Other Days" which was the only one I didn't read as I've already got it in three of the year's best anthologies.

Ballet Shoes
Noel Streatfeild 1936 (Puffin 2011)



"Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil are sisters - with a difference. All three were adopted as babies by Great Uncle Matthew, an eccentric and rich explorer who then disappeared, leaving them in the care of his niece Sylvia. The girls grow up in comfort until their money begins to run out and nobody can find Great Uncle Matthew.Things look bleak until they hit on an inspired idea: Pauline, Petrova and Posy will take to the stage. But it's not long before the Fossils learn that being a star isn't as easy as they first thought..." (from Penguin)

It's about time I connected with my inner ten year old girl. I recently read Pigeon Post which won the first Carnegie medal in 1936 and this was one of the runners up. I quite enjoyed it, it's nicely written and the characters are well drawn. A lot better than some of the adult fiction I've read recently.

Edward VII
Richard Davenport-Hines 2016 (Penguin 2016)



"Like his mother Queen Victoria, Edward VII defined an era. Both reflected the personalities of their central figures: hers grand, imperial and pretty stiff; his no less grand, but much more relaxed and enjoyable. This book conveys Edward's distinct personality and significant influences. To the despair of his parents, he rebelled as a young man, conducting many affairs and living a life of pleasure. But as king he made a distinct contribution to European diplomacy and - which is little known - to London, laying out the Mall and Admiralty Arch. Richard Davenport-Hines's book is as enjoyable as its subject and the age he made." (publisher's blurb)

Constitutional monarchs are dull and Edward is no exception. The present queen hasn't done or said a single interesting thing in seventy years on the throne - perhaps that's why she's so popular. Edward, or Bertie as he was known, was a witness to the important events in Britain and geopolitically, but he had no real influence on them. Much of the book is taken up with the financial and sexual shenanigans of Edward and some of the dodgy characters he surrounded himself with and who helped to bankroll him.
I'm glad to have got the saxe-coburg-gothas and windsors out of the way and so I'll be heading back over a thousand years to Ethelred the unready for the next in the series.

The Geordie Bible
Andrew Elliott 1971 (Butler and Butler 1986)



Some well known Bible stories given a humourous Northumbrian retelling.
This was the only one of the original Frank Graham Geordie Beuks not authored by Scott Dobson although he did do the artwork.
I've already read "The Bible in Cockney" so am now on the lookout for any other dialect versions.

Honey for the Bears
Anthony Burgess 1963 (Penguin 1979)



"A sharply written satire, Honey for the Bears sends an unassuming antiques dealer, Paul Hussey, to Russia to do one final deal on the black market as a favor for a dead friend's wife. Even on the ship's voyage across, the Russian sensibility begins to pervade: lots of secrets and lots of vodka. When his American wife is stricken by a painful rash and he is interrogated at his hotel by Soviet agents who know that he is trying to sell stylish synthetic dresses to the masses starved for fashion, his precarious inner balance is thrown off for good. More drink follows, discoveries of his wife's illicit affair with another woman, and his own submerged sexual feelings come breaking through the surface, bubbling up in Russian champagne and caviar." (from Norton & Co)

This is similar to "The Doctor is Sick", the last Burgess novel that I read. The protagonist is an erudite underachiever with an unapologetically unfaithful wife who finds himself buffeted by bizarre characters and events in an unfamiliar environment. Burgess was a linguist and it's useful to have a dictionary and an encyclopaedia to hand for all the cultural references that he chucks in. There are elements of satire and farce and the author's witty turn of phrase did make me laugh. Overall I enjoyed it and I'd to read some more of this author's corpus (as Burgess would have put it)

Bears Can't Run Downhill
Robert Anwood 2006 (Ebury Press 2006)



"Ever wondered whether Bob Holness really did play the saxophone solo on Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street? Or whether a swan can break a man's arm? Or whether computer games are illegal in Greece?!
If so, you've probably spent far too much time down the pub, conversing with a mate on the wrong end of four pints of lager. We've all heard them: wild claims, spurious rumours and barely believable 'pub facts'. Don't pretend you've never wondered whether a crocodile really can run faster than a racehorse. Or pondered the possibility that there is only one cash machine in the whole of Albania?
If this sort of thing keeps you awake at night, then this book has come to the rescue. Bears Can't Run Downhill... debunks and explains 201 common claims and popular misconceptions. It's the ideal stocking-filler for the quiz fanatic, the trivia buff, the show-off down the pub - or the wife or girlfriend who wants a way to a) get the upper hand and b) put a stop to this nonsense once and for all. So here is the definitive tome - all you will never need (until the sequel at least) - of well-known 'facts' both true and apocryphal." (publishers blurb)

Probably another Christmas present from fifteen years ago. Very similar to "The Book of General Ignorance" but I felt better disposed towards it as it has no association with the Brussels Broadcasting Corporation. Perfect for a ten minute read in a dentists waiting room.

The Neglected Mountain
Malcolm Saville 1953 (Girls Gone By 2009)



Number 7 in the Lone Pine series, this one is set back in the Stiperstone hills of Shropshire.
Poor old Malcolm Saville struggled to come up with plausible plots and this is no exception. The villains' deciding after their plane crashed in the area that the lonely setting would be an ideal location to set up a lab experimenting on the local canines in order to discover a drug which disables guard dogs so they can carry out robberies.
One thing the author does well is give a sense of place with all the books set in a real location with maps to show the reader where the action is taking place. I was pretty much ignorant about the Shropshire hills before reading these books and now I'd like to pay them a visit and do a bit of walking in the featured locations.

Kelly's War
Frederick Kelly, Jon Cooksey (ed) Graham McKechnie (ed) 2015 (Blink 2015)



"In this remarkable book, historians Jon Cooksey and Graham McKechnie present the extraordinary story of Frederick Kelly, the musician, composer and Olympic rower, killed in action during the Great War. Frederick Kelly's war diary, written between 1914 and 1916, is a unique document recording some of the most significant events of the 20th century. This is the story of a singular, brave and brilliant man who inspired the respect of those who served with him and the love and devotion of his many friends. It is not just a war diary - it is about music, art and humanity. Kelly was a man who, in the depths of war, still found time to compose evocative music or use the songs of Wagner to entice German soldiers to surrender. Despite his eccentricities and artistic temperament, he repeatedly proved himself on brutal battlefields, from Gallipoli to the Somme, without losing his tenderness of sense of humour. Olympic champion, composer, pianist, intellectual, leader of men and diarist; never before published in full, Frederick Kelly's story is a tale of courage, tragedy and lost potential. It is a fascinating and at times emotional insight into the mind of one of the era's unsung heroes during some of the most deadly battles of the First World War." (publisher's blurb)

I heard about this book when I was reading the one about Oxbridge rowers killed in the Great War. Kelly won the Diamond Sculls three times and was in the Leander eight which won the gold medal at the 1908 Olympics. He was trying to establish himself as a concert pianist and composer when war broke out and he enlisted as a "sailor fighting as a soldier" in the Royal Naval Division. Having read a bit about Gallipoli and the Western Front recently it was interesting and moving to read a personal account from one of the participants and the editors do an excellent job of clarifying the text and putting it in perspective.
Kelly was a friend of Rupert Brooke and his "Elegy In Memoriam Rupert Brooke" was performed a few years ago at the Proms.

Anno Dracula
Kim Newman 1992 (Pocket Books 1993)



"Vlad Tepes, or Dracula, did not die as in Bram Stoker but rather survived and, political genius, rose to marry Queen Victoria in 1885 and become her consort. Dracula rules England, with Victoria doglike in a leash at his feet. What's more, it's now fashionable to be a vampire, especially among the nobility, while among the lower orders the change from "warm'' to the immortal undead can be bought from any corner whore for the price of a shot of gin or draft of pig's blood at the pub. Jack the Ripper, however, hates undead whores and knows that destroying any vital organ can kill them. Who is Jack? None other that Stoker's Dr. John (Jack) Seward, who helped drive a stake into Lucy Westenra, Stoker's heroine. Jack's gone round the bend, living among a people who look upon vampirism as, well, pretty nice. The police assign Genevieve Dieuxdonne, a vampire detective, herself a half-century older than Dracula, to chase down Jack, assisted by Charles Beauregard, handsome henchman of Conan Doyle's The Diogenes Club, England's Star Chamber. Also on hand: Mycroft Holmes, Dr. Jekyll, and dozens of famed Victorians from literature and real life, all mingling in a fogbound milieu that rubs like cat fur on the reader's imagination. A bloody delight." (from Kirkus Reviews)

I enjoyed it although it could have been more tightly edited as it seems to sprawl about to an unnecessary degree. Lots of fictional characters such as Dr. Jekyll and Mycroft Holmes get walk on parts or are mentioned in passing which I found a bit distracting. Newman writes a lot about genre fiction and films and can't resist referencing them in his novel - maybe it's easier than inventing your own characters. Despite this it's still a decent read although maybe not sufficiently good to make me hunt down the others in the series.
I was amused by Newman's afterword where he thanks Clive Barker "for the afternoon when I drunkenly complained about the length of Imajica". So it wasn't just me then.