Book Review January / February

Instead of leaving it until the end of the year and loading up a large list of books I’ve decided to intersperse the model work every six to eight weeks or so with a summary of reading since the last update.

I think I may have mentioned before that I’m a Doctor Who fan, so it will come as no surprise that there are Doctor Who related titles in the current line up. I’ve also said that I think I’ve read nearly every Doctor Who novel published.

There are some authors in the range that I just can’t wait to read and Jacqueline Rayner is one them. I always enjoy Jac’s work, it is fresh, lively and entertaining which is what reading for pleasure should be all about.

Doctor Who

Magic of the Angels

Jacqueline Rayner

Random House / BBC Books       

978-1-849-90286-1

This is one of the books in the £1.99 Quick Reads range, books designed to draw in the more reluctant reader. Please, if you’re not into reading and you like Doctor Who give one of these books a try, there are several Doctor Who titles in the range.

As you may have guessed from the title and cover this features the Weeping Angels, one of the scariest monsters to come from Steven Moffat. Although the plot is simple, the Doctor, Amy and Rory are on a sight seeing trip around London when they land themselves in trouble again with the Angels, the pace is quick and the adventure entertaining as the drama builds up to its climax. It’s very easy to imagine this as a TV episode as you read it. Reading this on the way to work I almost missed my stop.

****

Also from the world of Doctor Who are two autobiographies from companions from the classic series:-

Daddy's Girl: The Autobiography of Deborah Watling

Deborah Watling & Paul W. T. Ballard

Fantom Films Limited

978-1-90626-341-6

“Daddy’s Girl” as the name suggests is certainly dedicated to the late great Jack Watling, Debbie’s father. Debbie recounts with love her childhood, her acting career, and life outside of show business.  The writing is truthful, encapsulating both the light and dark sides of life, in a book that comes over very much from the heart. Reading this is like having Debbie at a guest panel all to yourself, you can hear her telling her own story as you read.

Deborah Watling played Victoria Waterfield during the Patrick Troughton (2nd Doctor) era of the program.

The Flight of the Budgerigar

John Leeson

Hirst Books

978-1-907-95931-8

John Leeson voiced most of K9's appearances with Tom Baker (4th Doctor) and was also known as Bungle Bear from Rainbow.

I’m currently reading “The Flight of the Budgerigar”, I will review that next time.

****

I started the year’s reading in the same way as I finished last year with a couple more books from the Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural range published by Wordsworth Editions.

The Bishop of Hell & Other Stories          

Marjorie Bowen              

978-1-84022-537-2

Uncanny Stories

May Sinclair

978-1-84022-492-4

Just like modern works some of the older pieces are very readable and some can be hard going especially with the shift in language over time. Both of these are quite readable, you need to excuse a couple of phrases which are a bit anachronistic with today. I did however tend to find the stories in these two books somewhat predictable, although interesting, the ‘twists’ were quite obvious and often telegraphed. Again I think this shows how style as well as language has changed.