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.

I'm Back.

I’m back, did you miss me? Ok the blog’s been quiet for a couple of weeks as I developed another throat infection which knocked me for six and left me without a voice for several weeks and little energy. The doctor gave me some antibiotics but I had a reaction to them which meant my hands, feet, lips you name it started swelling up. This made modelling almost impossible.

This blog is a little bit of a waffle, I want to let my readers who are also Doctor Who fans know that this week’s Doctor Who Adventures comes with a pack of 16 Weeping Angels, ideal for a small army and at just £2.50 an issue – guess what, I’ve bought a couple of issues. They are a little rubbery but I’m sure we’ll be able to work with them.

When I did get back on my feet I managed to get in two theatre visits, to see two very different productions. The first was ‘The Moon is Halfway to Heaven’ performed at the Jermyn Theatre in Jermyn Street. Unfortunately, this was a short run production which closed today before I was able to post this and recommend it. But take note of the title and should it come round again I strongly recommend it. It’s a two hander written by David Kerby-Kandall who forms one half of the cast. It is a story of friendship, pure and simple. It is a friendship that endures from childhood to retirement, the ups and downs of friendship, stopping off at the main events in these two friend’s lives. At times it is touching and at others very funny. The good news is that the play has been recorded as an audio cd, so you can still catch up and if you enjoy radio drama then I’m sure this will transfer very well.

For more details see here:-

http://moonhalfway.com/

The other was a much larger lavish stage production of ‘Cool Hand Luke’. A stage version of the film that starred Paul Newman in the title role of the ex-US army soldier that ended up on the chain gang because he would not conform. This version stars Hustle’s Marc Warren, who finds he has to eat 50 hardboiled eggs in an hour to win a bet. With a large set that sweeps on and off the stage you get a wooden church, the jail house, a cooler box; I must admit I did find myself during the interval thinking how I could like to build some of these features into my coffee stick world. Again another play worth paying a visit to if you’re in town.

For details see here:-

http://www.coolhandluke.co.uk/

I’ll be back soon with some actual model talk.