The Virtual Pub

Come Inside... => The Library => Topic started by: Nick on November 05, 2007, 12:54:49 PM

Title: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Nick on November 05, 2007, 12:54:49 PM
A bit of a disappointment. Snoopy should cross it off his Xmas list.

This, on the other hand, is excellent!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867/ref=sr_1_2/202-2922530-6870231?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194267265&sr=1-2 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867/ref=sr_1_2/202-2922530-6870231?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194267265&sr=1-2)
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Barman on November 05, 2007, 01:03:31 PM
I'm reading this at the moment...

(https://www.virtual-pub.com/SMF/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F516T1ZECFFL._AA240_.jpg&hash=cee064a195d7f4ec7a19d7a725ac9098fea2db0b)

Bloody marvellous…

Link (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Attention-All-Shipping-Journey-Forecast/dp/0349116032/ref=sr_1_1/026-0236111-1383662?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194267617&sr=1-1)
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Nick on November 05, 2007, 01:04:57 PM
I hated that. It could have been really interesting, but he made it into a sort of "Look, here's me being amusing in Finisterre" sort of jobby.

There is a different book to be written on this subject. evil:
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Barman on November 05, 2007, 01:05:51 PM
I hated that. It could have been really interesting, but he made it into a sort of "Look, here's me being amusing in Finisterre" sort of jobby.

There is a different book to be written on this subject. evil:
Bloody marvellous!   eveilgrin:
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Nick on November 05, 2007, 01:10:31 PM
I disagree! evil:

I also recommend this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/London-Biography-Peter-Ackroyd/dp/0099422581/ref=sr_1_2/202-2922530-6870231?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194267726&sr=1-2 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/London-Biography-Peter-Ackroyd/dp/0099422581/ref=sr_1_2/202-2922530-6870231?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194267726&sr=1-2)
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: TG on November 05, 2007, 01:11:33 PM
I'm reading this at the moment...

(https://www.virtual-pub.com/SMF/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F516T1ZECFFL._AA240_.jpg&hash=cee064a195d7f4ec7a19d7a725ac9098fea2db0b)

Bloody marvellous…

Link (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Attention-All-Shipping-Journey-Forecast/dp/0349116032/ref=sr_1_1/026-0236111-1383662?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194267617&sr=1-1)

SNAP! Me too! Got it free from readitswapit
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Barman on November 05, 2007, 01:13:05 PM
I'm reading this at the moment...

(https://www.virtual-pub.com/SMF/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F516T1ZECFFL._AA240_.jpg&hash=cee064a195d7f4ec7a19d7a725ac9098fea2db0b)

Bloody marvellous…

Link (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Attention-All-Shipping-Journey-Forecast/dp/0349116032/ref=sr_1_1/026-0236111-1383662?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194267617&sr=1-1)

SNAP! Me too! Got it free from readitswapit
happy001
 point: @ nick
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Nick on November 05, 2007, 01:13:38 PM
I'm reading this at the moment...

(https://www.virtual-pub.com/SMF/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F516T1ZECFFL._AA240_.jpg&hash=cee064a195d7f4ec7a19d7a725ac9098fea2db0b)

Bloody marvellous…

Link (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Attention-All-Shipping-Journey-Forecast/dp/0349116032/ref=sr_1_1/026-0236111-1383662?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194267617&sr=1-1)

SNAP! Me too! Got it free from readitswapit

Yeah, but it's crap!
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Barman on November 05, 2007, 01:15:11 PM
I'm reading this at the moment...

(https://www.virtual-pub.com/SMF/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F516T1ZECFFL._AA240_.jpg&hash=cee064a195d7f4ec7a19d7a725ac9098fea2db0b)

Bloody marvellous…

Link (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Attention-All-Shipping-Journey-Forecast/dp/0349116032/ref=sr_1_1/026-0236111-1383662?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194267617&sr=1-1)

SNAP! Me too! Got it free from readitswapit

Yeah, but it's crap!
So says your lonely voice…  whistle:
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Nick on November 05, 2007, 01:18:16 PM
Quote
11 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
 Shipping Forecast - becoming good, book - occasionally poor, 31 Mar 2006
By  Radio 4 Fan (surrey) - See all my reviews

I'd agree with "A reader" below that while the premise of the book is clever and the subject matter pretty interesting, the constant need the author felt to shoehorn witty asides into the text was irritating. This would not have been so bad if more of them had been genuinely funny. On reading the book, I was forever coming across examples of wit which would simply trip me up or stop me in my tracks.
It is ironic that while the author praises the terseness and economy of the Shipping Forecast itself, the book is brimming with many pointless asides which could have been edited out to good effect.

Quote
The premise of this book is excellent and it contains some gems of interesting information. Unfortunately, however, Charlie Connelly felt the need to inflict hundreds of obvious and, frankly, unfunny 'jokes' upon his readers. My recommendation would be to skim read this book, focusing upon such fascinating sections as the history of the Principality of Sealand and the work of Henry Blogg of Cromer, whilst trying your hardest to ignore the irritating banalities of the author.

Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Barman on November 05, 2007, 01:19:59 PM
Quote
11 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
 Shipping Forecast - becoming good, book - occasionally poor, 31 Mar 2006
By  Radio 4 Fan (surrey) - See all my reviews

I'd agree with "A reader" below that while the premise of the book is clever and the subject matter pretty interesting, the constant need the author felt to shoehorn witty asides into the text was irritating. This would not have been so bad if more of them had been genuinely funny. On reading the book, I was forever coming across examples of wit which would simply trip me up or stop me in my tracks.
It is ironic that while the author praises the terseness and economy of the Shipping Forecast itself, the book is brimming with many pointless asides which could have been edited out to good effect.

Quote
The premise of this book is excellent and it contains some gems of interesting information. Unfortunately, however, Charlie Connelly felt the need to inflict hundreds of obvious and, frankly, unfunny 'jokes' upon his readers. My recommendation would be to skim read this book, focusing upon such fascinating sections as the history of the Principality of Sealand and the work of Henry Blogg of Cromer, whilst trying your hardest to ignore the irritating banalities of the author.


doh:
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Barman on November 05, 2007, 01:24:59 PM
Hold on tho!  cussing:

Quote
This was one of my surprisingly good reads of 2006. Having never heard the shipping news (well, consciously at any rate), this would never have been a first choice and I must admit to being a little dubious about receiving it as a gift.

Quote
This is a great book! If you have ever wondered where North Utsire is or what it may be like to have a North Easterly Gale force 8 blowing across Lundy, then this is the book for you. Connelly reveals each of the sea areas of the shipping forecast in turn in a very easy to read format. He is quite ready to share with us his failings but he also tells the reader about life on the edge of the coast with a gentleness lost in some others writings. If you liked Bryson, Hawks etc then you will like this book, even if you don't know your Bailey from your Viking.


Quote
The idea behind "Attention All Shipping: A Journey Around the Shipping Forecast" is so ingenious you wonder why nobody has ever done it before. Whereas many globe-hopping travel writers struggle desperately to come up with increasingly outlandish odysseys, Charlie Connelly has accomplished a much more impressive feat: revealing the extraordinary diversity that exists right here in the British Isles and their near neighbours. In a book brimming with characters and anecdotes, my favourites are the Crown Prince of Sealand (a rusty World War Two military platform in the North Sea) and the Pythonesque women who cheerfully bully their customers into buying Belgian waffles in the Choxaway Café at Land's End Aerodrome.

Quote
Simply one of the best books I have ever read.


 point: point: point: point:
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Nick on November 05, 2007, 01:25:50 PM
The world is full of idiots. I am usually surrounded by them! evil:
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Darwins Selection on November 05, 2007, 01:32:21 PM
The world is full of idiots. I am usually surrounded by them! evil:
That'll be why you come in here to escape and do some of the surrounding.
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Nick on November 05, 2007, 01:34:34 PM
No, I am a pinnacle of sanity in the insane maelstrom of the pub
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Barman on November 05, 2007, 01:35:04 PM
No, I am a pinnacle of sanity in the insane maelstrom of the pub
happy001
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Darwins Selection on November 05, 2007, 01:36:20 PM
No, I am a pinnacle of sanity in the insane maelstrom of the pub
Certainly a 'pinnacle' in terms of sticking out. whistle:
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Snoopy on November 05, 2007, 01:38:00 PM
More like a barnacle on the arse of society  ;)
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Bar Wench on November 05, 2007, 01:39:25 PM
A boil on the butt of the customer base?
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Darwins Selection on November 05, 2007, 01:41:46 PM
A boil on the butt of the customer base?
drumroll:
Title: Re: Ackroyd's book about the Thames
Post by: Nick on November 05, 2007, 01:42:40 PM
A boil on the butt of the customer base?

Don't be too hard on yourself Wenchy. They say you are awful, I don't always agree!