"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".
Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"
Time for another update... and I appreciate this is a short one, and the first in a fortnight, but them's the breaks when you also have another hobby [clicky], and the focus of said hobby is about to launch (and at time of posting has launched).. 😁
I hadn't realised what a one man Mafia machine Puzo was - his output is huge, and they all seem to be either directly "Godfather" related, or prequels, or proquels (is that even a word?) and so it is with this one, as I also hadn't realised that "The Godfather" was actually the first book in a trilogy, this being the second..
For those of you who have seen the films or read the first book, the book covers the period at the end of Michael's enforced stay in hiding in Sicily after the killing of the corrupt policeman and his father's enemy in the restaurant in New York..
He is due to return home and his father gives him one last job to do which is to help an eminent Mafiosi escape from Sicily to America, to avoid almost certain death.
The book then is about the life of this Mafiosi, Salvatore Giuliano*, and why he needs to escape, how he became an outlaw, and his relationship to the people of Sicily and the other Sicilian Mafia families. Along the way we get a lot of description of what life in Sicily at the time (shortly after the war) was like, about the effects of the war under Mussolini (he came very close to driving the Mafia out due to his fairly casual observance of the rule of law!) and about the complicated rules of conduct, respect, and behaviour in being a member of the Mafia.
It was OK - I enjoyed it, but not as much as the "Godfather" - I may get to the third volume one day, but I'm in no rush.. 7/10
*By the by, I found that the "hero" of the book, and indeed most of the book, is based on a real person - more on him here [clicky]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'd spotted this on Amazon a few weeks ago, as it one of those "99p specials" at the time, and I thought I'd take a punt to see what it was like given that it is set in the English Civil War which is one of my main military history interests..
The book sits in the "fast and furious" camp of writing - the characters are depicted in a similar fashion to those in a Sharpe if you know what I mean; everyone makes their mind up instantly, are friends instantly, are enemies instantly, or are black or white in their political allegiances .. no bad thing, but books are like beer, you need to make sure you start on the right beer before moving to the next beer, so that the next beer doesn't jar... 😀
All of which is a cumbersome way of saying I didn't gel with the book quite as much as I expect I would have done if I hadn't come direct from a couple of pints of Shute and Mafiosi, hugely different pace and character depth..
Anyway, the hero Captain Maxwell Walker, is a Royalist serving in Langdale's Northern horse, the book opens at Naseby, and we learn only briefly that Maxwell is a widower before also discovering the cause of his widow hood, is serving opposite (and to take the Sharpe analogy a little further, this guy is a right Obadiah Hakeswill, whose character name funnily enough is Harper 😊) - cue special mission following the battle to recover the Kings confidential and very important possessions from the manor he had stayed at before the battle now in danger of falling into Parliamentary hands, capture, accusations of spying, mining at the siege of Hereford, before a triumphant return in time for the opening of the battle of Rowton Moor...
Now if I had any sense, I'd read the second one now... worth reading.. 8/10
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Little project for the summer, the above shows part of the the post-Napoleonic era canal that they built through the middle of Portsmouth in order to be able to transport munitions and supplies inland and away from the depredations of any enemy ships that might be roaming the English Channel..
Putting it into the same context as that map of 'Operation Starfish', the right of the map above is the red circle following..
This canal ran from Arundel to Portsmouth, was completed, but was only in existence for a short time before being superseded by rail - bits and pieces of it still remain though, so by way of an occasional summer time cycle and ramble I thought I'd trace as much of the Portsmouth section of it as still exists or is visible..
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Laters, as the young people are want to say...
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