Three Books

MY recent reads include Round Ireland In Low Gear by Eric Newby, Border: A Journey To The Edge Of Europe by Kapka Kassabova and 'An Ill Journey For The Englishmen': Elis Gruffydd And The 1523 French Campaign Of The Duke Of Suffolk by The Pike and Shot Society.

Three books

Round Ireland details Newby's cycling through remote parts of Eire with his wife Wanda, noting a lot of history on the way.

As a travel book it is not a patch on his Hindu Kush and Down The Ganges efforts, but then they were very good indeed.

But at least it is readable, which is more than I can say for Border. I managed fewer than 70 pages of the latter before giving up in frustration at tosh about the evil eye, psychic healing and energy fields presented as established facts.

The Pike and Shot book was published by the society in 2006, as an inducement to renewing membership, if I recall correctly.

It has taken me 15 years to get around to reading the book, which mostly consists of two accounts, the main one by Welsh adventurer Elis Gruffydd, of military campaigning in France by Henry VIII's troops in the 15th year of the English king's reign.

Some of the spellings and quaint - to 21st -century eyes - writing take a little getting used to, but I think were well worth it.

Two Mags

MY recent reading has included the July/August issues of Ancient Warfare and Slingshot.

These publications are consistently two of my favourite reads, and neither of these issues let me down.

Ancient Warfare and Slingshot ... colourful covers and excellent contents

Ancient Warfare is themed around  the Neo-Assyrian Empire, with interesting articles that managed to tell me things I did not know.

Slingshot has more of a mix, with my favourite being Michael Fredholm von Essen's on The Rise And Fall Of Nomad Military Power, marred only by having a ridiculous 80 endnotes (and this is only the first of a two-part series).

Some Slingshot contributors could do with studying how professional writers, such as those in Ancient Warfare, manage to produce an article without indulging in pseudo-academic extravagances.

Cruising

A BOOK called The Cruise Of The Snark may sound like a spoof from the Monty Python team.

In fact it is American author Jack London's account of building and sailing a large yacht across much of the South Pacific.

Since the journey was made in 1907, it has lots of historic interest, as well as being both fascinating and amusing in large parts.

My edition of London's book - a reprint from California-based The Narrative Press

It is a long time since I read anything by this author, but it almost makes me want to re-read White Fang and The Call Of The Wild.