Canterbury Tales Guesthouse

[Daveo]

The Right Stuff

TOM WOLFE

Tom Wolfe began The Right Stuff at a time when it was unfashionable to contemplate American heroism. Nixon had left the White House in disgrace, the nation was reeling from the catastrophe of Vietnam, and in 1979 - the year the book appeared - Americans were being held hostage by Iranian militants. Yet it was exactly the anachronistic courage of his subjects that captivated Wolfe. In his foreword, he notes that as late as 1970, almost one in four career Navy pilots died in accidents. "The Right Stuff," he explains, "became a story of why men were willing - willing? - delighted! - to take on such odds in this, an era literary people had long since characterized as the age of the anti-hero."

Wolfe's roots in New Journalism were intertwined with the nonfiction novel that Truman Capote had pioneered with In Cold Blood. As Capote did, Wolfe tells his story from a limited omniscient perspective, dropping into the lives of his "characters" as each in turn becomes a major player in the space program. After an opening chapter on the terror of being a test pilot's wife, the story cuts back to the late 1940's, when Americans were first attempting to break the sound barrier. Test pilots, we discover, are people who live fast lives with dangerous machines, not all of them airborne. Chuck Yeager was certainly among the fastest, and his determination to push through Mach 1 - a feat that some had predicted would cause the destruction of any aircraft - makes him the book's guiding spirit.

Yet soon the focus shifts to the seven initial astronauts. Wolfe traces Alan Shepard's suborbital flight and Gus Grissom's embarrassing panic on the high seas (making the controversial claim that Grissom flooded his Liberty capsule by blowing the escape hatch too soon). The author also produces an admiring portrait of John Glenn's apple-pie heroism and selfless dedication. By the time Wolfe concludes with a return to Yeager and his late-career exploits, the narrative's epic proportions and literary merits are secure. Certainly The Right Stuff is the best, the funniest, and the most vivid book ever written about America's manned space program. - Patrick O'Kelley

[Daveo]

[Daveo]

The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made 

by Walter Isaacson & Evan Thomas

 

With a new introduction by the authors, this is the classic account of the American statesmen who rebuilt the world after the catastrophe of World War II.

A captivating blend of personal biography and public drama, The Wise Men introduces six close friends who shaped the role their country would play in the dangerous years following World War II.

They were the original best and brightest, whose towering intellects, outsize personalities, and dramatic actions would bring order to the postwar chaos and leave a legacy that dominates American policy to this day.

The Wise Men shares the stories of Averell Harriman, the freewheeling diplomat and Roosevelt’s special envoy to Churchill and Stalin; Dean Acheson, the secretary of state who was more responsible for the Truman Doctrine than Truman and for the Marshall Plan than General Marshall; George Kennan, self-cast outsider and intellectual darling of the Washington elite; Robert Lovett, assistant secretary of war, undersecretary of state, and secretary of defense throughout the formative years of the Cold War; John McCloy, one of the nation’s most influential private citizens; and Charles Bohlen, adroit diplomat and ambassador to the Soviet Union.

 

[Daveo]

Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann.

"Public Opinion" is a critical assessment of functional democratic government, especially the irrational, and often self-serving, social perceptions that influence individual behavior, and prevent optimal societal cohesion. The descriptions of the cognitive limitations people face in comprehending their socio-political and cultural environments, proposes that people must inevitably apply an evolving catalogue of general stereotypes to a complex reality, rendered "Public Opinion" a seminal text in the fields of media studies, political science, and social psychology. "Public Opinion" proposes that the increased power of propaganda, and the specialized knowledge required for effective political decisions, have rendered impossible the traditional notion of democracy. Moreover, the work introduced the phrase "the manufacture of consent", which Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman used as the title of their book "Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media."

[Daveo]

Orphan X #5

Into the Fire

Gregg Andrew Hurwitz

Orphan X returns—facing his own uncertain future and undertaking one last mission.
Taken from a group home at age twelve, Evan Smoak was trained as an off-the-books government assassin: Orphan X. After breaking with the Program, he reinvented himself as The Nowhere Man, a figure shrouded in shadows who helps the truly desperate. But the government didn’t let go of him easily, sending their best to hunt him down and eliminate him. All of them failed. With his deadliest enemies behind him, Evan is facing a new challenge—what is he going to do now that no one is after him?

Max Merriweather is at the end of his rope. Separated from the woman he loves and barely scraping by, Max is a disappointment to everyone in his life. Then his very successful cousin Grant is brutally murdered. Two months before, Grant left Max an envelope with instructions to take it to a reporter if anything happened to him. Now the reporter is missing and Max’s apartment is ransacked. A man at the end of his rope, he calls The Nowhere Man.

With mixed feelings, Evan takes on this mission, easily finding the men who are after Max and executing a plan to keep him safe. But it isn’t as obvious as it seems—and Evan finds himself enmeshed in one of the most challenging missions of his life, one that he can’t survive on his own. With the help of Joey Morales, a genius-level hacker and the last Orphan recruited into the Program, and the brilliant, off-the-books gunsmith, Tommy Stojack, Orphan X once more heads…Into the Fire.

[Daveo]

Manden uden navn - 1. del: Bourne-mysteriet

Robert Ludlum, Henning Albrechtsen (Translator)

 

Han blev reddet op af havetmed et skudsår i hovedet, mere død end levende- og med totalt hukommelsestab.

Hans udseende er blevet fuldstændig ændret ved operationer,og endnu en ting: under huden er der indsyet en stump film med nummeret på en bankkonto i Zürich.

Gennem bankkontoen finder han ud af, at han åbenbart er Jason Bourne og stenrig. Men han finder også ud af, at han nu er jaget af ukendte personer.

Kun enkelt navn dukker op i erindringsglimt: Carlos, navnet påden berygtede terrorist. Alt tyder på, at han er blevet såret under en jagt på Carlos, og nu genoptager han jagten for at finde svaret.

Men under jagten finder han ud af uhyggelige ting om sig selv, og kun Marie St. Jacques, som han møder under en voldsom episode, får ham til at fortsætte til det endelig og afslørende opgør i New York.

Denne udgave er opdelt i 2 bøger:
1. del: Bourne mysteriet (denne bog) og
2. del: Møde med fortiden

[Daveo]

Qui ? (French Edition) 

French Edition  by Jacques Expert

[Daveo]

Le Sable était brûlant Broché – Livre grand format, de Roger Smith

[Daveo]

Hard as Nails: The Graham Roberts Story by Graham Roberts..

 Graham Roberts is a true football legend. Utterly uncompromising both on and off the pitch for Tottenham Hotspur, Rangers and Chelsea, Roberts was a fans' favourite with a talent which was the envy of many. Now he tells the full story of his sensational career, and also of the high profile court cases which he took on and won. Hard As Nails is the incredible story of one of football's legendary hard men - and it's a story as uncompromising as the man himself.

[Daveo]

Ossie: Leon Osman My Autobiography

 

So Good I Did it Twice: Kevin Sheedy My Life from Left Field by Kevin Sheedy

KEVIN SHEEDY is an Everton and Republic of Ireland legend with plenty of entertaining stories to tell. The man with one of the best left foots in football played alongside some of the biggest characters in the game during a colourful career. Sheedy started his football life with Hereford United before being spotted by Bob Paisley's Liverpool.

But he featured in only five senior games during his Anfield career and crossed Stanley Park to Everton, where he won two League titles and a European Cup Winners' Cup medal as well as playing in three FA Cup Finals. Sheedy was a regular fixture in Howard Kendall's celebrated side that brought unprecedented glitter to Goodison. It was during an FA Cup tie against Ipswich in 1985 that his famous free-kick moment came. Sheedy hit the net from 20 yards to the goalkeeper's right and when a re-take was ordered, he crashed his second attempt to the keeper's left.

Sheedy also made 46 appearances for his country during a spell that encompassed the renowned Jack Charlton era. He scored nine goals for his country, probably the most famous of which was a goal against England in the 1990 World Cup, the first scored by a Republic player at a World Cup finals. He also played in all of Ireland's Euro 88 matches.

David Weir: Extra Time - My Autobiography 

by David Weir. - Signed by the Author

David Weir's career is a tale of triumph on the pitch but also of victory over the assumption all top-level footballers are finished in their mid-30s. Weir, who turned 42 in May 2012, is the oldest outfield player to represent Rangers since 1945, passing the mark set by their famous full-back, Jock 'Tiger' Shaw.

In this revealing autobiography, Weir gives an insight into the high of playing in the 1998 World Cup finals for his country to the low of the chaotic 2-2 draw in the Faroes four years later which led to his decision to stop playing for Scotland. For the first time, he gives his side of the story.

Many felt Weir's international career was over for good and that his club career was approaching its conclusion, too. It seemed that David Moyes, his manager at Everton, was on the lookout for younger defenders. Like thousands of footballers before him, Weir could just have accepted his time was up. Instead, he moved to Rangers in January 2007, making his debut for his childhood favourites at a mere 36 years and 236 days and has helped them to eight trophies since and a European final in 2008. Weir's is a story of battling against the odds to keep playing at the top level and proving he could, despite the doubts of others and indeed himself.

Edited January 27, 2022 by Daveo

[Daveo]

How to Kill a Minority Shareholder Rob Watkins

Deb had worked and fought her way from council estate to a position that promised a comfortable retirement for her and her husband, Bob, and would make all their sacrifices over the years worthwhile. Her skill, dedication and knowledge had enabled her to take a failing, small family business she had joined a quarter century before and turn it into an international empire. She had made her boss and the shareholders multi-millionaires. On paper, even Deb would walk away with a few million when it came time to retire.

At the happiest and proudest point of her hard-working life, Deb's evil boss, Ms Summer Ponsenbury, after twenty-five years of festering, hidden jealousy, shattered Deb's world. With the help of her unscrupulous cohorts, Summer took away everything she had promised. She destroyed Deb's reputation, took her rewards, trashed Deb's achievements and dumped her at rock bottom.

All concerned believed they were above the law. They were too powerful and too rich to have to worry about Deb getting justice. They thought no one would care... they were wrong. They had forgotten about Bob. The fight was just about to start.

[Daveo]

Feeding Frenzy by Will Self

 

Feeding Frenzy - Booker nominee Will Self's dazzling collection of journalism and writing

 

'Self often writes non-fiction as though it were fiction, topping off what we know as reality with the cream of his surreality' Guardian

 

During the turbulent years of 1995-2000, Will Self surfed the great wave of olive oil which nearly swept British metropolitan culture away, and produced a series of restaurant reviews for The Observer, whose coruscating criticality led to a cabal of restaurateurs plotting his contract killing. In essays to accompany the work of admired artists such as Marc Quinn, feature articles on rock music and remote places, reviews of cultural phenomena as diverse as voyeuristic television and the Queen Mother, Will Self has produced what can only be described as a cachinnating cacophony of wilful provocation.

 

From the Booker-shortlisted author of Umbrella, this virtuoso collection, which also includes interviews and musings on Salman Rushdie, Hunter S. Thompson as well as a quasi-autobiography of the author's relationship with London, will be adored by fans of Will Self's fiction and nonfiction.

 

Will Self is the author of nine novels including Cock and Bull; My Idea of Fun; Great Apes; How the Dead Live; Dorian, an Imitation; The Book of Dave; The Butt; Walking to Hollywood and Umbrella, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He has written five collections of shorter fiction and three novellas: The Quantity Theory of Insanity; Grey Area; License to Hug; The Sweet Smell of Psychosis; Design Faults in the Volvo 760 Turbo; Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys; Dr. Mukti and Other Tales of Woe and Liver: A Fictional Organ with a Surface Anatomy of Four Lobes. Self has also compiled a number of nonfiction works, including The Undivided Self: Selected Stories; Junk Mail; Perfidious Man; Sore Sites; Feeding Frenzy; Psychogeography; Psycho Too and The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Prawn Cracker.

Essays...

[Daveo]

World War II German War Booty: A Study in Photographs (Schiffer Military History) by Thomas M Johnson..

This new illustrated book by noted Third Reich edged weapon author, collector, and dealer Thomas Johnson explores the vast array of militaria "liberated" from Germany by U.S. soldiers during the Second World War.

The book contains over 580 beautiful full-color, large-format photographs of German daggers, swords, helmets, uniforms, insignia, award documents, weapons, and many other rare and unusual items.

Also included is a generous selection of World War II era photographs showing many items in the act of being liberated.

[Daveo]

In recently, message me for details..The Fly Past magazines there are a lot..

[Daveo]

https://meanderingtales.com/kanchanaburi-bridge-over-the-river-kwai-death-railway-erawan-waterfalls/?fbclid=IwAR1CcRXjLpUB0LCThO6lnfedhgPwDerryZOrrbi3tzp5DDtkBMBKXsf1CM4

[Daveo]

[Daveo]

This room above the bookshop is available now.

6,000 baht per month plus electricity and water

[Daveo]

Lee Child books from 100 baht each.

Better Off Dead by Lee & Andrew Child.
Digging graves had not been part of my plans when I woke up that morning. 
Reacher goes where he wants, when he wants. That morning he was heading west, walking under the merciless desert sun - until he comes upon a curious scene. A Jeep has crashed into the only tree for miles around. A woman is slumped over the wheel.
Dead? No, nothing is what it seems. 
The woman is Michaela Fenton, an army veteran turned FBI agent trying to find her twin brother, who might be mixed up with some dangerous people. 
Most of them would rather die than betray their terrifying leader, who has burrowed his influence deep into the nearby border town, a backwater that has seen better days. The mysterious Dendoncker rules from the shadows, out of sight and under the radar, keeping his dealings in the dark.
He would know the fate of Fenton’s brother. 
Reacher is good at finding people who don’t want to be found, so he offers to help, despite feeling that Fenton is keeping Secrets of her own. But a life hangs in the balance.
Maybe more than one. But to bring Dendoncker down will be the riskiest job of Reacher's life. Failure is not an option, because in this kind of game, the loser is always better off dead.

[Daveo]

The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town

True Crime by John Grisham.

and many more True Crimes.

[Daveo]

[Daveo]

[Daveo]

Belgian Tourists in Burma, Siam, Vietnam and Cambodia 1897 and 1900

by Georges Chaudoir - Mr. and Mrs. Émile Jottrand (Author), E. J. Tips.

This first English translation presents two travelogues of Belgian travellers around the turn of the twentieth century. First, there is part of a world tour by Georges 'Puck' Chaudoir that covers an overland journey through the Nagaland Hills in present-day India, Burma and Siam to Bangkok in Thailand.

Chaudoir was a former military man and in his world outlook and observations a tourist Avant-la-Lettre. He organized his own caravans and struggled through areas mostly untraveled by Europeans in 1897.

His photographs include both purchased professional work and his own action shots. In the second part, this book presents the vacation recollections of Émile Jottrand and his wife. Jottrand was at work in Siam as a legal adviser.

On vacation in October 1900, he travelled to Saigon, Mytho, Phnom Penh and a few backwaters of the budding French Indochina colony.

His main purpose was to visit Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom in the Siamese territory of Siem Reap and Battambang. Small sampans and ox carts could then only reach it.

He reported from these small towns, which Siam would later return to Cambodia, and discussed French intrigues on the Siamese border.

Nothing escaped his sharp observations and his liberal opinions clash violently with the idea of a colony as a workable vehicle for development.

In Angkor Wat, then only visited by a hundred people or so each year, his descriptions and photographs of a temple complex in rubble and in the grips of vegetation, as well as the looting going on there, offer original insights.

[Daveo]

[Daveo]

 

Portillo's Hidden History of Britain by Michael Portillo.

Discover the hidden history of Britain through the stories of its 'lost' or abandoned places and buildings. Portillo's Secret History of Britain presents a compelling and wonderfully evocative history of Britain through the stories of its 'lost' or abandoned places and buildings.

The chapters cover a variety of historical themes: Crime and Punishment, Health and Medicine, Defence and Warfare, and Entertainment and Leisure.

Using a combination of his own investigations and archive research, plus memories and quotations from the contributors he interviewed for the series, Michael Portillo explains what the buildings were used for and by whom, why they were abandoned, and what they can tell us about our past. For example: - Learn what the ruins of London Road Fire and Police Station in Manchester reveal about the history of the emergency services in the last 100 years - How Bradford's art deco Odeon cinema encapsulates a century of film-making and movie-going With evocative text that brings each location vividly to life, Michael Portillo describes the building and its activities in its heyday and compares this past life with its faded grandeur or melancholic abandonment seen today.

Filled with fascinating insights and observations, his narrative provides a compelling and original perspective on Britain's social and military history. Portillo's Hidden History of Britain features deserted villages, abandoned prisons, closed-down cinemas, empty hospitals, derelict military bases, sewers and much more. Complementing the text are 16 pages of atmospheric and informative photographs.

[Daveo]

 

The Bombmaker by Stephen Leather.

Andrea Hayes was one of the IRA's most deadly killers.

But when a misplaced bomb ripped apart a group of passing kids, she left all that behind her. Now, years later, she lives a quiet, suburban life with her husband and young daughter, and her days of violence seem a distant memory.

But then her daughter is kidnapped by persons unknown, and the past comes knocking at her door . . .