2 comments about The Diary of Samuel Pepys: 1664 (Diary of Samuel Pepys, Vol 5).

1. Samuel Pepys must certainly be the most candid of diarists, and the most aware of his time and place. He makes no effort to hide his flaws, nor his accomplishments. We learn about court intrigue, food, household management, plays, the foibles of kings, taverns, music, the navy, architecture, preachers, marriage, family relationships...the man was open to the world around him in an unbelievable way, and conveys it all with zest. It is absolutely enthralling.



2. This is the best edition of Samuel Pepy's Diary and is hugely enjoyable to read. It takes you into the world of a 17th century yuppie par excellance with all his faults and virtues. The scholarship is first rate, meticulous and rigorous and the footnotes add enormously to the interest of the diary. The introductory essays are also first rate and I want the whole set of all 12 volumes!

No comments about Sir Robert Cotton, 1586-1631: History and Politics in Early Modern England (Oxford Historical Monographs).

No comments about Life Of Sir Walter Scott: With Critical Notices Of His Writings.

No comments about Charles Dickens.

No comments about David Lloyd George and the British Labour Movement: Peace and War (Modern Revivals in Economic and Social History).

No comments about The Letters of Adam Marsh (Oxford Medieval Texts).

5 comments about Violent Delights.

1. This book doesn't work for me, and I have read a few. Probably would have been a great Mills & Boon had it not been so gratuitously violent. The contrived violence is a mask used in an attempt to validate what is most obviously fiction. There is no credibility. Nothing is delivered in this novel that cannot be garnered in the public domain or with a little research. It sits on my shelf alongside another book that defies all reality, i.e. OPJB, a work of complete and utter nonsense. A total waste of time for anyone interested in the real world. It is a fantasy probably perfect for lower end television grist-mill.



2. I have to honestly admit, I've gone back and forth trying to decide whether or not this book is on the level. The premise is incredible-an SAS trooper and an IRA member falling in love. As I've thought over all the information in this book, it does seem plausible to me that it's the real deal. As an SAS trooper, Graham is incredibly sympathetic to the Irish. But, at the same time, he pulls no punches when describing the methodology of the IRA. At the same time, the information I've found on Mairead Farrell isn't contradicted by his novel, and given the amount of information the IRA puts on the web, there would definitely be some rebuttle if Graham was full of it. Graham gives a pained account of the Gibraltar incident-which gives the book more credence. An SAS trooper simply toeing the line (i.e. writing propagnda) wouldn't have cast doubt on the integrity of that operation.

   So. What do we have? Probably the most intense pair of star crossed lovers since Romeo and Juliet. Also, we have a small slice of the war between the Brits and the IRA.

   Personally, I haven't read anything this powerful in God knows how long. (If you suspend disbelief). I recommend this to everyone.




3. This is one of the most sad and unusual love storys I have ever read. For an SAS soldier to fall madly in love with an IRA killer is so unlikely but here is the true story of such an event. It not only divulges the love story but also gives great detail of bombings and shootings that took place in Northern Ireland in the 70's and 80's. I just wish there could have been a follow up to the story but that was not to be...... to find out why you'll have to read the book and I guarantee you, you wont be disappointed.



4. The writing is fairly pedestrian and the author fails to really capture the reader. The book deals more with the number of times the two characters got together than with the politics of N. Ireland.

   Even thought the writer is a former SAS soldier, he reports one atrocity of the British in Northern Ireland but fails to truely acknowledge the discrimination or convey the deep divisions found here.




5. This book may not be the most well-written, but it gives the reader plenty of insight as to how the troubles of Northern Ireland escalated in the 1970's. It is also gives a detailed and painfully honest account of a love affair that should never have been between a naive, romantic, Irish nationalist, and a deceptive British SAS soldier (the author). Though the author portrays his lover as a would-be killer, in the end he reveals the British government's role in the tragic events of that time. For those with an interest in politics and romance, go for this one.

No comments about Life Of Sir Walter Scott, Baronet, With Critical Notices Of His Writings (1834).

No comments about The Protector (A Vindication).

No comments about On the Trail of Bonnie Prince Charlie (On the Trail of).