bookshelves: mexico, boo-scary, tbr-busting-2012, autumn-2012, adventure, mystery-thriller, sci-fi, published-2006, fraudio, library-in-norway, ouch, gorefest

hah! look at all those 1* ratings, nonetheless here I go... full tilt.

Just when I realised that this reads as an old text adventure where actions must be done in the right order and a whole lot of there is a shovel with telescopic handle leaning against the shaft wall: GET SHOVEL, along came a full inventory of all the contents of the rucksack down to the last banana.



There is a l-o-n-g heart-string-pulling down the bottom of the shaft, don't know about Pablo the Greek but I was giving up the will to live. Phrases repeated over and over, indulgent digressional tales by an author who is not the best of story-tellers to start with.

Some baad stories keep your attention for a while because mind and memories freestyle along parallel lines:

Feed Me Seymour: http://youtu.be/L7SkrYF8lCU
Day of the Triffids: http://youtu.be/aVXEA7_y344
The Hole (not the party bit but where it starts going horribly wrong: http://youtu.be/m0E75vi3ETc

bookshelves: radio-4x, re-read, autumn-2012, published-1966, paper-read, colonial-overlords, caribbean-caper, fanfic-writeback

Really didn't like the book but how much of that was me ::at:that:time:: *shrugs* This is up for grabs at R4x so I'll swing by and have a listen.



#1 Tensions escalate amongst the former slaves on a Caribbean island. Prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, read by Adjoa Andoh.

#2 The mother of Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway marries an Englishman in Spanish Town, Jamaica. Read by Adjoa Andoh.

#3 Without her brother and parted from her mother, heiress Antoinette is sent off to school.

#4 Fresh from England, Rochester weds Creole heiress Antoinette and takes her to Dominica.

#5 Antoinette and Rochester's honeymoon develops into an intense love affair in Dominica. Read by Adam Godley.

#6 An urgent letter to Rochester casts doubt on his wife's character.

#7 Antoinette seeks advice, as malicious gossip puts a strain on her marriage to Rochester

#8 Antoinette opens up to her husband Rochester, but the following events lead to a betrayal.

#9 Antoinette returns home distressed. Husband Rochester makes plans to leave the island.

#10 Distressed Antoinette must come to terms with her future. Prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre concluded by Adjoa Andoh.

bookshelves: african-continent, nonfiction, pirates-smugglers-wreckers, autumn-2012, published-2010, turkish-and-or-ottoman-root, afr-morocco, afr-tunisia, afr-algeria, war

Read by Clive Chafer

Overview -
The true story that's "bloody good entertainment" (New York Times) about the colorful and legendary pirates of the 17th century.

If not for today's news stories about piracy on the high seas, it'd be easy to think of pirating as a romantic way of life long gone. But nothing is further from the truth. Pirates have existed since the invention of commerce itself, and they reached the zenith of their power during the 1600s, when the Mediterranean was the crossroads of the world and pirates were the scourge of Europe. Historian and author Adrian Tinniswood brings this exciting and surprising chapter in history alive, revealing that the history of piracy is also the history that has shaped our modern world.

Starts off with the modern day Somali Pirates and there is nothing pretty to report.

The Rainbow (left) unsuccessfully engaging John Ward's flagship

Issouf Reis of Tunis, fervent in his devotion to Islam, was so wealthy that that by 1615 he had built himself a ‘faire Palace, beautified with rich Marble and Alabaster stones’. His household was so big that when he had guests for dinner, it was served not by a demure maidservant but by 15 male waiters. Very short, white-haired but nearly bald, he had a swarthy complexion.

A typical North African, you might think. Only he wasn’t. He had been born and bred in Faversham, and his real name was John Ward. The exact date of his birth isn’t yet known, but it was around 1553. Maybe he was the John Ward who is recorded as living on the west side of Preston Street on 31 December 1573 and 31 May 1574 and by 22 December 1574 had moved to Court Street - and then disappears from view. Source: http://www.faversham.org/history/peop...

Europeans enslaved by North African captors - two mosques in the background.

John Ward (aka Yusuf Reis): Arch Pirate Of Tunis; in 1608, feeling insecure in Tunis, Ward offered James I of England £40,000 for a royal pardon, but this was refused, so he returned to Tunis, where Uthman Dey kept his word and he remained for the rest his days.





Sir Francis Verney (1584 – 6 September 1615) was an English adventurer, soldier of fortune, and pirate. A nobleman by birth, he left England after the House of Commons sided with his stepmother in a legal dispute over his inheritance, and became a mercenary in Morocco and later a Barbary corsair. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_...





Peter Easton (c. 1570 – 1620 or after) was a pirate in the early 17th century who operated along the Newfoundland coastline between Harbour Grace and Ferryland from 1611 to 1614. Perhaps one of the most successful of all pirates he controlled such seapower that no sovereign or state could afford to ignore him and he was never overtaken or captured by any fleet commissioned to hunt him down. However, he is not as well known as some of the pirates from the late 17th and early 18th centuries.