Return of the wanderer

Wow I didn't realise that it was two years since I last appeared. Deepak you wrote to me and I accidentally deleted your comment then realised that it was from this year. I'd love to review your book for you. As I write this I'm listening to a Boulez concert which I recorded from Sky Arts. I'm one of those perverse people who cannot think in silence.If I have alittle noise I block it out and really concentrate. Sometimes when i was teaching we'd have classical music playing quietly whilst they did exam practce or wrote essays etc always ready to switch off and hide if any other teacher walked in.It was the same with drinking water. My classroom was 3 sides window and was hot even in winter so I used to allow a drink and in the summer ties at half mast providing drink was hidden and ties shoved up as the class stood. I was old fashioned and my classes always stood for another adult.
Anyway having had a rocky two years with both mental and physical health all seems well now except for tiredness but that can be managed so I shall be here on sundays and at least twice a week. I don't promose every day because I need to read and I am making my this blog majorly non fiction.
First uo is 'As Good as God as clever as the Devil:Life of Mary Benson' Rodney Bolt
Mary Benson was mother to A C, E F and Hugh Benson all writers. Her husband became Archbishop of Canterbury although I couldn't fathom why she didn't feed him arsenic long before then. He was an odious man. He actually decided to marry Mary when she was 11.He was in his twenties. Interestingly none of the boys married but given the law in those times their sexuality was well hidden.Bolt backs up all his ideas with quotations from the novels. A most interesting read.
Last for today is 'The Queen's Agent' John Cooper
This is about Francis Walsingham. I'd always thought of him as a spymaster but boy was he a rabid Protestant. Since I am R C myself some of his comments made my hair stand on end and he was always in pursuit of hidden priests who were very often Jesuits who came to England via Holland or France. He thought torturing them was what one did.I also learnt a great deal about Ireland in Tudor times.We always seemed to be attacking them and really treated them so badly and there was hunger even then.One can see why movements like the IRA grew.Above all this book is so interestingly written. It could have been a big yawn.
Well must go and read so I have something to say on Sunday. I hope to discover how to make this blog look good and how to link because I read some really interesting blogs which anyone who chances here might like to read.