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The Pete Fenelon and Michael Catsch (Tuboscocca) Memorial Book Thread


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#10401 PRD

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Posted 01 March 2024 - 16:54

Speed Queens by Rachel Harris- Gardiner. My review is now on speedreaders.info. I enjoyed the book , but it is worth reading Helen's review , which precedes mine . To mis-quote her late majesty - "opinions may vary " ...


You’d never think it was the same book

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#10402 ensign14

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Posted 01 March 2024 - 17:06

I get from that that Helen Hutchings feels the book needed more Barbara Cartland.  Interesting.



#10403 Vitesse2

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Posted 01 March 2024 - 18:27

I get from that that Helen Hutchings feels the book needed more Barbara Cartland.  Interesting.

 

She seems to have fallen for the hype: Barbara Cartland,racing driver?-NOT!

 

Despite the fact that her books made them a lot of money, Barbara Cartland was cordially detested by most people in publishing and bookselling. She was an awful old harridan. And then there was her attitude to illustrators:

 

I don't know how many potboilers and bodice-rippers dear, dear Dame Barbara Cartland wrote, but each one had a full-colour front cover, all done by a small group of underpaid artists/illustrators, and I have seen an interior photograph of her house, the deep pink walls almost hidden by the framed originals that she refused to return to their rightful owners, who hoped to raise a little more cash by selling, or just wanted their paintings back.



#10404 LotusElise

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Posted 02 March 2024 - 00:15

Thank you for your kind and supportive words about my work.

 

Helen seemed rather hung up on my not using Babs C's title, although she didn't have it at the time I was writing about and everyone else in the book is referred to by their names, where they are known.

 

I actually wrote an article about Barbara, her Brooklands escapade and her aviation involvement, a while back: https://www.playingp...oits-revisited/.



#10405 Parkesi

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Posted 05 March 2024 - 09:40

Please take note: MotorsMania/F (motors-mania.com) - Special Offer for Spring. - 30% on used books. 786 items



#10406 a_tifoosi

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Posted 05 March 2024 - 22:03

From the latest Porter Press newsletter:

 

"As a publisher, we face many challenges and it can be very tough. It is therefore very heartening that The Last Eye Witness has been such a success. The 100 copies available last year sold out before December 31st. Of the 100 available in 2024, we have just nine of the Limited Edition left."

 

Porter Press' website: "The 100 copies for 2024 are sold out but a further 100 will be released for 2025 during December 2024".


#10407 FastReader

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Posted 06 March 2024 - 18:03

Woo! I've just taken delivery of Porter Press' Ultimate Works Porsche 962, at the reduced and now much more realistic price courtesy of those wonderful people at Cotswold Road & Race. It looks fabulous but it's going to take several hours just to have an initial browse. I have a happy evening ahead of me.  :clap:



#10408 LordAston

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Posted 06 March 2024 - 19:26

Woo! I've just taken delivery of Porter Press' Ultimate Works Porsche 962, at the reduced and now much more realistic price courtesy of those wonderful people at Cotswold Road & Race. It looks fabulous but it's going to take several hours just to have an initial browse. I have a happy evening ahead of me.  :clap:

Does this include slipcase?



#10409 a_tifoosi

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Posted 06 March 2024 - 20:16

Woo! I've just taken delivery of Porter Press' Ultimate Works Porsche 962, at the reduced and now much more realistic price courtesy of those wonderful people at Cotswold Road & Race. It looks fabulous but it's going to take several hours just to have an initial browse. I have a happy evening ahead of me.  :clap:

 

In Christmas I bought Ultimate Works Porsche 956 from Cotswold Road & Race too. I'm still enjoying it! Simply amazing.



#10410 FastReader

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Posted 06 March 2024 - 20:28

Does this include slipcase?

Yes, it's the complete 3 volume set.


Edited by FastReader, 06 March 2024 - 20:28.


#10411 LordAston

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Posted 07 March 2024 - 16:05

Picked up Luca’s book on Enzo. But it looks like the publisher may have done some editing as I compared the paragraphs in my copy with what was shown on David Bulls website and there is some text missing.

Don’t know if Luca posts here or could throw light on if there is any reason behind this.

#10412 kayemod

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Posted 07 March 2024 - 16:12

Picked up Luca’s book on Enzo. But it looks like the publisher may have done some editing as I compared the paragraphs in my copy with what was shown on David Bulls website and there is some text missing.
 

 

 

If your last page is numbered 954, I think you've probably got the full version.



#10413 LordAston

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Posted 07 March 2024 - 16:26

Thanks Kaye but my copy is the new mass-market hardback just published by Cassell last month. The text is more compact than in the DB version, and photos smaller and on 2 sections in the middle.

#10414 FastReader

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Posted 09 March 2024 - 10:28

Has anybody seen the new Walter Baumer book, Maserati 450S: A Bazooka From Modena? If so is it worth getting hold of a copy? I already have the Bollée/Oosthoek book on the same subject so I wonder how much fresh material there is in the new Dalton Watson book.

 

#10415 PCC

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Posted 12 March 2024 - 00:13

I get from that that Helen Hutchings feels the book needed more Barbara Cartland.  Interesting.

I'm always wary of reviewers who chastise writers for writing the book they wrote, rather than writing the book that the reviewer would have written had any publisher given them the chance to write one. I'm getting a whiff of that with the HH review.



#10416 Ray Bell

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Posted 12 March 2024 - 08:42

Originally posted by MattKellett
I believe I was totally spoiled with the first two motor sports books I bought: Archie And The Listers and Stirling Moss, My Cars My Career.....

.....The Stirling Moss book I bought just because I had always wanted to read more about him and I thought this was an interesting approach to his life in motor sport by commenting on all the cars he drove.

Years have passed and more and more books are on my shelf, but these two give me the fondest memories and most pleasure, even if just seeing them on the shelf.

I'm sure I'm not alone with this.


I've been working my way through this Doug Nye book for several weeks now...

The format of the book is really good, outlining how and when and why Stirling Moss drove the cars he drove, even if it was only in practice for one event. He explains how he found the cars, what he thought of them and the result of his association with them.

 

Each day I read a little more, each day it reveals more to me in its frank and even entertaining manner. I started by cherry-picking about cars I wanted to know about, but after reading of a few of them I realised I should just start at the beginning and work my way through it more systematically.

 

I have no idea what's coming next with the book, I'm up to the cars that Moss drove in 1959 and learning more all the time. With that in mind, and I know our original poster hasn't been here in about seven years, I have to say I agree with him.

 

I won't be alone in this...



#10417 john wood

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Posted 12 March 2024 - 14:39

Ray-I fully agree about the format and quality of Doug’s Stirling Moss book. I think the format would work well for Jackie Stewart with his analytical mind and eye for detail.

Edited by john wood, 13 March 2024 - 18:31.


#10418 DCapps

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Posted 12 March 2024 - 16:08

I'm always wary of reviewers who chastise writers for writing the book they wrote, rather than writing the book that the reviewer would have written had any publisher given them the chance to write one. I'm getting a whiff of that with the HH review.

 

There are book reports and the are book reviews, the latter encompassing the role of critic for the author of the review.

Helen reviews books, as do a few others here.

One might not agree with a review for whatever reason, and that is the difference between a book review and a book report, of course.

In a review, the reviewer uses her or his critical eye to consider the work (book) at hand.

A report is, in essence, simply a recitation of items regarding the book, much as those done by student in primary or secondary schools.

A review, like it or not, takes a point of view that the critic establishes with the book and uses that lens to consider its contents.

Basically, a report is pablum and review a meal.

Whether or not one likes the meal set in front of one, that disagreement should be a catalyst for how to regard that work.

Critics are critical, that is their job.

Feathers get ruffled, handbags are hurled, epitaphs evoked, sacred cows become the main course, and so forth.

I certainly find some reviews to be shallow, over-abstract, non-sensible, obtuse, incoherent, vapid, misinformed, as well as being pretty stupid at times.

And, those are just the ones I find within the Academe, much less SpeedReaders, etc.

So, if a review gets you wound up, perhaps that means that the critic/reviewer has got you thinking...



#10419 a_tifoosi

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Posted 12 March 2024 - 18:31

For those based in the US and Canada, BookOutlet is selling some very cheap copies from Evro Publishing: Shadow (Lyons) for 35$, Lola T70 (Jones) / Ickx (Saltinstall) / BRP (Wagstaff) for 45$, etc. Free shipments to US and Canada. I've never purchased through BookOutlet as I'm based in mainland Europe; I have just discovered them because they also sell via Amazon


Edited by a_tifoosi, 12 March 2024 - 18:31.


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#10420 Doug Nye

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Posted 13 March 2024 - 07:34

I counted myself fortunate when my very first published book was given a leaning-over-backwards, sympathetic, "A for adequate" by one of its few press reviewers.  

 

I was actually intensely aware it was crap.  

 

I knew sweet Fanny Adams about the subject - and it interested me even less - but the money up front just about covered a few months' rent... then long overdue.

 

The crucial point is that the review struck my normally deep-buried competitive nerve, and concentrated my mind in future upon confining myself to subjects I knew, about which I was eager to learn more, and above all just simply damn-well to try harder. One of these days I'll get there.

 

But it helped.   :blush:

 

DCN



#10421 john aston

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Posted 13 March 2024 - 09:03

Race to the Future - Kassia St Clair.   About the Peking -Paris race and so very much more . A terrific book , which I enjoyed hugely . My review is on speedreaders.info today.  



#10422 PRD

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Posted 13 March 2024 - 12:20

Race to the Future - Kassia St Clair.   About the Peking -Paris race and so very much more . A terrific book , which I enjoyed hugely . My review is on speedreaders.info today.  

 

You certainly did enjoy it John, judging by your review. I wondered how you'd place it in the context of Luigi Barzini's 'Peking to Paris' which presumably was the author's primary source, as well as Allen Andrews' "The Mad Motorists"?



#10423 DCapps

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Posted 13 March 2024 - 13:28

Race to the Future - Kassia St Clair.   About the Peking -Paris race and so very much more . A terrific book , which I enjoyed hugely . My review is on speedreaders.info today.  

 

Thanks, John. This is one that somehow slipped under the radar and certainly seems the sort of book that would fit quite well into thinking about an automotive century.

 

You certainly did enjoy it John, judging by your review. I wondered how you'd place it in the context of Luigi Barzini's 'Peking to Paris' which presumably was the author's primary source, as well as Allen Andrews' "The Mad Motorists"?

 

The same thought crossed my mind as well. Not to mention the event held the next year as well...



#10424 john aston

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Posted 13 March 2024 - 14:37

You certainly did enjoy it John, judging by your review. I wondered how you'd place it in the context of Luigi Barzini's 'Peking to Paris' which presumably was the author's primary source, as well as Allen Andrews' "The Mad Motorists"?

 I don't know because I haven't read it . It was  an event which didn't actually interest me much (heresy to some, but the Sixties onwards is my preferred era )  - at least not until I heard the  serialisation of the book, and that was enough to hook me . The Barzini  and Andrews books were included in the  150 + works in the bibliography - the book is not only about the race but equally as much about the changing world in which it took place . 



#10425 ReWind

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Posted 13 March 2024 - 15:41

From her homepage:

“The Race to the Future” ... is the fruit of five years’ careful, in-depth research. The race was world-famous in its day and produced a wealth of source material, including books, newspaper reports and photographs. Kassia’s quest has taken her to Hong Kong, Belfast, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, the Hague and Turin. As a result, she has compiled a definitive collection of previously disparate, rare and undigitised material, while building a committed network of motoring enthusiasts, private collectors, competitor families, brand custodians and museum curators.

 



#10426 nexfast

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Posted 13 March 2024 - 20:07

Did anyone read the bio of Ken Wharton by Neville Hay and can commend the book? It is almost 180 € in the Continent and I'm hesitating to plunge...



#10427 PCC

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Posted 14 March 2024 - 01:59

There are book reports and the are book reviews, the latter encompassing the role of critic for the author of the review.

Helen reviews books, as do a few others here.

One might not agree with a review for whatever reason, and that is the difference between a book review and a book report, of course.

In a review, the reviewer uses her or his critical eye to consider the work (book) at hand.

A report is, in essence, simply a recitation of items regarding the book, much as those done by student in primary or secondary schools.

A review, like it or not, takes a point of view that the critic establishes with the book and uses that lens to consider its contents.

Basically, a report is pablum and review a meal.

Whether or not one likes the meal set in front of one, that disagreement should be a catalyst for how to regard that work.

Critics are critical, that is their job.

Feathers get ruffled, handbags are hurled, epitaphs evoked, sacred cows become the main course, and so forth.

I certainly find some reviews to be shallow, over-abstract, non-sensible, obtuse, incoherent, vapid, misinformed, as well as being pretty stupid at times.

And, those are just the ones I find within the Academe, much less SpeedReaders, etc.

So, if a review gets you wound up, perhaps that means that the critic/reviewer has got you thinking...

I agree completely, although it doesn't change the wariness with which I regard reviewers. Many act in good faith, and bring enormous insight and expertise to the job. I take it from your comments that Helen Hutchings is one of these, and I certainly should not have implied otherwise, not least because I've never read any other reviews that she has written.

 

But I have also encountered (as I'm sure you have) reviewers with a pathological need to show that they know something - anything - that the author did not, or who have an axe to grind with the author, or who are themselves frustrated writers jealous of those getting published. They are the exception not the rule, but they stick in the memory (why do our memories do that to us?). And they ensure that my antennae stay up - perhaps too much so. Maybe I'm paranoid because academia has no shortage of people who believe that a reputation can only be forged at someone else's expense.

 

Perhaps that's why I rarely do book reviews. In my line of work, that task includes rather more snakes than ladders. And perhaps I don't trust myself not to be a jerk!


Edited by PCC, 14 March 2024 - 04:24.


#10428 john aston

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Posted 14 March 2024 - 07:52

I enjoy both reading and writing book reviews . I have written reviews for  20 years plus  , and not just of car and motor sport books . 

 

By 'review' I don't mean the 200 words of recycled press release which passes for a review in some motoring magazines. Regardless of the subject matter,  I've always enjoyed the long form reviews found in the better newspapers and periodicals . If a review was by (say ) Martin Amis, Clive James , Lynn Barber or Jonathan Miller (or the likes of Setright, David  E Davis  or Bulgin in my world ) I'd read and enjoy it regardless of subject matter. Because the primary objective of a review is to constitute an enjoyable read in its own right . They're not consumer guides to' best buys' because a tiny proportion of readers is likely to buy the book anyway. In a specialised area like motor sport you might think it is , and should be higher , but unless the book is about or by a current F1 driver (or a Drive to Survive star like Gunther Steiner )the sales figures are usually tiny. But it doesn't matter if you are not a potential buyer . you should be able to enjoy a review as a standalone piece .  I 've read hundreds of Ferrari road tests but the only Ferraris I've ever bought are 1/18 scale...

 

Like most reviewers  I'm guilty of smart arse syndrome sometimes . I try to resist it , but sometimes succumb to including a comment in a review which either points out a mistake or other shortcoming or use as an opportunity to show I know more than  the author. It can be fun when the author is  a little too full of him or herself. And yeah , mea culpa on occasion. There is the reverse risk  too - of being too  tolerant of  a first time author's  clumsy effort because you know how much  work has gone into writing the book . 

 

And I don't think you necessarily  need specialist  knowledge of the subject matter. Although I think it is important that  reviewers are well read in a general sense , and preferably write themselves .The most important criterion is not that you know a lot about the subject, but that you  belong to the broad demographic of potential buyers and you know what constitutes good and bad writing . It's more useful to be able to spot a dangling  participle or a cliche at 50 paces than the valve spring spec of a DFV ....  


Edited by john aston, 14 March 2024 - 07:54.


#10429 Stephen W

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Posted 14 March 2024 - 08:32

Did anyone read the bio of Ken Wharton by Neville Hay and can commend the book? It is almost 180 € in the Continent and I'm hesitating to plunge...

 

According to the review in Classic and Sports Car "Butterfield Press has produced some fascinating books, but with just 118 pages and only 38 photos, it's hard to justify the price."



#10430 Steve L

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Posted 14 March 2024 - 09:59

According to the review in Classic and Sports Car "Butterfield Press has produced some fascinating books, but with just 118 pages and only 38 photos, it's hard to justify the price."


I would like to read this book, but even as a limited edition it is hard to justify the price, particularly considering the size. Also, at this level I would expect it to be hardback, not softcover.

#10431 PRD

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Posted 14 March 2024 - 11:02

 I don't know because I haven't read it . It was  an event which didn't actually interest me much (heresy to some, but the Sixties onwards is my preferred era )  - at least not until I heard the  serialisation of the book, and that was enough to hook me . The Barzini  and Andrews books were included in the  150 + works in the bibliography - the book is not only about the race but equally as much about the changing world in which it took place . 

 

I read both books ages ago. I also listened to the serialisation on Radio 4 and initially thought it just a rehash of the ground covered by Barzini and Andrews, but It does seem to tick both my automobile and 20th century history boxes.

 

I don't normally make buying decisions on the strength of a review, but I've ordered a copy now because of John's enthusiasm on Speedreaders



#10432 nexfast

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Posted 14 March 2024 - 18:38

According to the review in Classic and Sports Car "Butterfield Press has produced some fascinating books, but with just 118 pages and only 38 photos, it's hard to justify the price."

Thank you. Indeed, looks difficult to justify such a high price. I think I'll pass this one.



#10433 dgs

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Posted 15 March 2024 - 07:49

I would like to read this book, but even as a limited edition it is hard to justify the price, particularly considering the size. Also, at this level I would expect it to be hardback, not softcover.

I do have a copy of the Wharton book, that I was given at the book launch held at Shelsley Walsh restaurant on 30th November 2023. I had been invited to the book launch as I had supplied the race record statistics (14 pages).having been approached by the published Michael Barton, two-three years beforehand if I could help on supplying a race record. Unfortunately  due to a oversight, I am not acknowledged for this work in the book. I have tried to cover all Ken Wharton's race/hill climb events, even minor ones.

 

Until the book launch I had never met the publisher, Michael Barton or the author Neville Hay, and had not seen a proof of the book until the launch, so had no input on the text. or photographs.

 

The book is not a race by race history of Ken Wharton's career, it is much more a series of personal recollections by Neville Hay on events where he saw Ken Wharton race, or when he spoke to Ken Wharton (as they were friends). A number of the photographs in the book are new to me.

 

It is possible to see a few pages of the book, if you look on the 'Butterfield Press' website. 

.