95. Beatrix Potter:

1866-1943 : the artist and her world
Rated: 4 1/2 Stars

A companion to the Tate Gallery Exhibition, this is a definitive work on the art of Beatrix Potter. Her life, work, the influences of contemporary artists, and later work as a conservationist are demonstrated with over 450 reproductions of her work.

An excellent biography. I had no idea that BP was also an avid naturalist, conservationist and farmer as well as a writer and illustrator of children's books. I ordered the movie from the library and while it was good naturally the book was much better.

94. A Sailor of Austria:

In which, without really intending to, Otto Prohaska becomes Official War Hero No. 27 of the Habsburg Empire

By John Biggins
Rated 4 1/2 stars

A Sailor of Austria is a great historical novel of WWI, accurately recalling the final days of a little-known European empire. Before I read "Until the Last Salute" last month I had no idea that Austro-Hungary even had a navy, let alone a submarine fleet.

The story is told in a gently sardonic style in which the author conveys the crumbling pretensions of the Austro-Hungarian empire and the utter meaninglessness of its military efforts in this tepid backwater of the War to end all Wars. Part of the allure of the story for me was the very obscurity of the campaign Biggins is describing and his hero and narrator, Otto Prohaska, is a likeable sea-dog, with a healthy cynicism regarding the doddering Empire he serves, but whose loyalty to that same crumbling edifice remains steadfast until it literally falls to pieces around him.

The final scenes aboard his submarine as the Austro-Hungarian flag is taken down for the last time and his crew prepares to break up are among the the most moving in the book. The book has plenty more to recommend it - humour, romance, intrigue, in short a must-read for anyone interested in war and the sea.