Nudie Reads

Cyrano de Bergerac was a real swashbuckling duellist of 17th Century France. And he wrote one of the world's first ever fully-fledged sci-fi stories. The 19th Century play about him and the Hollywood adaptation 'Roxanne' starring Steve Martin are great. But the real fellow was not just a big-nosed pretty face. He was a great writer. 🇫🇷🗡🤺✍️🌝🌞

O. Henry was the nom de plume of William Sydney Porter, a gem of an American writer active around the turn of the 20th century. Very active, in fact: over 300 short stories, and most of them containing his signature feature - the plot twist. The Ransom of the Red Chief is a particular gem. No spoilers. Enjoy. 🇺🇸✍️📝🌳💰 Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: https://about.me/nudiereads Ins...

Malleus Maleficarum or The Hammer of the Witches was the infamous 15th Century witch-hunters' bible. A treatise on trying, sentencing and expiring witches that was disavowed by the Vatican within 4 years of its publication but somehow it stayed a popular best seller for almost 200 years. It's a humourless and illogical masterpiece of sheer bombastic persuasion - written from the standpoint that de...

It was Charles Dickens who gave us "The Law is an Ass" as an astute observation that sometimes law and lawyers can go off the rails. Lousy writers have often written silly laws but great writers are inspired by it. A little mockery is a good thing. 🥔🚲🐾🪑👨‍⚖️ Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: https://about.me/nudiereads Instagram: instagram.com/nudiereads Podcast: https://anchor.fm...

1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 etc. Leonardo Bonacci of Pisa is the famous Fibonacci of the infamous Fibonacci Sequence: a mathematical sequence observed in nature and useful for unlocking Swiss bank accounts (spoiler alert - The Da Vinci Code). Clearly and concisely written in 1202 all about those pesky varmints, rabbits.  Fibonacci was not just good with numbers, he handled words brilliantly too. 🇮🇹...

The 19th C Right Reverend Doctor Ebenezer Cobham Brewer brought the world his compendiums of useful knowledge and his legacy spawned a delightful 21st Century roguish compendium in his name. ️Heavily researched great writing - a compilation of fun. 🎩 📖 ✍️ 🏇🇬🇧 Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: https://about.me/nudiereads Instagram: instagram.com/nudiereads Podcast: https://anchor.fm...

Michael Crichton wrote "The Andromeda Strain" when he was just 27 years old. It's a Sci Fi classic from 1969. That's more than 50 years ago but it's still a rollicking riveting read. From Westworld to Jurassic Park and State of Fear the genial giant was the thinking person's blockbuster author. 🇺🇸🔎⚠️🚀🪐👽🦠 Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: https://about.me/nudiereads Instagram: ins...

Elizabeth Barton, The Maid of Kent, confessed her treason of King Henry VIII twice. Once officially. And once again, personally, as she stood ready to be hanged and beheaded. Great writing from the past with a tragic air. ️♱👑👧👺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⛪️ Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: https://about.me/nudiereads Instagram: instagram.com/nudiereads Podcast: https://anchor.fm/nudiereads

Paul Fussell's book "Class" is a 1983 classic. While nearly 40 years have passed Fussell's theories of 9 classes with one weird 10th Class 'X' still hold true. He was a deep thinker and researcher, WWII hero and a great writer. Every high class library has some Fussell. 🇺🇸🏛🏕🎩🧢 ✍️ Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: https://about.me/nudiereads Instagram: instagram.com/nudiereads Podcas...

Dame Diana Rigg wrote 'No Turn Unstoned', a collection of mean reviews of plays, films and musicals, published back in 1982. It's a gem of a book. Included as mean reviewers are Clive James and Dorothy Parker. Great writing with withering intent. ️🎭🎶🎤🎭🔪 Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: https://about.me/nudiereads Instagram: instagram.com/nudiereads Podcast: https://anchor.fm/nud...

The 5th of Rome's 5 great Emperors, Marcus Aurelius wrote notes to himself almost daily and these treasures from almost 2000 years ago resonate still. From how to be productive to how to live a good life MA's Meditations are a triumph of great thinking and great writing.  🇮🇹🤌✍️🦅🍞🎪 Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: https://about.me/nudiereads Instagram: instagram.com/nudieread...

Benjamin Franklin knew the value of a dollar. And he had the most charming way of advising about that concept in his perfectly written letter to a friend. Great writing and truly great advice. ️🇺🇸😙💵👓⚡️ Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: https://about.me/nudiereads Instagram: instagram.com/nudiereads Podcast: https://anchor.fm/nudiereads

Did you know Charles Dickens wrote horror stories? He did and this one's a doozy. After he was involved in a terrible train crash in he wrote this chilling macabre horror. The Great Dickens knew how to send chills down his readers' spines. 󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮🇬🇧🎩🚂👻🩸 Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: https://about.me/nudiereads Instagram: instagram.com/nudiereads Podcast: https://anchor.fm/nudiere...

Hating on the lawyers is an ancient and noble past-time. Al Capone's lawyer was Albert Fink. He lost. It's a good bet Capone rather hated him. But Fink certainly tried to get his client off tax evasion charges. And his summation at trial is some great oratory captured as part of the court transcript. Great writing from the legal system. ️🇺🇸💰👨‍⚖️ 🧢1 Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web:...

English artist William Hogarth's paintings were so detailed and clever they could be read like books. The Rake's Progress series of 8 pictures show the ultimate destination of a reckless life - the Bedlam madhouse in London. Just in case anyone was unclear each picture was accompanied by a poem capturing perfectly just how awful that destination was. Great painting met great writing and Thomas Rak...

In 1889 Mark Twain wrote 'A Confederate Yankee in King Arthur's Court' a charming little book and one of the world's earliest proper time travel stories. It's no spoiler to imagine 19th century Yankee Hank Morgan getting the better of King Arthur's main wizard Merlin back in the 6th century. As with all Twain's work this one is great writing. ️🇺🇸🕰🤴🗡🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏰 Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail...

Herman Melville may have been famed for his epic work 'Moby Dick' but his last novel in 1856 was a short but perfectly formed handbook on how to spot a con and a con men. The term 'con man' started in 1849 in New York, publicised in the Herald. Melville noticed and put his great writing skills to work to show the operations of swindlers and crooks who prey on the good nature of others. 🤞🦹💰 Get...

Little Me is a camp classic about a fake Hollywood star, Belle Poitrine. It is an arch satirical send up of all Hollywood starlets and stars but not delivered with contempt. It celebrates them. All of them, rolled into one preposterous fake siren. Patrick Dennis was the author - a nom de plume for a literary genius. Camp culture is broad. Juno Birch and Trixie Matell and plain old John Waters and...

In 1841 Scotsman Charles Mackay published his enduring and engaging work about popular madnesses across Europe and America. Alongside Dutch tulipmania Mackay noted German and American witch madness and he even had some words about alchemists. It remains a relevant work even into the 21st century and deserves to be called a classic. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🧐🇳🇱🌷🤪 Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: ht...

Pears' Cyclopaedia started in 1897 and continued til 2017. It was a little book of everything you could conceivably need to know - about everything.  It was made to sell soap but it also contained a perfect section for new mums - "Baby's First Year". Things might be different now but for sheer clarity and calmness about how to care for a baby you can't beat the details published in Andrew Pea...

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes canon features 56 stories and 4 novels, all of them wonderfully written adventures ostensibly from the pen of Doctor John Watson. Their first meeting, at which we learn all about Watson in detail, is as perfect a character description as has ever been written. 🔎🩺🧪✍️👁🪴 Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: https://about.me/nudiereads Instagram:...

The feud of the Hatfields and the McCoys of Tug Fork in the US and the 19 year duel of Dupont and Fourier in France were extended violent affairs. Hatred and animus has always been the subject of great writing - think of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. But the news reports of these feuds were just as compelling. They might have been embellished - a lot - but they were still beautifully written....

Ernest Hemingway was a journalist before was a novelist. And it shows in his writing style. He loved spare, simple, straightforward language. So his books including The Sun Also Rises are quick to read and enjoy. It's not a wonder he was a literary giant. In the 1920s no novelist was as modern and forceful. ☀️🦈 🐂 Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: https://about.me/nudiereads Instagra...

Murray Walker was famous as a Formula 1 car racing commentator but there was much more to the man than just the dizzy heights of one of the most dangerous, exciting and popular international sport. He was a legend as an enthusiastic fan and beloved by more than 500 million racing fans around the world. And a tank commander in WW2. And his autobiography is a treasure - add great writer to his list...

Nathaneal West was a depression era American author - alongside F Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck, but West is known for his depressing reads. Like a Dementor his stories suck all the joy out of life. Yet his writing was exquisite. Can a work that is deliberately bleak be beautifully expressed? Yes, in West's hands. 📿🔪🔫🪒☠️ ️ Get in touch: Email: nudiereads@gmail.com Web: https://about.me/n...