I was briefly in a thrift shop yesterday, looking to add to my meagre collection of LPs. I didn't have much time to spend going through them and unfortunately didn't find any which I wanted to purchase. I did, however, make a quick detour into the book section and spotted this novel by the Scottish author Alistair MacLean. I haven't read it before, but I very much enjoyed The Guns of Navarone, which was also written by MacLean, so I'm hoping that this book will also be an enjoyable read. South By Java Head is an earlier novel than Guns, having been written in 1958, but is also set during World War II. It takes place after the Fall of Singapore in 1942, and is about a number of British citizens trying to escape the conquered city ahead of the advancing Japanese army. The ship they are travelling on is torpedoed and they end up in lifeboats, attempting to survive the elements and perhaps a traitor within their ranks. This is all I know about the book's plot- and I don't want to know any more before reading it- but it sounds vaguely like the plot of Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944). It will be interesting to see how much the two works have in common. This was the only book I purchased, which I think shows admirable restraint. On a completely different note, over top of the record bins there was a rack of used DVDs where I picked up a copy of Disney's Sleeping Beauty. I like to have some of the classic films for the nephews & nieces to watch when they're over but, given Disney's current behaviour on a number of fronts, I have a lively distaste for giving my money to the company. So, no Disney+ and physical copies of their earlier movies which I pick up used so that they don't benefit. I'm not saying that I'll never purchase/ watch anything from Disney again, but I intend to limit my consumption as much as possible. Sleeping Beauty was produced in 1959 and is still a great- and wholesome- film for kids.
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About MeI'm a lover of good books, classic movies, and well-written shows (as well as some pretty cheesy ones, to be completely honest). Categories
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