Hello and welcome to podcast of the Lotus Eaters, Christmas algorithm feeding pre-recorded

slop vids. Right, more or less it i'm joined by bow all right yes um yeah so

apparently we've got to keep the algorithm fed while we're eating turkey and pulling crackers and

whatever else so um but bow and i were commissioned to do something uh and we decided to do our

christmas recommendations check out the graphic,

which is very good. I don't know why we employ all these editors when I can do that in paint in 20

minutes. But, you know, there we are. And we're going to be talking about books in this one,

aren't we? Right, yeah, our favourite books. A few book recommendations. A few book recommendations for Christmas.

So I'm going to have to start with the Flashman series.

The greatest series of fictional novels that has ever been written, in my opinion.

It's up there.

Does anything contend with Flashman?

For me, Sharp, Bernard Cornwall Sharp. It's a there. Does anything contend with Flashman? For me, Sharp, Bernard Cornwall Sharps. It's a similar thing. I also a massive fan of Hornblower stories and the Master and Commander ones. But Flashman is up there. It's very, very, very good. I mean, the reason... It's funnier than Sharp. Yeah. Sharp's not very funny. This is funny. The reason they all tie together is because actually all of those books you just mentioned, Anne Flashman,

they're all teaching you history.

Yeah.

Everything that happens in these books is historical fact.

And the author clearly knows his stuff.

I mean, right down to the level of reading the papers and the diaries of the people involved. Except what he's done is he's inserted an absolute bastard into the narrative, a self-serving cowardly bastard who through his attempts to dodge any danger whatsoever and be a complete cad, ends up finding himself at every major historical battle

that British were involved in in the 18th century,

starting with a retreat from Afghanistan.

So, and I love these, because you learn so much history,

but it's not dry in the slightest,

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