📚🐱 Non-fiction Book Club! – Neko’s Blog 🐱📚

Update #5 – 31.07.20
Hei alle sammen! (Norwegian timeeee), how are you? I have one of those funny little cysts in my earlobe and it’s really painful and annoying. Anyone else ever experienced a weird spot in their earlobe?

Also, I’m feeling tired today so I cba to write stuff in a lot of detail as I normally do (talking about the phrase ‘a lot’, my English teacher used to ban us from using that phrase cos he said if you use ‘a lot’, it means you’re lazy, you cba to think of a better phrase, and you don’t care about your work )

Neko’s Nostalgic Throwbacks
So, 4 years ago today I was on holiday and I went to Osaka Castle There’s not actually a great deal of stuff to do in Osaka apart from the castle, you’re better off going to Kyoto instead imo. Anyway, Osaka Castle is really pretty but I was a bit disappointed when I went inside because I thought it’d look like an old Japanese castle (spoiler – it’s just like a normal, modern building with its air-con turned on too high)

A bit of historical context… Osaka Castle was built by this guy called Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He came from a peasant background but later became the de facto leader of Japan (very simplified explanation there). Construction was completed in 1597 only for Hideyoshi to die a year later (rip). The castle was passed down to his son, but I think he might have lost control of it and his enemies took it? (not sure)

Anyway, there’s been a series of mishaps to this poor castle e.g. it got struck by lightning and then set on fire twice. Also, during WW2, the castle became part of the Osaka Army Arsenal, employing 60,000 workers and manufacturing ammunition. But, American bombing raids targeted the castle and destroyed 90% of the arsenal as well as killing 382 people working there (I swear, the amount of times I’m gonna have to reference that Ernest Hemingway quote here… "Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime")

Neko’s Musical Recommendations
Does anyone listen to future funk? Probs not right? Future funk is my favourite genre of music and Yung Bae is one of my favourite future funk producers. I think this piece is quite chill and summery. Also, I thought the music video’s quite funny (especially at 0:24) and those plank thingys look very cool, I must say.

Is the quality of my blog slipping? Anyway, ha en fin dag og ikke dø av hete**** (have a nice day and don’t die of heatstroke, in Norwegian according to the super reliable Google Translate)

Let me know if you would like to be tagged/I've tagged you by mistake/you don't want to be tagged anymore - das ist ok

Update #5 – 31.07.20
Hei alle sammen! (Norwegian timeeee), how are you? I have one of those funny little cysts in my earlobe and it’s really painful and annoying. Anyone else ever experienced a weird spot in their earlobe?

Also, I’m feeling tired today so I cba to write stuff in a lot of detail as I normally do (talking about the phrase ‘a lot’, my English teacher used to ban us from using that phrase cos he said if you use ‘a lot’, it means you’re lazy, you cba to think of a better phrase, and you don’t care about your work )

Neko’s Nostalgic Throwbacks
So, 4 years ago today I was on holiday and I went to Osaka Castle There’s not actually a great deal of stuff to do in Osaka apart from the castle, you’re better off going to Kyoto instead imo. Anyway, Osaka Castle is really pretty but I was a bit disappointed when I went inside because I thought it’d look like an old Japanese castle (spoiler – it’s just like a normal, modern building with its air-con turned on too high)

A bit of historical context… Osaka Castle was built by this guy called Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He came from a peasant background but later became the de facto leader of Japan (very simplified explanation there). Construction was completed in 1597 only for Hideyoshi to die a year later (rip). The castle was passed down to his son, but I think he might have lost control of it and his enemies took it? (not sure)

Anyway, there’s been a series of mishaps to this poor castle e.g. it got struck by lightning and then set on fire twice. Also, during WW2, the castle became part of the Osaka Army Arsenal, employing 60,000 workers and manufacturing ammunition. But, American bombing raids targeted the castle and destroyed 90% of the arsenal as well as killing 382 people working there (I swear, the amount of times I’m gonna have to reference that Ernest Hemingway quote here… "Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime")

Neko’s Musical Recommendations
Does anyone listen to future funk? Probs not right? Future funk is my favourite genre of music and Yung Bae is one of my favourite future funk producers. I think this piece is quite chill and summery. Also, I thought the music video’s quite funny (especially at 0:24) and those plank thingys look very cool, I must say.

Is the quality of my blog slipping? Anyway, ha en fin dag og ikke dø av hetesl4g (have a nice day and don’t die of heatstroke, in Norwegian according to the super reliable Google Translate)

Let me know if you would like to be tagged/I've tagged you by mistake/you don't want to be tagged anymore - das ist ok

Ommmggg that looks beautiful

Compared to you, then yes. Compared to your blog, then also yes.

I'm literally living life and you attack me You ugly dino

Funny that, coming from a potato.

Again you discriminate you filthy animal Thank God majority of your kind were killed by that asteroid

"majority of your kind were killed?" you mean there's still dinosaurs today? whereeeeeee?

Update #5 – 31.07.20
Hei alle sammen! (Norwegian timeeee), how are you? I have one of those funny little cysts in my earlobe and it’s really painful and annoying. Anyone else ever experienced a weird spot in their earlobe?

Also, I’m feeling tired today so I cba to write stuff in a lot of detail as I normally do (talking about the phrase ‘a lot’, my English teacher used to ban us from using that phrase cos he said if you use ‘a lot’, it means you’re lazy, you cba to think of a better phrase, and you don’t care about your work )

Neko’s Nostalgic Throwbacks
So, 4 years ago today I was on holiday and I went to Osaka Castle There’s not actually a great deal of stuff to do in Osaka apart from the castle, you’re better off going to Kyoto instead imo. Anyway, Osaka Castle is really pretty but I was a bit disappointed when I went inside because I thought it’d look like an old Japanese castle (spoiler – it’s just like a normal, modern building with its air-con turned on too high)

A bit of historical context… Osaka Castle was built by this guy called Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He came from a peasant background but later became the de facto leader of Japan (very simplified explanation there). Construction was completed in 1597 only for Hideyoshi to die a year later (rip). The castle was passed down to his son, but I think he might have lost control of it and his enemies took it? (not sure)

Anyway, there’s been a series of mishaps to this poor castle e.g. it got struck by lightning and then set on fire twice. Also, during WW2, the castle became part of the Osaka Army Arsenal, employing 60,000 workers and manufacturing ammunition. But, American bombing raids targeted the castle and destroyed 90% of the arsenal as well as killing 382 people working there (I swear, the amount of times I’m gonna have to reference that Ernest Hemingway quote here… "Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime")

Neko’s Musical Recommendations
Does anyone listen to future funk? Probs not right? Future funk is my favourite genre of music and Yung Bae is one of my favourite future funk producers. I think this piece is quite chill and summery. Also, I thought the music video’s quite funny (especially at 0:24) and those plank thingys look very cool, I must say.

Is the quality of my blog slipping? Anyway, ha en fin dag og ikke dø av hetesl4g (have a nice day and don’t die of heatstroke, in Norwegian according to the super reliable Google Translate)

Let me know if you would like to be tagged/I've tagged you by mistake/you don't want to be tagged anymore - das ist ok

never had a cyst on my earlobe - perhaps u can pop it

@spqr101, I forgot to tell you, but I have the Rieu(?) Translated Upload with some slight adaptations by his son (David Rieu?) Anyway I got to the bit where they list all of the Greeks and where there from and who is son of who, and it goes on for a good 2-3 pages. It bored me so so much, as it contributed little to the overall plot, but maps and key figures sort of glossary helped to make things a little less confusing

Update #6 - 01.08.20
Hej alla (Swedish timeee 😊), pinch, punch, first day of the month! (except I can’t do that through a computer screen…) Today’s been another boring day, the ear cyst thing seems to have gotten less swollen which is gooood. I’ve been having an existential crisis about universities and whether I want to deliberately put myself into clearing idk long story, how’s everyone else doing?

I’ve finished the first book since I’ve started this blog, but the review is going to be a bit meh cos I can’t think of what to write (I told you, the quality of my blog is slipppping)

Neko’s Non-fiction Book Review - The French Revolution: From Enlightenment to Tyranny by Ian Davidson
Remind me to never read another book on the French Revolution! (unless I have to, for my seminars or something). Maybe I’m just a dunce but I really struggled to understand anything beyond the first 70 pages or so, probably because I’ve never studied the French Revolution (unless you count an OU course I did during lockdown) so it was a real struggle to get through the whole book. The average rating on goodreads (great website to find new books, read reviews and document what books you’ve read) is 3.55 but I’m going to give it a 1/5 because I’m crueeeeeeeeeeeel. I’d give it a 0.5 if I could but whole numbers only unfortunately

On This Day in History
Hbd to Emperor Claudius, born on the 1 August 10 BCE


I don’t really know anything about him but here’s a summary from Britannica.com

“Ill health, unattractive appearance, clumsiness of manner, and coarseness of taste did not recommend him for a public life. The imperial family seems to have considered him something of an embarrassment” – story of my life
Modern historians reckon that he may have had cerebral palsy or Tourette’s but back then, his family considered his physical ailments as a sign of weakness and his own mother supposedly called him “a monstrosity of a human being, one that nature began and never finished” – sounds like a quote from Frankenstein… (interesting book, would recommend)

Despite that, he was an accomplished historian and author, although all his books are lost so you’ll never be able to read his works on the art of dice playing. Claudius is probably the most well known for completing the Roman annexation of Britain though, including dispatching a force of 40,000 troops and several war elephants into Kent.

Anyway, Grattis på födelsedagen (happy birthday) to Claudius and everyone else on this planet who has their b-day today and have a nice day everyone



Let me know if you'd like to be tagged/ I've tagged you by mistake/ you don't want to be tagged anymore das ist ok

Update #6 - 01.08.20
Hej alla (Swedish timeee 😊), pinch, punch, first day of the month! (except I can’t do that through a computer screen…) Today’s been another boring day, the ear cyst thing seems to have gotten less swollen which is gooood. I’ve been having an existential crisis about universities and whether I want to deliberately put myself into clearing idk long story, how’s everyone else doing?

I’ve finished the first book since I’ve started this blog, but the review is going to be a bit meh cos I can’t think of what to write (I told you, the quality of my blog is slipppping)

Neko’s Non-fiction Book Review - The French Revolution: From Enlightenment to Tyranny by Ian Davidson
Remind me to never read another book on the French Revolution! (unless I have to, for my seminars or something). Maybe I’m just a dunce but I really struggled to understand anything beyond the first 70 pages or so, probably because I’ve never studied the French Revolution (unless you count an OU course I did during lockdown) so it was a real struggle to get through the whole book. The average rating on goodreads (great website to find new books, read reviews and document what books you’ve read) is 3.55 but I’m going to give it a 1/5 because I’m crueeeeeeeeeeeel. I’d give it a 0.5 if I could but whole numbers only unfortunately

On This Day in History
Hbd to Emperor Claudius, born on the 1 August 10 BCE


I don’t really know anything about him but here’s a summary from Britannica.com

“Ill health, unattractive appearance, clumsiness of manner, and coarseness of taste did not recommend him for a public life. The imperial family seems to have considered him something of an embarrassment” – story of my life
Modern historians reckon that he may have had cerebral palsy or Tourette’s but back then, his family considered his physical ailments as a sign of weakness and his own mother supposedly called him “a monstrosity of a human being, one that nature began and never finished” – sounds like a quote from Frankenstein… (interesting book, would recommend)

Despite that, he was an accomplished historian and author, although all his books are lost so you’ll never be able to read his works on the art of dice playing. Claudius is probably the most well known for completing the Roman annexation of Britain though, including dispatching a force of 40,000 troops and several war elephants into Kent.

Anyway, Grattis på födelsedagen (happy birthday) to Claudius and everyone else on this planet who has their b-day today and have a nice day everyone



Let me know if you'd like to be tagged/ I've tagged you by mistake/ you don't want to be tagged anymore das ist ok

Ohhh that's what your existential crisis was about

Ooh yay someone classical.

I don't know too much about Claudius either, except that he was the uncle of the 'mad' emperor Caligula, but I have been recommended I, Claudius by Robert Graves, Claudius' 'autobiography' about the reigns of Augustus til Caligula, and the next book Claudius the God about his own reign. Haven't read them yet but definitely on my list!