American Rock n Roll - The UK Tours 1956-72 by Ian Wallis (AKA our very own kiIlerjerrylee). A must for any rock n roll fan, or music fan in general if you have wide taste... Meticulously researched, Ian's writing brings to life long forgotten gigs from the birth of modern pop music. Humourous at times, knowing at others and occasionally bringing a new slant on what you thought you knew (maybe Don Arden wasn't such a **** after all?).
I got this one out of the local library. A very interesting, if mildly depressing, insight into contemporary politics, particularly in relation to the rise of populism, the general decline of decency and informed political discourse and the ever-revolving door of ministerial appointments. It will come as no surprise to anyone who's ever listened to The Rest Is Politics podcast that Rory Stewart does not hold Cameron, Truss, Johnson and Gove (amongst others) in high regard. I liked his analogy in a chapter on Brexit, in which he observed that, up against the aggressive exaggeration of the European Research Group, his allies on the Tory benches were “like a book club going to a Millwall game”.
Rory Stewart seems a highly intelligent and very decent guy, although I think he's also a specialist in false modesty and a naked self-publicist (recognising that the latter goes with the territory). Certainly worth a read, even if it doesn't reach the same level as the classic Alan Clark Diaries.
I Believe by J.P. Delaney. Apparently a re-hashed version of an earlier novel the author had written under a different name. Following the success of The Girl Before, he decided to re-visit the theme and improve it. No idea what the first book was, but this is not at all bad. Perhaps not quite as gripping as The Girl Before, but still with more twists and turns than a twisty turny thing to keep you guessing most of the way through.
Finally finished the Running Grave by Robert Galbraith, I think one of my favourite in the series. Now onto The Haunted Book by Jeremy Dyson. something tells me this will be somewhat different!
His excellent Cartel trilogy is 1,500+ pages on the unbelievable destruction, death and corruption caused by the war on drugs so not surprised he takes that view.
View held by a lot of people who actually work in/around drugs - law enforcement, rehab etc.
Can see a lot of merit in the argument that drugs aren't going away, so why not legalise but heavily regulate it, tax it etc?
Been my view for years, I get the pleasure of working in places where drug addicts congregate and I'd make Heroin and crack free but only to be taken under supervision inside a treatment centre. It would stop 90% of anti-social acquisitive crime overnight and solve a lot of antisocial behaviour.
I'd make cannabis totally legal in the same way a lot of states in the US have, same with mushrooms although I'm pretty sure they aren't illegal in the same way weed is.
Ecstacy and MDMA should be legal too the only one I'd draw the line with is cocaine as it turns the user into such an insufferable arsehole and to my mind provides no social or health benefits.
The inevitable tax revenue from sales of safe and legal drugs would plug about every gap in the treasury but crucially, like the taxes on smoking generate far more money than the users cost the health service that money could actually be used to solve some really horrific shortfalls in adult social and mental care, treatment for addicts and there would be plenty of change. Not to mention shopkeepers not having to deal with smackheads every single day stealing from them and the rest of us might well see prices come back down and some decent shops return to local high streets.
The Coffin Dancer by Jeffrey Deaver. The second in the Lincoln Rhyme series. I have read later books in the series and really enjoyed them, but this one not so much. Mr Deaver has certainly improved as a writer with experience (I found the same with Ian Rankin). This one is full of technical stuff about police procedure, forensics and flying. It feels a bit "look at me and all my detailed research", when you are just thinking "get on with it!". The plot is okay, I guessed one of the twists as it was happening, one of them was a impossible to spot - which I always find a bit disappointing in a detective novel - and another was clever. 6.5 out of 10...
Having finished everything Caimh McDonnell has written (Dublin Trilogy which is actually 7.5 books and the 8 books focusing on characters from the trilogy) I have moved on to his alter ego CK McDonnell and am now on book 4 of the Stranger Times series. Dublin Trilogy is very funny and loosely based around a rogue Irish Police Officer and a dodgy private investigation firm. Stranger Times is based in Manchester and follows a newspaper which reports on the weird and unexplained - turns out a load of the stuff is true. Again very funny and so easy to read.
Finished Project Hail Mary. A slight drag with the science in the second act but otherwise interesting and entertaining read.
Also The Wager, the true story of a ship that set off from Deptford in the 1700s. Disaster strikes, they're shipwrecked and different factions emerge... The survivors find themselves in a court martial, and have different stories of who was to blame. Fascinating.
Becoming by Michelle Obama. Tepid, tame and unrevealing.
Strong Female Character by Fern Brady. Shocking, sad but very often hilarious story of growing up as an undiagnosed autistic girl in working-class Scotland. Really enjoyed.
And What My Bones Know. Probably the best and most moving book I've read on trauma and recovery.
I’m coming to the concluding part of Stephen Fry’s audio book “Making History/Secret History” where he and Richard E Grant narrates. An intriguing side to going back in time to change the course of history. In this case, it’s about Adolf Hitler not being born.
Two recent standouts (out of the last 10 or so) for me:
Trust by Herman Diaz: A collection of four stories - from different viewpoints - of a New York financier and his wife in the lead up to the 1929 Wall Street Crash. Great structure, beautifully written. Not surpised it won the 2023 Pulitzer.
My Ealy Life - Winston Churchill. I first enjoyed this 40 eyars ago as a school textbook and was prompted to re-read by a Rest is History series on Churchill's childhood and early adulthood. It's an extraordinary read - a series of incredible adventures leavened with plenty of wit.
I’m coming to the concluding part of Stephen Fry’s audio book “Making History/Secret History” where he and Richard E Grant narrates. An intriguing side to going back in time to change the course of history. In this case, it’s about Adolf Hitler not being born.
Making History is one the few books I have read more than once. I will probably read it again at some point before I fall off the perch. Very clever and entertaining read.
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir A Life Too Short, The Tragedy of Robert Enke by Ronald Reng
Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (#2 in the Three Body Problem trilogy) The Naked Sun by Asimov The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Got into a lot of sci-fi last year, read a lot of the classics
I read Illium by Simmons last year - very much the same kind of quality as the Hyperion series. If you have any sci-fi recommendations in the mould of Cixin Liu, Simmons, Iain M Banks be great to hear them.
I've heard a lot of good things about the Children Of Time trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky which is on my list to read this year. Also not really in the same mould of those above, but Never Let Me Go and Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
are fantastic, Klara and the Sun was the best book I read in 2022.
I've not read any Iain Banks - where is a good place to start?
Thanks, yes read those except the latest of the Children of Time trilogy (the first is one of the best sci fi books I've ever read, the second rather less so).
I'd go for Player of Games by Banks as a great intro. I envy you have all his stuff to read (in case you don't already know his sci-fi is under Iain M. Banks and his non-sci-fi under Iain Banks).
A few months late but just finished Player of Games. Thought it was good and holds up reasonably well looking at it through a modern lens. I loved the drones! I'm gonna read through some more of the Culture series next, heard good things about Consider Phlebas and Excession. Thanks for the recommendation
Comments
Purchased on the recommendation of a favourite author, Mick Herron.
Thoroughly enjoyed this and his insights into cricket in the eighties and his personal life which was interesting to say the least.
I got this one out of the local library. A very interesting, if mildly depressing, insight into contemporary politics, particularly in relation to the rise of populism, the general decline of decency and informed political discourse and the ever-revolving door of ministerial appointments. It will come as no surprise to anyone who's ever listened to The Rest Is Politics podcast that Rory Stewart does not hold Cameron, Truss, Johnson and Gove (amongst others) in high regard. I liked his analogy in a chapter on Brexit, in which he observed that, up against the aggressive exaggeration of the European Research Group, his allies on the Tory benches were “like a book club going to a Millwall game”.
Rory Stewart seems a highly intelligent and very decent guy, although I think he's also a specialist in false modesty and a naked self-publicist (recognising that the latter goes with the territory). Certainly worth a read, even if it doesn't reach the same level as the classic Alan Clark Diaries.
Can see a lot of merit in the argument that drugs aren't going away, so why not legalise but heavily regulate it, tax it etc?
I'd make cannabis totally legal in the same way a lot of states in the US have, same with mushrooms although I'm pretty sure they aren't illegal in the same way weed is.
Ecstacy and MDMA should be legal too the only one I'd draw the line with is cocaine as it turns the user into such an insufferable arsehole and to my mind provides no social or health benefits.
The inevitable tax revenue from sales of safe and legal drugs would plug about every gap in the treasury but crucially, like the taxes on smoking generate far more money than the users cost the health service that money could actually be used to solve some really horrific shortfalls in adult social and mental care, treatment for addicts and there would be plenty of change. Not to mention shopkeepers not having to deal with smackheads every single day stealing from them and the rest of us might well see prices come back down and some decent shops return to local high streets.
Also The Wager, the true story of a ship that set off from Deptford in the 1700s. Disaster strikes, they're shipwrecked and different factions emerge... The survivors find themselves in a court martial, and have different stories of who was to blame. Fascinating.
Becoming by Michelle Obama. Tepid, tame and unrevealing.
Strong Female Character by Fern Brady. Shocking, sad but very often hilarious story of growing up as an undiagnosed autistic girl in working-class Scotland. Really enjoyed.
And What My Bones Know. Probably the best and most moving book I've read on trauma and recovery.
Trust by Herman Diaz: A collection of four stories - from different viewpoints - of a New York financier and his wife in the lead up to the 1929 Wall Street Crash. Great structure, beautifully written. Not surpised it won the 2023 Pulitzer.
My Ealy Life - Winston Churchill. I first enjoyed this 40 eyars ago as a school textbook and was prompted to re-read by a Rest is History series on Churchill's childhood and early adulthood. It's an extraordinary read - a series of incredible adventures leavened with plenty of wit.
Now onto Jeremy Treglown’s biography of the great novelist Henry Green - Romancing.