Not long finished Jeffrey Deaver's "Cold Moon", now on to Mark Billingham's "Death Message". The former a cracking read, the latter not one of MB's best, a little slow, but I am gradually getting in to it.
'The Year of the Flood' .. Margaret Atwood .. dystopian/pandemic/futuristic fairy story .. shades of John Wyndham, William Gibson and Stephen King on acid ..
Next Up: The Paul McCartney biography .. but to be read in small chunks .. it's a BIG read
Absolutely. I did Me Talk Pretty as an audiobook. He reads all his books for the audio book format and it's awesome. His voice in his writing is very prominent, and when you hear him read it you're like "ah, yes, that's exactly how you speak as well."
Proxima by Stephen Baxter. Hard scifi / space opera. Previously tried to read one oh his books but couldn't get into it. This is much more accessible, I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
Absolutely. I did Me Talk Pretty as an audiobook. He reads all his books for the audio book format and it's awesome. His voice in his writing is very prominent, and when you hear him read it you're like "ah, yes, that's exactly how you speak as well."
They've had a couple of series of him on Radio Four. Sadly though don't do podcasts of it though, I suspect it's the same recordings as the audiobooks and whoever owns the copyright isn't prepared to release it in such a keepable format. I know what you mean about the voice in the writing, whenever I read his stuff, I can hear him loud and clear.
Whisky From Small Glasses by Denzil Meyrick. Cracking piece of Tartan Crime noir.
Went straight onto the second book in the four part series The Last Witness.
Now halfway through Irvine Welsh's latest - The Blademan. Really like his stuff and the way he has re-invented Begbie in his own novel is excellent.
These are set around Campbeltown and Kintyre - a rural backwater where I spend a lot of time. Author used to live there. All a bit odd for me as some characters loosely based on people I know. Also disconcerting to imagine machine gun shootouts by the little harbour!!
Spinning Around: The History Of The Soul Album, A to K, Vol 1 by John Lias. A bloody big book, that weighs a ton. 408 closely typed pages of splendid reviews and info, from obscure one-album artists to the likes of James Brown.
How is it? I love Slaughterhouse V. I've read Bluebeard, which was interesting but slow, a couple others, and various short stories of his but never CC. It's been on my to read list for a while, but a little while ago I ended up re-reading Slaughterhouse V instead.
I've got a long journey on Saturday and am looking forward to reading Watership Down.
On the journey down to LA I read Playboy's 30-40 pageinterview with then New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison from 1967. I know it sounds weird because it's Playboy, but it's a fascinating read in which he outlines how he believes John F. Kennedy's assassination was planned, why, and generally by whom. This is before his ideas are tainted by Vietnam, before the film "JFK" in which he and Oliver Stone are convinced Kennedy's assassination was to ensure the war machine, the "Military Industrial Complex," was allowed to continue functioning unthreatened by the "peace monger" Kennedy. While that may have been a factor, it was certainly tertiary to those who hated him for the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis.
Johnny got his gun by Dalton Trumbo. A young American soldier is lying in a hospital bed after being hit by a bomb in WWI has lost his limbs and had his face blown off and is deaf, dumb and blind. First half is about him reminiscing but in the second he starts to keep track of time and finds a way to communicate with the outside world. Powerful stuff.
A lot of hard Yakka by Simon Hughes. About the life of a county cricketer. I've heard good things and it has started well
Hughes is a good writer with a dry wit and a lot of insight into professional sports
I like him as a broadcaster, not sure if I've read much by him
He writes regularly in 'The Telegraph' and I'm sure that I've seen the odd piece by him in 'The Times' .. He's from an over achieving family, his sister is Bettany Hughes has had a few BBC TV history series. I digress, BUT .. a good few years ago, an Aussie friend and I used to sneak into Acton Town CC nets when no-one was around for a free practice .. one afternoon a bloke appeared and asked if he could bowl at us .. now Hughes is described by pro cricket commentators as a medium paced trundler .. he was fast enough twenty years ago on a plastic/concrete surface to scare the bejesus out of me .. my flash Aussie mate handled him quite well though .. Mr Hughes came across as a nice bloke
Mr Briggs' Hat by Kate Colquoun - 'a sensational account of Britain's first railway murder'.
This excellent book should be considered essential reading for any Charlton fan. For a start the main action takes place on a train. Just to whet your appetite I'll tell you that it was travelling between Fenchurch Street and Hackney. There are lots of descriptions of the train (even to the extent of naming the guard and the ticket collector), the railway and it's importance to society. The Brexiteers will love the fact that the victim was English, the perpetrator was foreign and the hero of the tale was also English. The fashionistas who love discussing in minute detail what a man can wear or not will love the descriptions about hats and how they were worn (the prosecution's case centre's on two of them). And for anyone whose missed Katrien's lies since she's been told to keep her mouth shut, there are a couple of people who crop up in the story who just can't seem to tell the truth. It's a fantastic read.
Comments
Started out really promising but then just turned into a load of confusing dribble!!
Hilarious reading. This guy is a genius. I wish I could do it justice here, but I know I can't.
Next Up: The Paul McCartney biography .. but to be read in small chunks .. it's a BIG read
A very very good read about a very complicated and troubled genius.
Just started reading - Steve Mqueen - A Biography by Marc Eliot
Went straight onto the second book in the four part series The Last Witness.
Now halfway through Irvine Welsh's latest - The Blademan. Really like his stuff and the way he has re-invented Begbie in his own novel is excellent.
All good entertaining novels, although their are certainly dark undertones and twists to Disclaimer.
Just started How to Forget - A book of laughter and regretting by Marcus Brill. Only a few chapters in, but it caught me early on with the line:
There is a technical term for this: I believe it is called: Bollocks.
I've got a long journey on Saturday and am looking forward to reading Watership Down.
On the journey down to LA I read Playboy's 30-40 pageinterview with then New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison from 1967. I know it sounds weird because it's Playboy, but it's a fascinating read in which he outlines how he believes John F. Kennedy's assassination was planned, why, and generally by whom. This is before his ideas are tainted by Vietnam, before the film "JFK" in which he and Oliver Stone are convinced Kennedy's assassination was to ensure the war machine, the "Military Industrial Complex," was allowed to continue functioning unthreatened by the "peace monger" Kennedy. While that may have been a factor, it was certainly tertiary to those who hated him for the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis.
A young American soldier is lying in a hospital bed after being hit by a bomb in WWI has lost his limbs and had his face blown off and is deaf, dumb and blind. First half is about him reminiscing but in the second he starts to keep track of time and finds a way to communicate with the outside world. Powerful stuff.
I digress, BUT .. a good few years ago, an Aussie friend and I used to sneak into Acton Town CC nets when no-one was around for a free practice .. one afternoon a bloke appeared and asked if he could bowl at us .. now Hughes is described by pro cricket commentators as a medium paced trundler .. he was fast enough twenty years ago on a plastic/concrete surface to scare the bejesus out of me .. my flash Aussie mate handled him quite well though .. Mr Hughes came across as a nice bloke
This excellent book should be considered essential reading for any Charlton fan. For a start the main action takes place on a train. Just to whet your appetite I'll tell you that it was travelling between Fenchurch Street and Hackney. There are lots of descriptions of the train (even to the extent of naming the guard and the ticket collector), the railway and it's importance to society. The Brexiteers will love the fact that the victim was English, the perpetrator was foreign and the hero of the tale was also English. The fashionistas who love discussing in minute detail what a man can wear or not will love the descriptions about hats and how they were worn (the prosecution's case centre's on two of them). And for anyone whose missed Katrien's lies since she's been told to keep her mouth shut, there are a couple of people who crop up in the story who just can't seem to tell the truth. It's a fantastic read.
Very good read IMHO but perhaps one mainly for the ladies....