About 100 pages in to Chris Frantz’s Remain In Love - excellent read so far and recommended for Talking Heads fans.
Recent reads - all really excellent - have been Will Sergeant’s Bunnyman; Jarvis Cocker’s Good Pop Bad Pop; and pick of the bunch, Johnny Marr’s Set The Boy Free.
Review on Amazon This made me laugh on Johnny Marr
I feel sorry for the bass player and drummer. What it must have been like playing with this self-aggrandizing twit and having to put up with Steven Morrissey too makes me shudder with revulsion. Having been in the music business myself I know from personal experience what utter egoists singers and guitar players can be. This book just bears out that statement. Not only that, but The Smiths are the second worst band to come out of Manchester after Oasis - the lead singer and guitarist of whom have just as much attitude as this dweeb. The 'best band in the world'? Don't make me laugh. And this guy's guitar playing is just finger-picking and noodling that's been saturated in chorus and delay. In other words, it's rubbish. Two stars, because it's fairly readable, and the first part was just about bearable. But OMG, I feel like burning it now and stamping the ashes into the dirt.
Going on the Turn. The third volume of Danny Baker's autobiography. It covers the period of his cancer treatment, and is pretty harrowing in parts, but as usual mostly great anecdotes and laugh out loud funny stories.
Just finished Charles Dickens: A Life, by Claire Tomalin. A great read that praises Dickens the writer if not always Dickens the man. Living in Broadstairs now, this seemed a must read.
Interesting. I've not read much Dickens but he paints big and memorable characters. My views of his writing are coloured by Orwell's scathing critique of his work. I'm probably too much of an Orwell fan to now be objective about Dickens. Who knew I could support a writer like they were a sport team...
Most recently read "Their Little Secret" by Mark Billingham and "Abbatior Blues" by the late Peter Robinson. The Billingham book is a recent Tom Thorne novel (well 2019 anyway) and is a cracker. Twists and turns a-plenty and quite disturbing in it's feasibility, it keeps you guessing right up until the last couple of chapters.
The Robinson book is an old DCI Banks tale that I had not read. Though there is an unlikely (but possible) break that blows the case wide open, it is real enough to keep you turning the pages. There's also a teenager-walking-into-that-old-cabin-in-the-woods moment, that has klaxons going off in your head (this isn't a spoiler - a seven year old would see it coming) as soon as you read it, but as I say, still gripping. Sad that Robinson is no longer with us, as the Banks series have been great - I have the last two left to read now, one this year and one next, I think.
I have just finished the David Young books about a murder detective, Karin Muller in East Germany. They are set after 'The anti-Fascist Protection Wall' was built, or Berlin Wall to us in the west. They are all called 'Stasi Child' or 'Stasi Wolf'. I have really enjoyed the view into eastern Germany in the 60s-70s, when crime officially didn't exist and the Stasi always interfered in investigations. There are 6 in the series and I have found the last one the weakest.
Just reading Jude Rogers’ The Sound of Being Human. Fascinating analysis of the impacts of music on people in general, and her in particular. Great stuff.
Alastair MacLean, the brilliant wartime/cold war thriller writer who gave us (e.g.) The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare, Ice Station Zebra, wrote one non fiction book .. A biography of Captain James Cook, the intrepid explorer and much more besides
As with his novels not a word is wasted and the story races along .. would that all biographies of the famous be as concise, informative and non verbose as this one .. a super read putting flesh on the skeleton of a man of whom I have read and heard a lot; but never really understood before
Journey to the Centre of the Cramps by Dick Porter. The story of the American Rock n Roll/Rockabilly/Punk/Psychobilly legends. Lots of good quotes from Lux and Ivy (the heart of the band, for the uninitiated) and ancadotes from those around them. Being a chronological account, and Ivy and Lux being Ivy and Lux, sometimes one quote will contradict another earlier one, but generally a good read for anyone who is a fan of the band, or interested in the New York music scene of the late 70s and early 80s when CBGBs and Max's Kansas City were the centre of the American rock universe. Finishes very abruptly with Lux's death in 2009, but that is appropriate as the band died with him.
Just finished Charles Dickens: A Life, by Claire Tomalin. A great read that praises Dickens the writer if not always Dickens the man. Living in Broadstairs now, this seemed a must read.
Interesting. I've not read much Dickens but he paints big and memorable characters. My views of his writing are coloured by Orwell's scathing critique of his work. I'm probably too much of an Orwell fan to now be objective about Dickens. Who knew I could support a writer like they were a sport team...
I think you need to re-read Orwell's essay on Dickens. It's not scathing at all. Although he recognises Dickens' limitations he is very positive about him on the whole concluding:
"When one reads any strongly individual piece of writing, one has the impression of seeing a face somewhere behind the page. It is not necessarily the actual face of the writer. I feel this very strongly with Swift, with Defoe, with Fielding, Stendhal, Thackeray, Flaubert, though in several cases I do not know what these people looked like and do not want to know. What one sees is the face that the writer ought to have. Well, in the case of Dickens I see a face that is not quite the face of Dickens's photographs, though it resembles it. It is the face of a man of about forty, with a small beard and a high colour. He is laughing, with a touch of anger in his laughter, but no triumph, no malignity. It is the face of a man who is always fighting against something, but who fights in the open and is not frightened, the face of a man who is generously angry — in other words, of a nineteenth-century liberal, a free intelligence, a type hated with equal hatred by all the smelly little orthodoxies which are now contending for our souls."
Dead Man's Blues by Ray Celestin. The second in the "City Blues Quartet". Set nine years after The Axeman's Jazz, the main protaganists have moved north to Chicago and are both working for the Pinkerton Detective agency. Cracking read, involving Al Capone and his henchmen, and Louis Armstrong is a fringe character once again. Based around true stories with some poetic licence and juggling of the timelines of the real events, it is a great book if you like detective fiction. Can be read as a standalone, but better to read the first one, first.
Remember first hearing about this series, on this thread. But never got round to reading it
The first and third in the 'City Blues Quartet' are currently 99p on the Kindle store so seems like a good time to jump in!
Too late for me I paid £26 for the four in paperback.
I've slowed down a bit, but am currently halfway through book 3 - still enjoying it. I like the way the books work through the timeline 1919/1928/1947/1967 and how the characters develop.
Really enjoying ‘Satin Island’ by Tom McCarthy. I’m a slow reader normally, will have read this in just over a week. I’m a sucker for books in charity shops but have enough for a lifetime’s reading at my rate!
Just finished Charles Dickens: A Life, by Claire Tomalin. A great read that praises Dickens the writer if not always Dickens the man. Living in Broadstairs now, this seemed a must read.
Interesting. I've not read much Dickens but he paints big and memorable characters. My views of his writing are coloured by Orwell's scathing critique of his work. I'm probably too much of an Orwell fan to now be objective about Dickens. Who knew I could support a writer like they were a sport team...
I think you need to re-read Orwell's essay on Dickens. It's not scathing at all. Although he recognises Dickens' limitations he is very positive about him on the whole concluding:
"When one reads any strongly individual piece of writing, one has the impression of seeing a face somewhere behind the page. It is not necessarily the actual face of the writer. I feel this very strongly with Swift, with Defoe, with Fielding, Stendhal, Thackeray, Flaubert, though in several cases I do not know what these people looked like and do not want to know. What one sees is the face that the writer ought to have. Well, in the case of Dickens I see a face that is not quite the face of Dickens's photographs, though it resembles it. It is the face of a man of about forty, with a small beard and a high colour. He is laughing, with a touch of anger in his laughter, but no triumph, no malignity. It is the face of a man who is always fighting against something, but who fights in the open and is not frightened, the face of a man who is generously angry — in other words, of a nineteenth-century liberal, a free intelligence, a type hated with equal hatred by all the smelly little orthodoxies which are now contending for our souls."
Fair enough, not as one dimensional as I usually interpret the characters.
Funnily enough, I was stood by Defoe’s grave earlier today in Bunhill. Nice enclave in the City, well worth a visit if I’m the area.
My Dad worked for the Bank note Company De La Rue in Bunhill Row. The company dates back to the early 1800s. When he first started there after the war he said you could practically see Cannon Street station due to the heavy bombing that had taken place. As the rebuild began, the nearby tenement buildings were replaced by the Barbican - hardly a like for like replacement. No one could afford to live there! By the time the late 60s arrived De La Rue had largely relocated, but still held a presence in one of the grand terrace houses in Bunhill Row, while they awaited the completion of their new building opposite. However, as that building neared completion De La Rue decided to move lock, stock and barrel to Basingstoke. Dad literally turned the lights out in the terraced house and joined the queue for temporary work, which was provided courtesy of the - Father of the Chapel - in the print union, to which he belonged.
Ironically, I moved into the building that De La Rue had vacated (with BT) as Dad left. The building is still there, but has been re-purposed and is unrecognisable. White, 14 storey high, diagonally opposite the graveyard. When I started there in 1970 on the Telex installation and maintenance department we had a character known as Johnny the Red who would hold unofficial union meetings in the graveyard - quite apt when you think the graveyard holds so many non conformists!
Other nearby memories include the grand TA building with its wonderful playing field. Dignitaries would arrive there by helicopter to pick up a limo or maybe have a banquet. On these occasions our building would sometimes host military snipers on the roof - just in case. Quite a shock to see the lift doors open and see a fully kitted out SAS man. Sometimes famous sports teams hire the field to train before big events in London - that still happens - the All Blacks use it when they're around. I was able to witness the City's Falklands victory parade from my building as it left from there.
Other attractions included the street market in Whitecross street and the Whitbread stables in Garret St. Beer was still delivered to the city pubs in those days by the brewers dray and the Shire horses always looked so magnificent.
As you say @Making_all_the_noise the grave yard itself is interesting. The tomb that used to catch my eye was the one of Mary Page who had 240 gallons of fluid removed from her. Anyway you can read about her, Daniel Defoe and others below.
Apologies for the ramblings of some silly old geezer, but mention of Bunhill just started me off.
Don’t apologise, I loved it. Anything that brings the city to life is always fantastic to read. It feels like an excerpt from Peter Ackroyd’s brilliant biography of London. These types of memories deserve to be retained in a compendium because they help transport you to another time. It’s what I love about London, helps you feel like you’re walking in the footsteps of a vibrant history.
Mud, Muck and Dead Things, by Ann Granger. I got passed the third book in this series a while back, so I was on the lookout for the first two for a while, and finally found this - the first one - while visiting Brighton a month or two back.
Apparently it's the fourth detective series Ann Granger has written, so she's very popular.
I did enjoy it, though not in an unputdownable way like a Rankin or a MacDermid. It is quite gentle, after reading the book I did some research and found out that the author used to write historic romantic fiction, which made perfect sense. Don't get me wrong, the plot is good and the suspects intriguing. The feel of the book is more Agatha Rasin than Agatha Christie - though it is far, far better written than the Agatha Raisin books (well - the one that I managed to plough through, anyway).
Set in the Cotswolds, it involves a body discovered on a remote farm by a dubious character who promptly scarpers without reporting it. The lead detective is DI Jess Campbell and her "partner" in the sense of the book is a newly arrived Detective Superintendent Ian Carter - though he doesn't feature much in this volume, presumably he takes a bigger role in later books?
I will look out for the second book, and I would certainly recommend it as a nice, easy holiday read.
im about a quarter way through Stephen Kings latest ' Fairy Tale' . Never read anything by him before but this has started very good.
Finished this yesterday @Lincsaddick. Have you read it?
not yet, it's on the 'unread' shelf awaiting my attention .. I have been waylaid by a series of good non fictions .. did you enjoy 'Fairy Tale' ?..someone told me the ending was a bit iffy
Read it on holiday last week … very Neil Gaimanesque … I enjoyed it
Split Second - David Baldacci. First in his King and Maxwell series. One of those that could do with a cast list so you can keep track of who is who, but an enjoyable book that keeps you guessing. Slightly fantastic ending (in the literal sense), but it just about ties up and makes for a good denouemont.
Split Second - David Baldacci. First in his King and Maxwell series. One of those that could do with a cast list so you can keep track of who is who, but an enjoyable book that keeps you guessing. Slightly fantastic ending (in the literal sense), but it just about ties up and makes for a good denouemont.
Poirot and Me by David Suchet. Basically David Suchet's autobiography starting from the day he landed the iconic role. Seldom (probably never?) can an actor outside soap opera have been so linked to one character - he played the "little Belgian" as he calls him, for a remarkable twenty-five years, telling every story Agatha Christie ever wrote about Poirot. I would say you have to be a bit of a fan to get the most out of it, otherwise it might get a little repetetive, and occasionaly it drifts into a bit of luvviness, but Suchet does include some of the more unkind reviews he received - so it's not all about ego, and he clearly has a great relationship with almost everyone he works with. Despite that potential typecasting, he manages to take all kinds of roles in both the theatre on film and on TV when not filming Dame Agatha's stories, and wins quite a few awards along the way.
A must if you are a Poirot fan, not so vital if you are not.
A corruption of blood - Ambrose Parry. Third installment of the very readable Raven and Fisher series. If you like your Victorian Edinburgh medical murder mysteries with a hint of feminism, the books the read. And if you don't they are still good
Currently reading Nick Cave and Sean O’Hagan’s Faith, Hope and Carnage. Have hardly listened to any of Cave’s music but the book is fascinating and moving.
Just finished Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - loved it and well recommended. It's also given me a respite from the ordeal of getting through Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow which I am determined to finish having started it at Christmas and moving slowly through it. Over 500 pages in and determined to finish it but can't really say I've enjoyed it all despite really liking some of his other books. Just too self-consciously clever and extremely indulgent although it's admirable in its scope.
Shadow of the Wind is very prominently marketed in British bookstores as a modern classic of foreign literature. So I felt compelled to read it. One of the very few books I gave up on after a hundred odd pages. I found the writing and the plot awful. I must be missing something given the esteem within which the book is held.
Currently reading The Best of AA Gill. Strangely I’d never read his articles before so I’m very late in recognising what will be obvious to pretty much everyone else but….boy could that guy write. He wrote so fluently, with an easy but sumptuous turn of phrase. I hold that kind of mastery of the English language in really high esteem.
Some of his work borders on pompous but then, interesting people often are less concerned with walking on eggshells, than with expressing their unfiltered opinion to tease out an emotional response from the reader. A great critic will provoke some debate and irritation but I can take their arguments a lot more seriously when they have the kind of ability to put a thesaurus into retirement. If you haven’t read his work, I’d highly recommend reading the book. If you have read his stuff, you probably wouldn’t regret revisiting it.
Possibly the best spy novel I’ve read centred around the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Vatican. If anyone’s familiar with the Gabriel Allon books, don’t go past this one.
Comments
The Robinson book is an old DCI Banks tale that I had not read. Though there is an unlikely (but possible) break that blows the case wide open, it is real enough to keep you turning the pages. There's also a teenager-walking-into-that-old-cabin-in-the-woods moment, that has klaxons going off in your head (this isn't a spoiler - a seven year old would see it coming) as soon as you read it, but as I say, still gripping. Sad that Robinson is no longer with us, as the Banks series have been great - I have the last two left to read now, one this year and one next, I think.
The only trouble is, there’s no such thing as ‘Normal.’
As with his novels not a word is wasted and the story races along .. would that all biographies of the famous be as concise, informative and non verbose as this one .. a super read putting flesh on the skeleton of a man of whom I have read and heard a lot; but never really understood before
"When one reads any strongly individual piece of writing, one has the impression of seeing a face somewhere behind the page. It is not necessarily the actual face of the writer. I feel this very strongly with Swift, with Defoe, with Fielding, Stendhal, Thackeray, Flaubert, though in several cases I do not know what these people looked like and do not want to know. What one sees is the face that the writer ought to have. Well, in the case of Dickens I see a face that is not quite the face of Dickens's photographs, though it resembles it. It is the face of a man of about forty, with a small beard and a high colour. He is laughing, with a touch of anger in his laughter, but no triumph, no malignity. It is the face of a man who is always fighting against something, but who fights in the open and is not frightened, the face of a man who is generously angry — in other words, of a nineteenth-century liberal, a free intelligence, a type hated with equal hatred by all the smelly little orthodoxies which are now contending for our souls."
The first and third in the 'City Blues Quartet' are currently 99p on the Kindle store so seems like a good time to jump in!
I've slowed down a bit, but am currently halfway through book 3 - still enjoying it. I like the way the books work through the timeline 1919/1928/1947/1967 and how the characters develop.
My Dad worked for the Bank note Company De La Rue in Bunhill Row. The company dates back to the early 1800s. When he first started there after the war he said you could practically see Cannon Street station due to the heavy bombing that had taken place. As the rebuild began, the nearby tenement buildings were replaced by the Barbican - hardly a like for like replacement. No one could afford to live there! By the time the late 60s arrived De La Rue had largely relocated, but still held a presence in one of the grand terrace houses in Bunhill Row, while they awaited the completion of their new building opposite. However, as that building neared completion De La Rue decided to move lock, stock and barrel to Basingstoke. Dad literally turned the lights out in the terraced house and joined the queue for temporary work, which was provided courtesy of the - Father of the Chapel - in the print union, to which he belonged.
Ironically, I moved into the building that De La Rue had vacated (with BT) as Dad left. The building is still there, but has been re-purposed and is unrecognisable. White, 14 storey high, diagonally opposite the graveyard. When I started there in 1970 on the Telex installation and maintenance department we had a character known as Johnny the Red who would hold unofficial union meetings in the graveyard - quite apt when you think the graveyard holds so many non conformists!
Other nearby memories include the grand TA building with its wonderful playing field. Dignitaries would arrive there by helicopter to pick up a limo or maybe have a banquet. On these occasions our building would sometimes host military snipers on the roof - just in case. Quite a shock to see the lift doors open and see a fully kitted out SAS man. Sometimes famous sports teams hire the field to train before big events in London - that still happens - the All Blacks use it when they're around. I was able to witness the City's Falklands victory parade from my building as it left from there.
Other attractions included the street market in Whitecross street and the Whitbread stables in Garret St. Beer was still delivered to the city pubs in those days by the brewers dray and the Shire horses always looked so magnificent.
As you say @Making_all_the_noise the grave yard itself is interesting. The tomb that used to catch my eye was the one of Mary Page who had 240 gallons of fluid removed from her. Anyway you can read about her, Daniel Defoe and others below.
Apologies for the ramblings of some silly old geezer, but mention of Bunhill just started me off.
https://livinglondonhistory.com/the-surprising-history-of-bunhill-fields-burial-ground/
Apparently it's the fourth detective series Ann Granger has written, so she's very popular.
I did enjoy it, though not in an unputdownable way like a Rankin or a MacDermid. It is quite gentle, after reading the book I did some research and found out that the author used to write historic romantic fiction, which made perfect sense. Don't get me wrong, the plot is good and the suspects intriguing. The feel of the book is more Agatha Rasin than Agatha Christie - though it is far, far better written than the Agatha Raisin books (well - the one that I managed to plough through, anyway).
Set in the Cotswolds, it involves a body discovered on a remote farm by a dubious character who promptly scarpers without reporting it. The lead detective is DI Jess Campbell and her "partner" in the sense of the book is a newly arrived Detective Superintendent Ian Carter - though he doesn't feature much in this volume, presumably he takes a bigger role in later books?
I will look out for the second book, and I would certainly recommend it as a nice, easy holiday read.
A must if you are a Poirot fan, not so vital if you are not.
Possibly the best spy novel I’ve read centred around the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Vatican. If anyone’s familiar with the Gabriel Allon books, don’t go past this one.