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Currently Reading…
How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran. It's funny cos it's true.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. Stuck half way, but it's true, her eyes do change colour. Like David Bowie. Or a Blythe doll.
Recently read…
Gumble's Yard by John Rowe Townsend.
Noah's Castle by John Rowe Townsend.
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness. Grim, but brilliant kids' book.
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. Brilliant dystopian book for teens. The short prequel is a free Kindle download.
Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliot Perlman. 607 pages, seven viewpoints of the same extraordinarily inter-twined events. Clever, full of good ideas but I didn't warm to the main character and didn't love it anywhere near as much as A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz.
The Fear by Charlie Higson.
Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson. I HATED this book - which was a surprise as I really liked the previous 3 Jackson Brodies, esp the previous one. Why? Too many characters I didn't care about. Not enough Jackson Brodie. And I know it's grim up North - but just too, too grim. Forced myself to finish it, but only because I bloody paid for it.
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson. MUCH better than the TV adaptation, which I found very confusing. Very readable - some of the turns choices made by the main characters have had me going 'whaaat'? but it's all the more believable and enjoyable for them.
One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson. Good, but didn't enjoy it as much as Case Histories.
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. Bliss.
Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer.
Solar by Ian McEwan. Good holiday read but not stunning literature.
One Day by David Nicholls. I am officially the last person-but-one in England to read this. Loved it, though. Bastard.
Moonraker by Ian Fleming. Ah, another improbably-named young woman to see you, Mr Bond. (Like I can talk).
Obstacles to Young Love by David Nobbs. This lad Nobbs will go far. Funny, touching, very occasionally annoying, but a damn fine novel.
The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim by Jonathan Coe. Hated the ending. Sorry. Sure it's been done elsewhere. My first, and probably last, Coe.
Hungry the Stars and Everything by Emma Jane Unsworth. Delicious!
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber. It's Dickens with swear words. In a good way.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. From 1949. Perfect. It's so good, I love it so much. Cannot believe I've never read this before.
Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason - bit disappointed. Just a police procedural. Not that odd. No big DNA conspiracy.
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford - I proof-read a neighbour's uni essay on this and had to read it. Bleak it is, so bleak - especially for a man of my age and circumstance. Almost gave up but half way through I 'got it' and glad I finished it. But grim. Grim.
The Game by Jack London.
The Man Who Went Up In Smoke by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. 2nd Martin Beck novel from the original masters of the modern (1960s) police procedural.
Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming. I enjoyed this WAY more than Engleby. Really good, flavour of Bond captured very well indeed.
Dead Man's Cove by Lauren St John. Great children's book, set in St Ives, Cornwall. If the Laura Marlin Mysteries continue like this, I might have to write my own Caitlin Ros Mysteries. (Geddit?!)
Sweet Desserts by Lucy Ellman.
Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming.
Engleby by Sebastian Faulks. My first Faulks - he's too damn popular with the ladies for my liking. I almost gave up on it on page 85. Luckily something happens on page 86. Blog post coming...
Street Kids by Chandrika Kaviraj. Excellent unpublished story for older children set in Pakistan and India during Partition.
The Sacred Art of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre.
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming. My first Bond. It's just as I would have hoped and expected. And me oh my does Vesper Lynd remind me of someone.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. There's a stunning novel in here, struggling to get out. Just spare me the state of Russian agriculture, Leo, I beg you...
Nemesis by Jo Nesbø - this is shaping up very nicely, up there with The Snowman and The Redeemer.Calendar
Monthly Archives: October 2004
ImageGrabber
I know there are lots of utilities out there for nicking images from web sites, but I thought I’d have a go at writing my own. This is really even simpler than TypeScript, and so I had a go at … Continue reading
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Got Skype?
Bogdan burst into our office yesterday and asked if we’d got Skype yet. It’s VoIP telephony, but Jon and I were dismissive, mainly because we thought it was a Windows-only thing. (Bogdan was a Mac user years ago, but strayed … Continue reading
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A Very Stupid Question…
I found myself thinking about James Morgan, former economics correspondent for the BBC World Service. A highly amusing and idiosyncratic individual, he gave me and my wife a large meat cleaver as a wedding present. Knives are supposed to be … Continue reading
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Damn Small Linux
I’ve been thinking about Cringley booting into Linux off his USB keyring (okay, it’s a watch) and a quick Google brought DSL (Damn Small Linux) to my attention. I haven’t got my (badly designed) USB keyring bootable yet, but I … Continue reading
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Canadian discovers just how much TV is enough
The Man They Call Robert X has an exciting column this week (Jon says ‘Exciting? It’s almost a manifesto!’)… all about a very savvy Canadian and what he’s managed to do with a bit of WiFi, some broadband internet access, … Continue reading
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109676011444351050
Sgt Pepper It Ain’t In a moment of boredom I stuck an old bit of Windows wallpaper I used to use at work on the OtherMachines front page. Have a look at here and see how many people you can … Continue reading
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109673645116696546
It just occured to me that there’s no link anywhere on my sites to TypeStick – development of which is, er, stalled for now It’s a little program I wrote for MacOS X and Windows to help you write HTML … Continue reading
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109673561805357662
Apple’s sucky mouse. I hate to admit it, but the Microsoft optical USB mouse is much better than Apple’s. I know I sound ungrateful – my wife rang me from the Washington DC Apple Store to ask me if there … Continue reading
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109673107112312092
Bad industrial design. Insanely bad industrial design… Just got a Kingston USB keyring flash drive – very useful, very fashionable. Keep lots of data with you at all times. Cringely can even boot Linux from his and get back up … Continue reading
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