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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
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Category Archives: radio
Circus Peanut Butter
I’ve been clearing out my locker at work and found many iced gems on reel-to-reel audio tape. Perhaps oddest of all was a reel of American advert jingles from the 60s and 70s that I have no memory of – … Continue reading
Posted in food, media, music, nostalgia, radio
Tagged 60s, advert, Circus Peanut Butter, Peanut butter, radio advert
1 Comment
Lauren Laverne on BBC 6Music
This made me laugh out loud. So lovely to have mornings back again on 6Music… sigh. And I had that Holly Johnson in my studio a few weeks ago. I was sitting there playing out most of ‘Two Tribes’ on … Continue reading
How did I miss Radio 2?
One minute I’m kidding myself that I’m still too young to listen to Radio 2. The next minute I’m finding Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross’s phone calls to Andrew Sachs a bit puerile (and unlike most of the 10,000 people … Continue reading
See, George Lamb IS a tosser.
Have a look at this: http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/when-hardeep-met-les#comment-57497 I can’t bear listening to the man, but David Hepworth confirms the nation’s suspicion that BBC 6Music presenter George Lamb is a tosser, he knows or cares bugger all about music which is a … Continue reading
Posted in BBC, radio
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In watermelon sugar the deeds were done…
Just took my Richard Brautigan anthology off the shelf and it looks like I haven’t read it in a while. The bookmark is one of the strips of paper BBC World Service studio managers used to write their shifts down … Continue reading
Posted in BBC, fiction, literature, nostalgia, radio
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Turned out nice
Two nice things happened to me today. The doctor’s receptionist casually mentioned in passing that my chest x-ray was normal. I’ve been dreading the result for weeks… Alone in a lift at work, the door opens… and Alan Johnston walked … Continue reading
Posted in medicine, radio
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Radio 4 Go Home
05:20 Shipping Forecast Nappies and motorbikes. Rising. Good. 06:20 Today Posh bird tries to finish over-running interviews by repeating the first syllable of guest’s name. Humphries harrumphs. Sport bloke makes joke which falls flat as no-one else on the programme … Continue reading
Posted in radio
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