My book on Kindle
My book in print
Search this blog
Recent Comments
- blogmywiki on Winter holiday reading
- Clare on Winter holiday reading
- blogmywiki on Winter holiday reading
- Sarahmia on Winter holiday reading
- David Hutchins on Circus Peanut Butter
Blogroll
My other pages
My software
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
February 2012 M T W T F S S « Jan 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
Category Archives: music
What You Need
What you need is One. What face? Two: face new Three. Face mag for arse Four. Three rules of audience Five. Mug of Geoff Travis, framed Six. The book Theft is Vision by the brothers Copeland. The Fall, What You … Continue reading
Posted in music, The Fall
Tagged geoff travis, music, rough trade, sandie shaw, smiths
Leave a comment
Sweet Little Film
Thank you Stefanie for sending me this ‘sweet little film’…
Becoming more like Guy
Someone at work today told me that I am looking more and more like Guy Garvey out of Elbow. Now that’s fine and dandy but it occurs to me as a bit odd as I’ve been listening to an awful … Continue reading
iPod Nano – 4th Generation
It’s like a piece of time travel… my first generation 5GB iPod is getting hard to charge and put new music on, as its Firewire connector is dodgy – and the Firewire port on my PowerBook is broken which doesn’t … Continue reading
I feel better than James Brown
After a strangely satisfying day at work I feel like I’m on a roll. I’m reading a great book (thank you Sarah) – a Douglas Coupland that eluded me – Eleanor Rigby. Pretty much every page has a beautiful idea … Continue reading
Bombast
One of the unexpected pleasures of having young children who play rugby on a Sunday morning, is that one of the other dads just lent me Mark E Smith’s autobiography. I’m glad I didn’t shell out for the hard-back as … Continue reading
Posted in BBC, Johnny Cash, literature, music, The Fall
Leave a comment
They’ve All Gone Home
They’ve all gone home. All gone home. All of them. And I am in here and she in there with her head on the desk and I am wondering what she is doing. And I think if I keep playing … Continue reading
Posted in music
Leave a comment
FFS
Apparently the new Portishead album – which I love – is ‘depressing’ and ‘scary’. What the hell did anyone expect? An album of Aqua covers? The song from Lazy Town?!? FFS…
Posted in music
2 Comments
They tried to change the world with their fake theremin!
I love Portishead. I bought their first single ‘Numb’ in a record shop (remember them?) in Greenwich purely on the strength of the name of the band – I knew nothing about them. Then I saw them live twice, once … Continue reading
Posted in music
Leave a comment
Hey Mickey, You’re So Fine
Cannot. Stop. Playing. This. (‘That’s Not My Name’ by The Ting Tings)
Posted in music
Leave a comment
