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
From the locker tapes
GarageBand and a bottle of red wine have a lot to answer for…
Posted in music, nostalgia
2 Comments
Diana verdict
I think Half Man Half Biscuit were ahead of their time with the highly amusing couplet: James Dean was just a careless driver And Marilyn Monroe was just a slag
Posted in grief, music, nostalgia
Leave a comment
World of Wist
One of the things I really miss about Gideon Coe’s daytime BBC 6Music show is his ‘Wednesday Wist Wagon’. So, in homage to it I invite you all to climb aboard my Sunday Sadness Stagecoach. Here are four songs to … Continue reading
Posted in music, nostalgia
Leave a comment
Reproduction
Inspired by Wardy, I’ve cranked up Garage Band for the first time – it says here – in two years. Now I have rather less than no musical talent, though I can just about play the gramophone. But that hasn’t … Continue reading
Posted in music
5 Comments
I Don’t Even Like the Aphex Twin
I’ve had ‘Nannou’ by the Aphex Twin stuck in my head all day. And I don’t even like the Aphex Twin. I think I heard one of his tracks once and hated it, and I used to snigger when the … Continue reading
Posted in cinema, literature, music
Leave a comment
Farewell, then, Anthony H Wilson
Farewell, then, Tony Wilson. Yes, you should have signed The Smiths. But you were right about Mick Hucknell, his music’s rubbish and he’s a ginger. Have a look here and remember, and smile.
Posted in grief, music, nostalgia
Leave a comment
Vinyl solution
I dug the old turntable out of the loft months ago and never had the time to dub off any of that precious vinyl… and when I did get round to it I discovered the stylus was missing. I didn’t … Continue reading
Posted in music, nostalgia
Leave a comment
Tank Park Salute
Today on BBC 6 Music, Gideon Coe was getting listeners to vote for ‘great lost tear-jerkers’. Three tracks to choose from, including ‘Ship-building’ by Robert Wyatt and ‘Tank Park Salute’. I hadn’t heard ‘Tank Park Salute’ for years, all my … Continue reading
Posted in children, family life, grief, music
Leave a comment
I am the Prince of Wales! I am the Prince of Wales!
Am totally hooked on ‘The Decision’ by a band called The Young Knives. Can’t get its pleasingly bonkers riff and lyrics out of my head. I wore the blue with the green I wore the blue with the green I … Continue reading
