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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: Uncategorized
Earth to Earth
This is a lovely Straight8 film. (Straight8 involves shooting a film, in sequence on one roll of Super 8 film – no editing!) http://chillibean.net/perl/sohosoho/player/player.pl?token=CKVC34LS&source=WR
“…after the day I’ve had.”
In work early. Open locker. A tin of ground coffee falls out, showering the carpet outside the office. I call the cleaners to get it cleared up. They email me a reference number. As I am going to be working … Continue reading
Drilling down going forward
Nice item on BBC News about corporate gobbledygook. Well, it momentarily lifted my gloom at the prospect of everyone dying imminently from pig flu. I know two people who are about to go to Mexico and I hope they change … Continue reading
There are no coincidences
“There are no coincidences but sometimes the pattern is more obvious.” ‘Keynsham’ – The Bonzo Dog Band And maybe sometimes coincidence just doesn’t come into it.
Fat Duck shut shock
So The Fat Duck is closed because of a food poisoning scare. I guess it would be pretty galling to get food poisoning after stumping up a hefty amount of dosh to eat there, but it does all seem very … Continue reading
Jamie Oliver is a good bloke
Despite my cynicism and pessimism, I’ve always rather liked Jamie Oliver. I like his enthusiasm, his recipes tend be tasty and realistic for anyone to make – and they work. His new magazine Jamie is a beautifully-produced thing, like a … Continue reading
Christmas is a time for giving
My oldest friend Bruce Guthrie used to do a fine mock-homily, gently taking the piss out of the Church of England as she was practised in North Somerset in the late 1970s. It always started with him clasping his hands … Continue reading
Myers-Briggs for Blogs
This website reckons it can analyse your personality type from the writing style of your blog. It took about 3 seconds to decide that I’m ESTP when on written tests I’ve always come out as INTP or INFP. Oh well. … Continue reading
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You’ve only had it a week!
It always amazes me how quickly my children sometimes manage to break new toys. So it cheered me up a bit to learn that the boffins at CERN (they have a web site you know) have already broken the Large … Continue reading
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Super-connected
Did a security update on my PowerBook today; now it keeps forgetting my wireless network’s name and password. So it really is very bloody secure as it’s now mostly not connected to the internet at all any more. I forgave … Continue reading
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