Recently in Too tricky to categorise Category
Another gem from Phil's bookshelf. After bemoaning the books on my "To read" shelf, and failing to get to the Barbican Library to stock up on fresh page-turning fodder, Phil came to the rescue:
Phil: "What do you fancy reading?"
Mary:"I don't know, something like this [pointing to William Goldman's Adventures in the screen trade]."
Phil: "You mean like this [holding out Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade], his follow-up."
Thus I found myself back in the world of making movies, US-style, but this time with William Goldman deconstructing scripts, and explaining what works and why, and what doesn't and why not - not just in his opinion but bringing in comments and analysis from other screen-writers he knows. It's a small, small world!
And, yes, there are occasional asides, offering Heat-type gossip about stars of the silver screen. Thank heavens for a weekend for reading!
Buy it: Amazon link
.... "or every girl's big book of trains".
Quite why the third alternative title doesn't make it onto the cover is a mystery, and an almost fatal one in my case is it's taken me 5 months to pick up this book, which was another ex-Wishlist item.
And the loss would have been mine.
It's had to explain why this is such a good book, and it's hard to work out if I liked it purely because of my own character and background. Just don't reject this book on the basis that it's a trainspotter's guide because it most definitely isn't. Ian Marchant knows his stuff when it comes to trains and all things train-related, but he's not an engine-spotting-list-ticker. Rather, he's a bohemian bloke who loves the railways and their role in British history - all the way from the first horse-drawn tracks to Network Rail, via Stephenson's rocket and the railway mania of the 1800s; Beeching and privatisation.
Parallel lines is part social history, part political commentary, part autobiography, in a style akin to Nick Hornby and Bill Bryson - but with less knowing cleverness, and more heartfelt passion.
Buy it: Amazon link
A loan from Phil for the TGV/Eurostar home from Avignon, and greatly enjoyed. The book is a collection of Nick Hornsby's monthly musings on what he books he buys to read and why, and which books he actually gets round to reading and what he thinks of them. A bit like this really! He doesn't go in too deep on the plot analysis or literary criticism fronts, which suited me fine. It was far more fascinating to read about why of the buying and reading.
Buy it: Amazon link
I tried, I really did. I even dipped in and out of some of the later chapters to try and find some narrative hook. But I failed. The book just came across as self-indulgent, pub punditry fuelled by far too many pints.
I'll leave it to Phil to read, it's his holiday reading after all!
Buy it: Amazon link
One I borrowed from Phil, having started it one weekend at his. An enjoyable combination of history and science, which, for the most part, avoids getting too techie. And I just skipped the bits which bored me.
Two gripes however. Firstly, for a book on maps and mapmaking, its illustrations are sadly lacking, and second, although the scope in the first half is worldwide, the second half is almost entirely US focused, talking about the mapping of the USA. Interesting reading, but the book doesn't offer any comparable history of the mapping of, say, the USSR, or Austalia.
Buy it: Amazon link
- True Adventures of Radio 1 -
If you grew up listening to Radio 1 in the 80s then this tale of Radio 1 in the 90s is a must. Sagas of despotic jocks long gone and tales from along the rocky road to Zoe Ball via Chris Evans and Simon Mayo, with detours into pre-Home Truths Peel and the production teams behind the scenes.
An absolute Gem.
I borrowed this from Phil, and then ignored him for the next 48 hours until I'd finished it.
Buy it: Amazon Link
WLTM solvent Scottish 30something w GSOH and enthusiasm for voyages of discovery
Partly poking fun, partly providing helpful hints, this book is an enjoyable gem for those of us living in the modern age.
Illustrated with factual diagrams and covering such scenarios as