Tidied up the bookshelves. Clearly had too much time on my hands since april. This also explains my lack of activity on the beer thread, or the gogglebox thread. Anyhow, I've read the following since thelast update:
The diary of jack the ripper - shirley harrison - a re-read of this, but it was a first edition, so I wanted to get a feel of the initial feeling of this "discovery"
The howard marks book of dope stories - ed howard marks - not a patch on mr nice
gardening on a shoestring - alex mitchell - some ideas for stuff to do if you're green fingered, or aspire to be. up-cycling being a theme.
chocolate wars - deborah cadbury - really interesting look at how cadburys was established. loved it.
the curious gardeners almanac - neill edworthy - more garden bits and bobs
the flags of nada - michael barrett - throwaway old novel I've had for years. Think I read it more because a micheael barrett (not the same one) "found" the "ripper diary"
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - read it after going to see the play. The story isn't great. The play is pretty good though.
The full facts of cold reading - ian rowland - another re-read. First tinme I didn't understand it. this time, i did, but didn't feel it taught me anything.
the human brain - susan greenfield - I like reading stuff about brains and consciousness (and chatting with Johnny about it!) Saw susan greenfield speak when i was a student. Her books are a lot drier than he is in real life.
cell - stephen king - made me want to re-read dead lines by greg bear, which i didn't favour when i first read it.
the jack the ripper whitechapel murders - kevin o'donnell - an author puts the research of 2 descendants of one of the victims into book form.
moab is my washpot - stephen fry - autobiography part 1 (birth to 18th birthday-ish)
adventures in a tv nation - michael moore - interesting take on subversive tv
zodiac - robert graysmith - graysmith was targeted by the zodiac for various correspondence. this book was written during the crimes and in the immediate aftermath. This was followed by:
zodiac unmasked - also by graysmith - 20+ years after the events, like an update, only with a lot of additional info alleging that leigh harvey allen was zodiac. I'm unconvinced.
up til now - william shatner- read as i loved "shatner rules". Autobiographical. Nowhere near as funny as "...rules". Lacked detail for me.
Love all the people - bill hicks - variations on his routines. You can see how he developed his skits and k=jokes. Often I could hear him in my head. I remain gutted I never saw him live.
danny, champion of the world - roald dahl - had never read a dahl book til last year. Am remedying that 9see also later)
the qi book of general ignorance - cos it's my fave tv show
the wombles - elisabeth beresford - loved it!
mr majestyk - elmore leonard - had read mr blue before (which is brilliant btw). Decided i needed to read one of his novels. shorter than i expected, but a good read with good characters.
why do penguins feet freeze? - new scientist - brilliant trivia book based on new scientist column the last word
the house of thunder - dean kootz - havuing read False memory last year, which was super, decided to read another kootz book. this one disappointed.
the ripper file - jones & lloyd - esteemed detectives barlow and watt create an incident room to do a 1970's investigation. fun.
how many socks make a pair - robert eastway - eastway has a number of books on his love of maths, and why you should love it too. short, and accessible, though not as good as why doe buses come in 3's.
darwins radio - greag bear
darwins children - greg bear - read in succession. really liked radio, hence going straight onto children, which didn't have the same momentum.
selling hitler - robert harris - the tale of the so called hitler diaries. really well told.
boy - roald dahl - superb! kind of auto biographical stuff, reminisces of life and his thoughts. loved it.
sleeping beauties - stephen king with owen king - kinda fantasy from king & one of his offspring, with an element of the battle of the sexes. Like many king books, great for 600 pages, with a bit of a confused ending.
mythos - stephen fry - retelling of the classic greek myths (or some of them). really accessible.
jack the ripper - terence sharkey - a 1987 attempt to cash in on the centenary.
vulgar favours - maureen orth - a biography of the guy who killed versace. apparently turned into a tv series. unsure why, not a great book at all.
the hundred year old man who climbed out a window and disappeared - jonas jonasson - quite a funny trip through some surreal stuff that a pleasant old fella can get up to. I liked how it shows us there is so much more to a person than what we perceive.
Hereos - stephen fry - follow up to mythos, building on it. both books are really good.
jack the ripper and the london press - l perry curtis jnr - quite an academic work on how the crimes were presented in the media. Hard going, but covers a lot of social, political, gender based and cultural historical views of the crimes.
the secret barrister - potentially a terrifying read. Having worked under legal services commission contracts, I really appreciated and related to some of what was said here. Very relate-able.
intensity - dean koontz - better than house of thunder above.
how does it feel - mark kermode - i really like kermode. he's a top fella, and the good, the bad and the multiplex is essential reading for film fans. This is more autobiographical, and covers many musical scrapes he's gotten into. really enjoyable.
the olivetti chronicles - john peel - collection of various articles from numerous different publications. some haven't dated so well. some very funny.
the man who hunted jack the ripper - connell & evans - biography of edmund reid, who was probably the main detective on the ground in 1888 whitechapel
the fry chronicles - stephen fry - following on from "moab..." read earlier.
how to take a penalty - rob eastway - the impact of maths in sport. fun, as well as interesting.
star trek memories - william shatner - possibly a bit brief, but almost worth reading for the chapter where shatner thinks it's all done, and nichelle nicholls says "oh no, now I need to tell you why I hate you" and shatner reaction to learning numerous other star trek cast couldn't stand him, and how he was oblivious to this for so many years.
the exorcist - william peter blatty - really enjoyed this. I'm unsure as to what differences this (the 40th anniversary edition) has from the original, but blatty states a character is new with a small speech to make the ending a little more obvious.
dark heart - nick davies - an old book, a little dated, but davies is a really good investigative journalist.
how we believe- michael shermer - shermer has written some really fascinating books on how we come to form our belief systems. This is another great one that develops his themes.
jack the ripper suspects - c j morley - very disappointing - reads like a huge word doc
joyland - stephen king - really loved this. fast paced, straightforward characters. sussed out whodunnit.
thus spoke zarathustra - f neitzsche - lets be fucking clear about this. neitzsche is absolute fucking garbage. utter guff of the highest order. cannot fathom why people sing his praises. Perhaps explains why I've always struggled with the manics. shite.
jack the ripper - stephen james - reminded me why i don't read jtr fiction. boring.
more fool me - stephen fry. third installment in his autobiographies. whilst moab was my initial favourite, more fool me is a fascinating insight into functioning addicts. taking all 3, they're a good read.
77 shadow strret - dean kootz - better! slightly cereberal, but interesting take on fantasy/horror, with links to nano-tech.
the autobiography of sergeant william lawrence - Sgt Lawrence left an oral history of his life when in his 60's. Though illiterate, he served under wellington through 1806, til just after waterloo. I have quite an interest in the napoleonic wars, and wanted to read this for a while. It's a stellar first hand account of much army life in the early 19thC. I highly recommend this, especially to paddy. I know he'd love it!
