Archaeology

Gosh, I read this years ago. Brilliant article, perhaps I'd better go digging for my old copy.

Reading...

Masses at the moment, including this and this and this from Richard Stark's awesome Parker series - reissued in new versions by Chicago University Press. Parker novels are my comfort reads at the moment. The Noirest of the noir... without Stark there would be no Tarantino - fact.

Reading...

The Lost Child by Julie Myerson. This has been on my bookshelves for about a year but somehow, even though I wanted to read it, I was sure I'd hate it. I didn't.

Reading...

How not to grow up by Richard Herring. This book is awful. I loathe it, and I now loathe him, which is a shame as I got much comedy mileage out of recreating Fist of Fun scenes down the pub as a young 'un. Weak Lemon Drink anyone? Answer Me!!!!

I shall continue to worship at the altar of the Stewart Lee and leave the Herring alone.

Reading...

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

I remember this coming out,and later being a mainstay of "one hit wonder" displays (that was before The Little Friend). Never inclined to read it until now, maybe I'm entering my "once a decade" fiction phase...

Have you heard...

You can now download audio books from the comfort of your own home - how cool is that? Don't ask me about the detail though because although I attended a presentation about it I was rather distracted by the charming Gordon Griffin and didn't pay as much attention as I should have.

I can certainly recommend getting hold of some of Gordon's narrations as he is truly fabulous!

Reading....

Naked by David Sedaris

Reading...

The Jugger by Richard Stark, part of his fantastic, genre defining Parker novels.

I hate telling people what to read but really - you should.

Reading...

The hell of it all by Charlie Brooker

Brooker for PM.

Reading...

Thanks for Nothing by Jack Dee - very good it is too, if you're a curmudgeon by nature.

Time keeps on ticking... into the future

A blog I read is subtitled "Full time dad wastes valuable reading time by writing about reading".

I've been wasting valuable blogging time by well, reading. And now I'm going to waste reading time by blogging about reading.

So, I've realised recently that I read like a man. I used to read like a woman, largely fiction, largely women's fiction. A bookcase full of the characteristic dark green Virago and striped Women's Press spines was testament to my reading proclivities. I cared about the Orange Prize. I was a demographic.

Now I read non fiction. I read non fiction written by men. I read non fiction written by men who used to be music journalists. Not exclusively, but enough to make note of.

Is it also relevant that I used to be fiercely monogamous in my reading and now I have a pile of 6 books on the go?

I am currently reading:

Mark Radcliffe's Biography i.e. a book about a bloke
A book about 2 blokes who get an allotment
A book about a bloke who decides to travel around all the places on the shipping forecast
A book about a bloke who does a load of experiements to prove the theory of social economics
A book by a bloke who needs to get a real job, talking about the pleasures and sorrows of work
A book by a bloke who decides to travel around Britain, drinking in a lot of pubs on the way

If I were the subject of RFID based targeted advertising a la Minority Report, and took the advice of the advertisers, I would be buying a lot of lager, gilette razors and tyres right now.

I am still a demographic, just not the right one.

Question: Does it matter?

Reading...

(gleefully) .. an advance reading copy of Dexter by Design

Reading..

Estates- an intimate history by Lynsey Hanley