Books Read 2014

Here's my annual list of what I've read in the past year.

2014 busted my previous best total of 39 books read in 12 months, but then spending a few weeks recuperating from 2 ops and being banned from doing anything physically demanding is bound to boost the total.

Or perhaps this is a sign that I should be doing something else with my free time… like er… decorating or gardening or… Nope, I think I’ll stay on the sofa reading.

1. A. E. Marston “The wolves of Savernake”
2. R & E Skidelsky “How much is enough?”
3. Johnny Vegas “Becoming Johnny Vegas”
4. Simon Brett “Death on the Downs”
5. Dorothy L Sayers “Have his carcass”
6. Mary Beard “The Parthenon”
7. Edward Marston “The excursion train”
8. Pete Brown “Three sheets to the wind”
9. Neil Gaiman “Fortunately, the milk”
10. Terry Pratchett “Jingo”
11. Michael Sandel “What money can’t buy”
12. P. G. Wodehouse “The small batchelor”
13. Edward Marston “The fair maid of Bohemia”
14. Lindsey Davis “The silver pigs”
15. Terry Pratchett “Maskerade”
16. Dorothy L Sayers “Unnatural death”
17. Joseph E Stiglitz “The price of inequality”
18. Edward Marston “Railway to the grave”
19. Tim Harford “Undercover economist”
20. Mike Stone “Chippenham through time”
21. Ben Aaronovitch “Broken homes”
22. Peter Hopkirk “The great game”
23. Edward Marston “Blood on the line”
24. Maurice Druon “The iron king”
25. Gladys Mitchell “Death at the opera”
26. Margery Allingham “Mystery mile”
27. Peter Fleming “To Peking”
28. Edward Marston “An instrument of slaughter”
29. Dorothy L Sayers “Gaudy night”
30. Duff Hart-Davis “Peter Fleming”
31. Simon Brett “Cast, in order of disappearance”
32. Irving Finkel “The ark before Noah”
33. Edward Marston “The stationmaster’s farewell”
34. Nassim Nicholas Taleb “Fooled by randomness”
35. Ngaio Marsh “A man lay dead”
36. Simon Brett “So much blood”
37. Terry Pratchett “Raising steam”
38. George Orwell “Why I write”
39. Ngaio Marsh “Enter a murderer”
40. Tim Harford “The logic of life”
41. Margery Allingham “More work for the undertaker”
42. Ngaio Marsh “The nursing home murder”

2013 booklist

As the year comes to an end, it's time for the list of books I've read in the past 12 months again. I hope that no-one thinks I do this to show off (I'm not sure that my choice of reading matter is anything to boast about anyway!) it's just that I don't do 'clouds' or online 'wallets' so this is the most accessible way of finding out if I've read a book before I buy it - if I happen to find myself in an English language bookshop away from home. Well, it may happen one day!

I've read a massive amount of books in 2013, well, massive for me anyway - it works out at more than 3 a month which is a third more than I've ever managed before. Admittedly many of them are murder mysteries which don't take long to knock over, but still... Perhaps that hot summer where one found it too uncomfortable to do anything but lie around reading had something to do with it. Whatever the reason, 39 books flashed past my nose this year, but I'll be beggared if I can remember what was in any of them! That's not a sign of reading them too quickly, but of my innate stupidity.

1. Alan Garner "The weirdstone of Brisingamen" - re-read, not sure I understood it any better now than I did 35 years ago!
2. Ariane Sherine (ed) "The atheist's guide to Christmas" - hilarious collection of essays by people such as David Baddiel, etc.
3. Eric Newby "A short walk in the Hindu Kush"
4. John Lanchester "Whoops! Why everyone owes everyone and no-one can pay" - highly readable assessment of the credit crunch
5. Terry Pratchett "Eric"
6. Margery Allingham "Sweet danger"
7. Les Woodland "The crooked path to victory: drugs and cheating in professional bicycle racing" - wanted to read this for many years, since I first heard Mr Woodland on R4, seemed very apt to read it this year as professional road racing imploded. The book proves that old adage that there is nothing new under the sun...
8. John O'Farrell "An utterly exasperated history of Modern Britain: or Sixty Years of Making the Same Stupid Mistakes as Always"
9. Margery Allingham "The case of the late pig"
10. Ben Aaronovitch "Whispers underground"
11. Gladys Mitchell "The Saltmarsh murders"
12. Janet Street-Porter "Life's too fucking short"
13. Margery Allingham "A tiger in the smoke"
14. Rory Stewart "The places in between"
15. Rachel Johnson "Winter games"
16. Muriel Sparke "Girls of slender means"
17. Simon Armitage "Sir Gawain and the green knight"
18. Margery Allingham "The crime at Black Dudley"
19. George Orwell "Down and out in Paris and London"
20. Simon Brett "The body on the beach"
21. Peter Stanford "The devil: a biography"
22. Richard Templar "The rules of wealth"
23. Pete Brown "Man walks into a pub"
24. Terry Pratchett "Small gods"
25. Jonathan Tropper "This is where I leave you"
26. William Stephens Hayward "Revelations of a lady detective"
27. Eoin Colfer "Artemis Fowl: the Arctic incident"
28. Edward Marston "The railway detective"
29. Robert Peston "Who runs Britain?" - written on the eve of the credit crunch and therefore has an unwitting wistfulness about it
30. Terry Pratchett "Feet of clay"
31. Peter Lovesey "Cop to corpse"
32. David Crouch "William Marshal"
33. Piers Paul Read "The Templars"
34. P G Wodehouse "Full moon"
35. C S Lewis "The Screwtape letters"
36. Terry Pratchett "Dodger"
37. Dorothy L Sayers "Clouds of witness"
38. Andrew Taylor "The scent of death"
39. Edward Marston "The railway viaduct"

The highlight of 2014 for me will be the publication in paperback of the 3rd part of David Kynaston's fantastic history of post-war Britain, 'Modernity Britain, in June. Yes, I am that sad...

Happy New Year!

More books

Annual list of books I've read:

1. David Kynaston "Austerity Britain 1945-51" - think we've got it bad today? Think again!
2. Terry Pratchett "Wintersmith"
3. Andrew Martin "The Necropolis Railway"
4. Dorothy L Sayers "Whose Body?"
5. Terry Pratchett "Going Postal"
6. Tom Robb-Smith "Agent 6"
7. James Anderson "The Affair of the Boodstained Egg Cosy"
8. George Orwell "The Road to Wigan Pier" (Re-read)
9. A. W. Kinglake "Eothen"
10. James Anderson "The Affair of the Mutilated Mink"
11. E. R. Tobia "Jorge Lorenzo: The Story so Far"
12. Caitlin Moran "How to be a Woman" - love her journalism but actually found this book really rather depressing
13. Pete Comley "Monkey with a Pin"
14. James Anderson "The Affair of the Thirty-Nine Cufflinks"
15. Edward Said "Orientalism"
16. David Kynaston "Family Britain 1951-57"
17. Ben Aaronovitch "Rivers of London" - needing something to read on the train and thinking, 'I wonder if he's any relation to David?', I seem to have stumbled across a genre that's new to me: urban fantasy. And jolly good fun it is too, he's got me hooked (and it's hard to dislike an author who names one of his most alluring female characters 'Beverley' isn't it?)
18. Barry Hobson "Latrinae et Foricae: Toilets in the Roman World" - not only did they have indoor plumbing, they had upstairs loos!
19. Terry Pratchett "Snuff"
20. Hermione Ranfurly "To War with Whitaker"
21. Jon Ronson "The Psychopath Test"
22. Ben Aaronovitch "Moon Over Soho"
23. William Dalrymple "White Mughals"
24. David Sedaris "Holidays on Ice"

So many books, so little time...

Who am I...

I've been introduced to a couple of interesting articles recently and I can say with certainty that Susan Cain's work on introverts definitely describes me - catch her talk here. It also made me thank God that I wasn't brought up in America and had to go to summer camps - it sounds like hell on earth and I'm amazed that the suicide rate amongst their children isn't higher.

After being one of the victims of a recent staff away-day spent 'brainstorming' I can really empathise with a comment she made in an interview with the Guardian this week:

"Brainstorming, it's always this experience where you are cooked up in a room with your colleagues and there's some very peppy facilitator who is...standing up there with a magic marker… I don't know, I always feel like they are kind of silly, you just end up with a lot of ideas taped to the wall. And no one really does anything with them. But this is not just my personal feeling, actually there is 40 years of research maybe more into brainstorming and it has found repeatedly that individuals brainstorming on their own come up with better ideas and more ideas than groups do. The British psychologist Adrian Furnham says, "Evidence from science suggests that business people must be insane to use brainstorming groups." When creativity is the highest priority people should be encouraged to work alone."

But I'm not sure that this sentiment is exclusive to introverts!

Now, I'm always alert to irony, and I know that comedians often say of their most extreme character creations that people come up to them and say, "Oh that was so funny, I know a person just like that!" rather than recognising themselves and their actions/behaviour. But I'm fairly sure that I'm not a narcissist - read Merrill Markoe's explanation of narcissistic behaviour here. Can someone who writes a blog not be a narcissist? Well, perhaps being safe in the knowledge that almost no-one actually reads this counteracts the narcissism of posting!

A New Addition

 Just before we went to Rome (about which more anon) we collected my Christmas present.

Whilst its official name is the Lansdown Foot Stool covered in a Colefax and Fowler woollen plaid (and I'm really trying hard to forget what 3 metres of that fabric actually cost), you and I both know what it was referred to before we bought it and what it will continue to be called until we have it recovered in 40 years' time don't you?  Yes, I'm pleased to introduce you to... the tartan pouffe.

P.s. the book is David Kynaston's "Austerity Britain 1945-51" which is brill.

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος*

Always wanted to start something with that, so a blog post about books is as good as anything I suppose. A round up of the books I've read in the last year or so. Well, since I posted the last list anyway...

1. "The Secret Speech" by Tom Rob Smith
2. "They Found Him Dead" by Georgette Heyer
3. "Mort" by Terry Pratchett
4. "London Labour and the London Poor" by Henry Mayhew
5. "Hops and Glory" by Pete Brown
6. "No Wind of Blame" by Georgette Heyer
7. "The Truth" by Terry Pratchett
8. "From the Holy Mountain" by William Dalrymple
9. "A Blunt Instrument" by Georgette Hayer
10."Superfreakonomics" by Levitt & Dubner
11."Unseen Academicals" by Terry Pratchett
12."The Uses of Literacy" by Richard Hoggart
13."Duplicate Death" by Georgette Heyer
14."The Fry Chronicles" by Stephen Fry
15."All gone to Look for America" by Peter Millar
16."Detection Unlimited" by Georgette Heyer
17."Making Money" by Terry Pratchett
18."Last Act in Palmyra" by Lindsey Davis
19."Perry Boys" by Ian Hough
20."Anything Goes" by Lucy Moore
21."Interesting Times" by Terry Pratchett
22."The Jaguar Smile" by Salman Rushdie
23."King Harald's Saga" translated by Magnus Magnusson
24."The Calendar" by David Ewing Duncan (re-read again)
25."The Ecclesiastical History of the English People" by Bede

Oh dear, I've now finished all the Georgette Heyer crime novels, so I'll have to move onto something else that's light and fun to get me through the working week (when I'm not working through Mr Pratchett's ouvre that is). Perhaps I could start on Mr H's Wodehouse collection...


*'In the beginning was the Word...' John 1:1

A round up of books read in the last year:

1. Are You Looking at Me, Jimmy? Arnold Brown
2. Swimming to Cambodia, Spalding Grey
3. Round About a Pound a Week, Maud Pember-Reeves
4. The Condition of the Working Class in England, Frederick Engels
5. The Thrift Book: Live Well and Spend Less, India Knight
6. The English Rebel: One Thousand Years of Trouble-making from the Normans to the Nineties, David Horspool
7. Death in the Stocks, Georgette Heyer
8. Bright Young People: The Rise and Fall of a Generation 1918-1940, D J Taylor
9. The Classic Slum: Salford Life in the First Quarter of the Century, Robert Roberts
10. Footsteps in the Dark, Georgette Heyer
11. Soul Music: A Discworld Novel, Terry Pratchett
12. We Danced All Night: A Social History of Britain Between the Wars, Martin Pugh
13. Why Shoot a Butler?, Georgette Heyer
14. Night Watch: A Discworld Novel, Terry Pratchett
15. A Radical History of Britain: Visionaries, Rebels and Revolutionaries - The Men and Women Who Fought for Our Freedoms, Edward Vallance
16. The Unfinished Clue, Georgette Heyer
17. Men at Arms: A Discworld Novel, Terry Pratchett (re-read)
18. The Gangs of Manchester: the story of the scuttlers, Britain's first youth cult" Andrew Davies
19. Behold, Here's Poison, Georgette Heyer (re-read)
20. Your Inner Fish: The amazing discovery of our 375-million-year-old ancestor, Neil Shubin
21. >Pyramids: A Discworld Novel, Terry Pratchett

Happy Birthday to me...

Considering I was at work yesterday I had a really rather nice birthday.

I got some good books:

Andrew Davies's "The Gangs of Manchester";
Tom Robb Smith's "The Secret Speech";
Neil Shubin's "Your Inner Fish";
Ian Hough's "Perry Boys";
David Kynaston's huge "Family Britain 1951-57" which was chosen on the way home from the beer festival, which probably explains the slight over-ambition!
Thomas Cook Rail Map of Europe.
Plus The Human League's "Travalogue" as I'm trying to catch up on all those LPs I should have bought in the '80s.

And some Irish linen sheets I'd ordered also turned up, so they felt like a birthday present to me, from me!

Although I was in work, I didn't do very much yesterday afternoon because Chris Evans and a sidekick were having a go on the Skeleton training track for some sporting challenge that they're doing on his radio show. So we decided to go over and "help out" despite neither of us actually being interested in Mr Evans or his antics (my colleague has spent most of her adult life outside the UK and had to have Mr Evans and his cultural significance explained). We took an auditor over there with us too, as he was just finishing up and decided that he didn't want to be locked in the office.

The producer (or maybe she was a representative of his agent*) was getting a bit skittish when we arrived - she didn't seem to have much of a sense of humour and what there was seemed to be exiting rapidly. So my colleague volunteered to watch the gate for 'intruders' and keep an eye on the local press photographers at the far end of the track. I baby-sat the auditor at the top of the track and kept him out of everyone's way, as they were filming the event for the radio show's website as well. This strategy was going quite well until Mr Evans found our hidey hole and insisted on shaking hands and asking how we were. I've got to say that I responded with grace and aplomb whilst the auditor went into, "I'm your biggest fan" mode. A short while later the stars were coming into the shed to change into their lycra suits ('sperm suits' one of our coaches calls them) at which point I decided that the auditor was big enough to fend for himself and I volunteered to relieve my colleague guarding the gate - middle aged men, commando under lycra are not my idea of a happy viewing experience.

Actually, she didn't want to be relieved 'cos she was having great fun chatting to the photographer and scribe from the Chron. and the photographer from a Sunday tabloid. It turned out to be quite a good vantage point as it's just where the bungee rope stops the sled from flying off the end of the track, and instead flicks it and its passenger back up the track. I've got to say that Mr Evans' face was a picture on the first practice run, not quite, 'Ooo, I'm enjoying this adrenaline rush as I hurtle toward the trees on a bit of plastic 2 inches above the concrete'. It was more the face of a man pondering how much stainage shows up on lycra and resolving to check his employment contract and medical insurance cover once he got back to London. If he got back to London. I bet they never asked Wogan to do this...

He looked far happier on subsequent runs and the Chron got some cracking shots - click here and search on 'chris evans'. Our photos are in the album over on the right. After the two stars had done their training runs and then their 2 final 'competition' runs, the crew were allowed to have one run each (not in lycra, but they did have crash helmets!). All of them were very quick and one of the lads was really good - there were a couple of half-jokes from us to him about whether he'd like to come to a talent id day. The auditor left early, shaking hands, waving and doing the thumbs up to Mr Evans as if he was his new best friend. Well, I suppose accountants don't get out much.

I've got to say that Chris Evans turned out to be a very nice chap. He even came over to us to say good-bye and when I asked if he'd enjoyed it said he had, but that he was a bit miffed that ALL the film crew had beaten both his and Jonny's times hands down! It's probably because all the crew had an average age of 12 and were probably 8 stone wet through. He'd come down to Bath in the van with the crew but him and Jonny were picked up by a helicopter for the return journey. The official video and photos are here.

So we had a lovely day sitting in the sunshine, chatting with some friendly journos and watching lunatics whizz by on sleds (I say 'lunatics' 'cos after the stories I've heard about the track there's no way you'd get me on that thing!). They were so lucky with the weather as it has hammered down all day today.

Jon and I left work early and went to the cinema to see Tom Ford's 'A Single Man' staring Colin Firth, which was brilliant. The attention to period detail was fantastic. Then a take-away Thai meal. All in all a very pleasant day.

*(I found it interesting to watch a video being made and how the 'star' is perceived through the people around him. For example the producer/agent told the scribe from the Chron. that "Mr Evans has refused all interviews, so he won't be speaking to you", although she would be allowed to stand behind the TV crew from the local BBC news when they asked their questions. But when the scribe went up there Chris said, "Do I talk to you first?" only to get a sharp 'NO!' from the producer/agent and get dragged off to see the TV crew. It's easy to see how stories of difficult celebs can get around when they've not actually done anything wrong.)

Lists

All blogs seem to have to have a list on them somewhere, so here's a list of books I've read in the last 12 months:

1. E H Gombrich "A Little History of the World"
2. J K Galbriath "The Great Crash: 1929"
3. Dorothy Hartley "Food in England" (re-read)
4. Roy Lewis "Evolution Man"
5. P J O'Rourke "Republican Party Reptile"
6. Agatha Christie "Death on the Nile" (re-read whilst cruising down the Nile)
7. Mark Twain "Innocents Abroad"
8. Terry Pratchett "Witches Abroad" (re-read)
9. J K Galbriath "The Affluent Society"
10.Terry Pratchett "Monstrous Regiment"
11.Harriet O'Brien "Queen Emma and the Vikings"
12.Bryan Magee "Clouds of Glory"
13.Terry Pratchett "Reaper Man"
14.Oliver James "The Selfish Capitalist"
15.Nigel Barley "Not a Hazardous Sport"
16.John O'Farrell "An Utterly Impartial History of Britain"
17.Terry Pratchett "Equal Rites"
18.Ben Goldacre "Bad Science"
19.Mark Twain "A Tramp Abroad"
20.Phil Thornton "Casuals" (re-read)
21.Terry Pratchett "Thud"
22.Bill Naughton "On the Pig's Back"
23.Colin MacInnes "Absolute Beginners"
24.Jack Rosenthal "By Jack Rosenthal"
25.Elizabeth von Arnim "Elizabeth and her German Garden"
26."The Best of Granta Travel [Writing]" re-read

Only 5 Pratchetts? Oh dear, must do better in the next 12 months!