Reading List

A bit of a diversion from my normal entries, but I just thought I might share my reading list. Frankly I never read anything except when I am on holiday. So this is what I got through. I like a bit of variety!

Red Carpets and other Banana Skins by Rupert Everett
Mr Everett's autobiography. A great bit of name dropping. Madonna is amongst his friends. Perhaps the most revelatory thing was just how many Hollywood folk were gay (like Mr Everett of course.) An entertaining read.

A History of Private Life by Bill Bryson.
Probably the most enjoyable thing I read on holiday, which is not unexpected as I love Bill Bryson's books. This lengthy tome has travelled around the world with me a few times now, but I finally got round to reading it. Its a history of domestic life, what we have been eating, what bathrooms are like, attitudes to cleanliness etc. All with Mr Bryson's usual combination of good humour and fascinating facts. Its a bit like reading an episode of QI at times. But as with everything he writes, and easy read and an amusing one.

The Prisoner List by Richard Kandler
This was written by a fellow pension lawyer. Its the story of his father's war in Japan, being held as a prisoner building the railway line to Burma. Its quite harrowing, not least in its simple style. But it has given me a better view of what happened than all the films I have seen. Substance over style for a change.

The Boys are Back by Simon Carr
This was a sort of autobiography. An odd book, about this chap whose wife died of cancer leaving him with two boys to bring up. A bit patchy. Between story and child rearing manual. (Apparently made into a film, but that passed me by.)

Life & Laughing by Michael McIntyre
Michael McIntyre's autobiography. A very enjoyable read, much more of a conventional autobiography than Rupert Everett's which is more gossipy and episodic. The difficult bit with this story is working out how someone who has been so successful struggled for some time to make it big. And then a meteoric rise. But funny.

Travels in England in 1782 by CP Moritz
these are the travel diaries of a Prussian in England, long before package holidays. Certainly an odd read. Would have been easier if he wasn't so effusively pro-English. But an interesting insight into 18th century life. Especially the unwelcoming attitude of English inn-owners. Worse than any Blackpool landlady. But the other odd thing was the number of attractions in London that still exist over 200 years later. But I did appreciate especially the descriptions of two that have long disappeared, Ranelagh and Victoria Gardens.

A Young Man's Passage by Julian Clary.
A third autobiography, this time of Julian Clary. Interesting for me as I saw him before he became at all well known, when he was doing cabaret as Joan Collins Fan-Club with Fanny the Wonder Dog - his mongrel. Again intriguing to see how someone makes it upwards in showbiz. One thing that marks out both him and Rupert Everett is just the sheer amount of people (ok, mostly men) in their lives. People seem to come and go much faster than my friends.

Doodlebugs, Gas Masks & Bubblegum by Christina Rex
This is a collection of memories from folk of their childhood experiences of the War. Just a different angle on war - the deprivation, evacuation, fear of bombing, etc. Could have done with more overseas contributors to balance the English.

The Renaissance in Venice by Patricia Fortini Brown
This is an art history book. It didn't quite work for me. It took the period and then tried to work through themes, the City, Trade, the Church, the Nobility, Family life. It would probably have read better if it just analysed a series of great Venetian paintings, or was just a history of the period. Marrying Art and History is a little tricky.

Adapt by Tim Harford
This is a book on economics, and after the Bill Bryson the best thing I read. The principle thesis is that to succeed one needs to expect a lot of failure, or perhaps to put it better, a lot of experimentation out of which sometimes only a few things come off. Very convincing. Check out anything written by Tim Harford.

Notes from an Exhibition by Patricia Gayle
A novel with a clever twist. It follows the death of an artist and the consequences for her adult family. One of the children finds that his dad isn't his dad after all. Each chapter starts with a reference to an artwork from a retrospective exhibition of her works. Clever, if not exactly all action.