Category: Books

Well I did promise myself that I’d read more, or indeed all, of Graham Greene’s oeuvre this year. Stamboul Train is one his earlier works – 1932 off the top of my head – and takes an interesting third person stance, following the fortunes of a number of passengers aboard the Orient Express. Not quite…

The latest in the Kurt Wallender series by Henning Mankell was recently published in English in the UK, and I love these books. The trouble is that I came to them late, and was able to lap them up until now. They were published out of sequence, but we’re back on track, but sadly some…

I promised recently that I was going to read more Graham Greene, so this was the obvious next title. Obvious, because I managed to not get around to reading it before visiting Cuba last year. Reading it, I found it very familiar but from long enough ago, that I’d forgotten the ending. Later, on returning…

I bought this on a total whim a while ago, and my recent few days in a wet and soggy Cote D’Azur afforded me a chance to read it. Haruki Murakami seems to be quite a popular author in Japan, and on this reading, I’m going to have to investigate some of his other work…

I finished the Graham Greene novel the other day, and immediately promised myself that I’d read much more Greene in 2003. Obviously it’s an excellent work, and I was pleased to see just how closely the recent film adhered to the novel. Certainly there were contractions and fewer characters but overall it was a very…

Kim Philby died some years ago, but fortunately, his autobiography has just been republished in the States. (A quick note that I ordered this book from Amazon.com in the States some months ago before it had been published. Once it had been published, it shows up on Amazon.co.uk at a significantly cheaper price – particularly…

John Sergeant’s autobiography is a thoroughly entertaining read, taking us on a whistlestop tour of his journalistic career, and his early start in comedy. Sergeant’s career has taken him over the place, and he tells his story with humour and honesty. You can get some idea of the internal struggles he has as he tries…

Well I could not have timed reading this book any better than I have. Written by William Rivers Pitt and based on an interview with former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter, this short booklet is about as well timed as it could possibly be. The interview that forms the heart of the book was given…

I read Stella Rimmington’s book a couple of weeks ago, and must say that I’m a little disappointed by it. I don’t think it’s the best written book that I’ve ever read, and somehow it doesn’t really deliver. I know we were never going to get lots of operational detail, but something a little more…

I’m a bit of an Iain Banks fan, although strangely, I’ve never read any of his SF stuff. I say “strangely” because I don’t mind a few science fictions books here and there. Oh well – there’ll be plenty for me to read at some point. Anyway, back to the present and Dead Air. I…

Well I’ve finished the first book on my list of yesterday. I did start it last week however – I wouldn’t have ordinarily been able to get through 440 pages within 24 hours without devoting a lot of time to it. As it was, in typical fashion, I was left with ten pages to go…

Autumn arrives, and a flurry of books to read. So here’s what are upcoming on my “to read” list. 1. White Teeth – making sure I read it before the Channel 4 series starts next week (it’s been on my bookshelf for about a year). 2. Dead Air – Always got to read the latest…