Book Club

Quoted from pilgrim

hi everyone, I am new hear. Just thought I would say hello and tell you about some books I have read.
I enjoy most types of books. From Stephen Leather to James herbert. I enjoy some good horror right through to action and spy books. Often I will check books that others recommend, such as Harlan Colburn, someone who was selling some of his books. I got some and am enjoying them. With nothing better to do for the last two years, I decided to have a go at writing a book myself. Being very poor at English, (didn't bother too much with school) I managed to put something together but am now at the stage where I need someone to come alongside who would be prepared to edit and sort out all that other stuff out that most people take for granted. So if any of you out there is an ex English teacher or other people clever at this English stuff and would like to help me achieve my goal I would love to hear from you. (I have used online spell checkers but my grammar is pants) Thank you for reading this long post, (almost a book in itself)

Best of luck

Quoted from Sandford1981

Brung Up Proper
Jason Mandford

Another listen on audible that I’ve really enjoyed. Another comedian’s autobiography but there’s just something about them that appeals to me.
A good performance from the man himself on narration and he tells some great stories that had me chuckling along at regular intervals.
Covers childhood through university and the infancy of his comedy career so plenty still to come in future books no doubt.

My favourite Jason Manford story is about when his dad used to take him and his brothers to Man City. His dad said to them if get a bit passionate during the football and swear a bit that’s ok I won’t tell your mum. They were all quiet during the first half until at half time his brother turned to his dad and said ‘can I have fuck1ng chocolate bar now.’

Quoted from Vance Warner

My favourite Jason Manford story is about when his dad used to take him and his brothers to Man City. His dad said to them if get a bit passionate during the football and swear a bit that’s ok I won’t tell your mum. They were all quiet during the first half until at half time his brother turned to his dad and said ‘can I have fuck1ng chocolate bar now.’

Brilliant!

He describes in the book how he spent a lot of time with his Dad as a kid. His old man was labour and the unions through and through.
As such he would be taken on Rallies and marches in which he’d hear and see some things way beyond his years. It was customary for them to flick the Vs to the big flash and sleek black mayoral car as it went past when they were out and about, as this was a symbol of excess and power. This happened a lot when he was out on these organised trips and he loved him, his dad and his mates ‘sticking it to the man!’.
He tells the story that it was meant to be something that just happened with his Dad. However, one day he was out and about walking with his mum and he saw the mayor in his car.
Almost on instinct he stood at the kerbside and happily stuck his fingers up as not one but several mayoral cars go by. The occupants looking dumbfounded as this young kid gave them 2 fingers.
Suddenly his mum gives him an almighty clout round the back of his head and gives him a dressing down of epic proportions in the street.
The cars were not the mayor at all but a funeral procession on the way to bury a loved one!

Little me
Matt Lucas

Firstly I was never a big fan of Little Britain so on the surface this book wasn’t an obvious choice. I did however, love shooting stars but his work on the bake off peaked my interest in him.
We watch bake off with the kids and I laugh a lot at him and fielding. He comes across as a warm and thoroughly decent bloke.

This comes across in his book and his performance of it as you might expect is brilliant. He seems very humble and speaks with candour across many subjects including the death of the love of his life which was particularly touching.

I’ve listened to many of these types of books but when he signed off at the end I felt a tinge of sadness. Weird! It was almost as if a mate had be yarning to me for 10 hours and it was time for them to go. I suppose that’s in his performance. Excellent all round!

And Away
Bob Mortimer

Another audible listen of a British comedy legend and sure I need to listen to something different sooner rather than later.

The book starts in 2015 but flits back and forth from adulthood to childhood. This is not done in a poncy or jarring way and flows really well.

The thing that struck me from very early on was Bobs humility and down to earth nature. Instantly he had me hooked and I found myself admiring his effortless likeability.

Before this book my biggest connection with him was Shooting Stars and various appearances on panel shows. I will definitely be visiting his early material and shows such as house of fools and also gone fishing with Paul Whitehouse.

The best bits of the book are the tales he shares from school with his mates and some had me belly laughing. Look out for a rib he tells of when him and Mark Lemar bumped into Brad Pitt. Small in the context of his life and book but amused me greatly.

I can’t recommend this book enough and I think it’s up there with favourite to date.

Another Kind Of Eden.
James Lee Burke.

Big fan of Burke and his tales set mainly in the South and West of America and mostly in the past, which is understandable as he's in his 80's now and has been publishing books since the early 60's.

Most of his books are on a theme of the underclass or underdog fighting against power, wealth and evil doers. A good proportion of them centre around the character Robicheaux, who is a sometime detective, sometime private eye, who likes to fight for the underdog.

Another Kind Of Eden however, has a central character named Aaron Holland Brussard, an itinerant drifter and farm hand who rides the open boxcars on trains from place to place and is also an aspiring writer. He gets involved in a dispute which leads down some dark and mythical avenues, which I found a little jarring myself compared to his usual tales, but it was very enjoyable all the same.

I love his writing style when read from the page, but a lot of his books have been narrated by the actor Will Patton, who absolutely brings them to life with his Southern drawl and characterization. Good narration can make an average book enjoyable and bad narration can make a good book stilted and boring. Patton is a fantastic narrator of Burke and I always enjoy them immensely.

Quoted from Sandford1981

And Away
Bob Mortimer

Another audible listen of a British comedy legend and sure I need to listen to something different sooner rather than later.

The book starts in 2015 but flits back and forth from adulthood to childhood. This is not done in a poncy or jarring way and flows really well.

The thing that struck me from very early on was Bobs humility and down to earth nature. Instantly he had me hooked and I found myself admiring his effortless likeability.

Before this book my biggest connection with him was Shooting Stars and various appearances on panel shows. I will definitely be visiting his early material and shows such as house of fools and also gone fishing with Paul Whitehouse.

The best bits of the book are the tales he shares from school with his mates and some had me belly laughing. Look out for a rib he tells of when him and Mark Lemar bumped into Brad Pitt. Small in the context of his life and book but amused me greatly.

I can’t recommend this book enough and I think it’s up there with favourite to date.

I know it gets banded around a lot but Bob Mortimer is a genuine national treasure. Gone Fishing is absolute sublime telly. Just Bob talking about his day to day life has me in stitches. If you have spotify or any of the podcast providers I'd wholeheartedly recommend typing his name in and just listen to them all. His appearance on 'Off Menu' is brilliant. Also there's an ongoing YouTube video of his appearances on Would I Lie To You which is top, despite the sheer bonkersness of his stories they're pretty much always the truth.

Quoted from Manchester Mariner

I know it gets banded around a lot but Bob Mortimer is a genuine national treasure. Gone Fishing is absolute sublime telly. Just Bob talking about his day to day life has me in stitches. If you have spotify or any of the podcast providers I'd wholeheartedly recommend typing his name in and just listen to them all. His appearance on 'Off Menu' is brilliant. Also there's an ongoing YouTube video of his appearances on Would I Lie To You which is top, despite the sheer bonkersness of his stories they're pretty much always the truth.

Nice one-Cheers! I do have Spotify so I will get on those recommendations this week. I’ve seen a few of his appearances on WILTY and they’re always the highlight. Incidentally the best I’ve seen on there was the Jason Watkins one.

Always liked Ant Middleton due to the way he came across on the TV program SAS who dares wins and thought I give him a listen on audible. Incidentally love this app eg like the way it's sometimes read by the author. The sleep function is also a bonus.

First man in by Ant Middleton. Read by Ant Middleton.

Heard this on audible and really liked it. Interesting how when he first joined the military he states was a young,nice ,naive 17 year old but after time in the paratroopers became moulded by the macho,laddish and often thuggish way of things eg starting on people in the pub as a pack, heavy drinking with some crazy initiation eg diving on glass naked on a pub floor , peeing on buses etc etc  . In contrast he spent time with personal of the French foreign legion where  he states were much different and way more civilized and nice. Likewise other units in the British military were more professional as well eg Royal  Marines which he later  joined and  was based on building you up according to your strengths and not knowing your place regardless of physical ability as it was in the paras.

I also note he was close to finishing his training as a met police officer (respect)but got kicked out due to drink driving in part due to a lot of history and pent up anger he was dealing with in his past .

I'll leap in with a few recent favourites across the genres:

The Longest Kill by Craig Harrison - interesting and brutally honest account of a modern day sniper, his feats on the battlefield and also his later issues off it.

The Byrne Identity by Lee Byrne - As a Llanelli Scarlets fan I found it fascinating, if you're not into rugby it may not be for you however it certainly doesn't follow the bland, copy/paste feeling I get from most sports autobiographies and he names names, talks about off-field incidents with detail, the wheeling and dealing of clubs and his gambling addiction with the honesty of a man who isn't trying to protect his punditry job......here's looking at you Sam Warburton and Brian O'Driscoll.

Witchfinders by Malcolm Gaskill - quite an involved one this, a history book all about Hopkins and Stearne's witch hunts in the english civil war.  I normally read quite fast and this was slow going, but thoroughly interesting.

Have also just ordered the 'miracle of castel di sangro' - thanks for the recommnedation!