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BOOKS
2020
- Crisis Four – Andy McNab
- 29/11/2020
- This felt familiar as I started it. Turns out I read it 3 years ago. By the time I was certain though I was half way through so figured I might as well continue. Lots of similarities with the Jack Reacher novels although a bit more British in approach. Might consider reading the rest of the series. I have the third one on the shelf.
- Adapt – Tim Harford
- 20/22/2020
- I like Tim Harford’s stuff. This was not the best but an interesting take on how it is good to fail in order to learn how to succeed.
- Personal – Lee Child
- 02/11/2020
- One of my least favourite JR books so far. Set in London so should have enjoyed it but the descriptions where he points out differences between UK and US feel forced and it just feels like a weaker story because of it
- Never Look Back – Lee Child
- 11/10/2020
- This is the one that got made into a film with Tom Cruise. The culmination of a 5 book arc, all action and very exciting as always. A bit of a rushed ending though I thought.
- What If? – Randall Munroe
- 01/10/2020
- Really enjoyable scientific take on some stupid questions
- Almost A Whale – Steve Jones
- 12/09/2020
- Rework of Darwin’s Origin of the Species. Got a bit bored halfway through as it repeats a lot throughout
- A Wanted Man – Lee Child
- 12/09/2020
- Yet another good book
- The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
- 31/08/2020
- Great story from Neil Gaiman. A boy is brought up by ghosts. Very strange concept
- The Affair – Lee Child
- 18/08/2020
- Takes Jack Reacher back to the start and the circumstances leading up to him leaving the army.
- Worth Dying For – Lee Child
- 61 Hours – Lee Child
- 03/08/2020
- Another great Jack Reacher book. One of the better ones I think.
- Dawn Of The Dumb – Charlie Brooker
- 20/07/2020
- Easy reading although some of the references are a bit old now as the book is about 15 years old
- Revival – Stephen King
- 03/07/2020
- I started of finding this a bit boring but enjoyed it much more than I expected once it got past the God squad stuff. A curious book, nowhere near as horror-y as his normal fayre.
- Battle Scars – James Fox
- 16/06/2020
- Another of the DS from SAS Who Dares Wins. Deals with fallout from war, PTSD and mental health challenges. Very interesting.
- The Fear Bubble – Ant Middleton
- Another good book from Ant. Deals with the challenge of scaling Everest and how to set yourself up for success
- Heroes – Stephen Fry
- 22/05/2020
- Follow up to Mythos, tells the stories of the heroes of Greek mythology like Jason, Heracles and Oedipus. Great book, an easy way to find out more on this subject. I am looking forward to his third book in this series which will cover the Trojan war.
- Desperation – Stephen King
- 05/05/2020
- Enjoyed this. Not read much Stephen King for a while. Starts out more thriller than horror prompting me to wonder where the line is. Then supernatural forces got involved and I figured that was definitely a hallmark of horror. More extreme violence being another I think.
- This Is Going To Hurt – Adam Kay
- 24/04/2020
- Funny, gross, fascinating, sad and depressing by the end. Really worth reading.
- Gone Tomorrow (Jack Reacher) – Lee Child
- 18/04/2020
- Another good Reacher novel.
- Alex’s Adventures in Numberland – Alex Bellos
- 01/04/2020
- I do like a bit of maths. Some very interesting stuff about history of maths in here. Mostly an easy read with some challenging parts
- Break Point – Matthew ‘Ollie’ Ollerton
- 25/02/2020
- Not as good as I’d hoped. Came across as a bit of a dick.
- The Everything Store – Brad Stone
- 16/02/2020
- Fascinating book about the growth of Amazon and Jeff Bezos running roughshod over anyone getting in his way. Shame it was written about 7 years ago so does not have the most recent stuff that has happened with the company
- Armageddon Rag – George RR Martin
2019
- Tuf Voyaging – George RR Martin
- 14/12/2019
- Really enjoyable Sci-fi novel. Very different to his Game of Thrones books
- The Chickens of Atlantis and Other Foul and Filthy Fiends – Robert Rankin
- Not Just A Tomboy – Caspar J. Baldwin
- What Next – Jim Al-Khalili and Others
- The Educated Ape And Other Wonders Of The Worlds – Robert Rankin
- Nothing To Lose – Lee Child
- Mythos – Stephen Fry
- Fire And Blood – George RR Martin
- Artemis – Andy Weir
- I Can Make You Hate – Charlie Brooker
- Bad Luck And Trouble – Lee Child
- The Hard Way – Lee Child
- A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms – George RR Martin
- One Shot – Lee Child
- Black Box Thinking – Matthew Syed
- The Enemy – Lee Child
- How To Build A Universe – Brian Cox and Robin Ince
2018
- Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine – Hannah Fry
- The Shepherd’s Crown – Terry Pratchett
- First Man In – Ant Middleton
- The Bazaar Of Bad Dreams – Stephen King
- How To Be Champion – Sarah Millican
- The Persuader – Lee Child
- The Mechanical Messiah And Other Marvels Of The Modern Age – Robert Rankin
- Fevre Dream – George RR Martin
- Without Fail – Lee Child
- Life On Film – David Attenborough
- Echo Burning – Lee Child
2017
- The Man In The High Castle – Phillip K Dick
- The Visitor – Lee Child
- Tripwire – Lee Child
- The World Of Ice And Fire: The Untold History Of Westeros And The Game Of Thrones – George R.R. Martin, Elio M. Garcia Jr., Linda Antonsson
- Cell – Stephen King
- Arrival – Ted Chiang
- American Gods – Neil Gaiman
- Die Trying – Lee Child
- Killing Floor – Lee Child
- Crisis Four – Andy McNab
- Remote Control – Andy McNab
- Screen Burn – Charlie Brooker
2016
- Legacy – Greg Bear
- Sense And Sensibility And Sea Monsters
- Professor Ian Stewarts Cabinet Of Mathematical Curiosities – Ian Stewart
- The Girl In The Spider’s Web – David Lagercrantz
- The Japanese Devil-Fish Woman – Robert Rankin
- Persuasion
- Juliet Naked – Nick Hornby
- Congo – Michael Chrichton
- The Big Bang – Simon Singh
2015
- The Hell Of It All – Charlie Brooker
- 04 October 2015
- A collection of newspaper articles from the irascible Charlie Brooker. Hilarious at times and very biting.
- Undercover Economist – Tim Harford
- 27 September 2015
- Tim writes about economics in a really accessible way and this educates as to why coffee shops charge as much as they do as well as other concepts of high street charging and why business is the way it is.
- Terry Pratchett – raising steam
- 21 August 2015
- Almost the last book written before Sir Terry sadly passed away. As good as always.
- The Secret Footballer
- 13 July 2015
- Very interesting insight into what it is like to be a premiership footballer. Written anonymously so that he can be honest, this really opens your eyes to a different world.
- The Dark Net – Jamie Bartlett
- 06 July 2015
- This book lifts the lid on the 90% of the internet that you won’t find through a standard Google search, including drugs, porn and criminal hacking.
- Darwin’s Radio – Greg Bear
- 14 June 2015
- This is a pretty heavy going Biology based book. It is about a long-dormant virus in the genome that starts to reappear. There is a lot of complicated science in it which I found quite tough and surprising to read in a popular novel. Additionally, I didn’t think it flowed very well and jumped in time on occasions which made for weird reading. Also, the ending was a little muted and inconclusive in my mind.
I still enjoyed the book mostly and generally like Greg Bear’s stuff. Eon was one of my favourite books as a teenager. However, this is not for everyone. Irritatingly, I got to the end only to find a Biology primer in the back. That would have been useful to know earlier.
- Jeeves In The Offing – PG Wodehouse
- 25 April 2015
- I do like a bit of Jeeves and Wooster. I particularly enjoyed Fry and Laurie’s TV version from many years ago. I have read a few of the books and enjoyed their silliness and this one is no different.
- Googlewhack Adventure – Dave Gorman
- 10 April 2015
- Ah, Dave Gorman, you truly are a very silly man. I have enjoyed his previous books of silliness (Are you Dave Gorman for example) and seen him live and enjoyed his radio show and TV show but don’t think this is his strongest entry. I picked it up cheap at a work clear-out so no loss for me. Straight to the charity shop I think.
- The Redbreast – Jo Nesbo
- 18 March 2015
- I got this for Christmas a year or two back as I had previously read and enjoyed the Stieg Larsson books and Jo Nesbo is hailed as being the next Stieg Larsson. It is primarily a murder mystery/detective novel with Harry Hole being the main protagonist. There are many Harry Hole novels and I understand it does not really matter which order you read them. I found it pretty standard but not bad as a novel. I will consider reading more Jo Nesbo stuff but not quite at the top of the list at the moment.
- The Algebraist – Iain M Banks
- 16 February 2015
- This is a proper hardcore science fiction book and had me struggling in places. New worlds and unusual beings, wormholes and lots of made up words. It took a bit of getting used to but I enjoyed it in the end. Well worth a read if you like sci-fi.
2014
- Freakanomics
- 12 December 2014
- Very interesting look at how statistical analysis tools can be used to find trends in all kind of data. For example it shows how the legalisation of abortion in the US 20 or 30 years ago was the most likely cause of the drop in crime in recent years.
Some very interesting articles but the the book is quite bitty in places and does not have a consistent narrative.
- What You See Is What You Get – Alan Sugar
- 18 November 2014
- Let’s be honest, “sralan” does not come across as the nicest person in general and this autobiography will not help either. It is very interesting to read about his rise to riches but he does also come across as very arrogant in places. Some times that is fine as it is perfectly justified but at others he just sounds like a dick.
Good book though, very interesting.
- Necrophenia – Robert Rankin
- 14 September 2014
- Ah Robert Rankin, you are truly a very silly man. Not one of his best but I still enjoy the running in-jokes. It seems that sometimes they are a tradition. Or an old charter. Or something. The thing I have disliked recently about his books are the general unlikeability of his main characters. They are generally so dumb that they get messed about all the time but you don’t tend to feel any sympathy for them as they seem to bring it on themselves.
- Terra – Mitch Benn
- Date?
- I took this book on holiday with me when we went to Portugal recently and it was a very enjoyable read meaning it did not last long enough. Mitch Benn is a comedian who often appears on the Now Show on Radio 4 and this is his first novel. It is a very enjoyable science fiction comedy that I think is suited to younger readers. I hope he writes more.
- The Simpsons And Their Mathematical Secrets – Simon Singh
- Date?
- My friend Matt kindly invited me to his office recently where Simon was giving a lecture based upon his book. I had already received it last Christmas but not yet read it so now seemed like a good time. As a fan of both The Simpsons and Maths, I really enjoyed the book and understood most of the references. A very lighthearted book that doesn’t insist on any prior knowledge of mathematical concepts although it definitely helps.
- The Last Casebook Of Sherlock Holmes
- Date?
- The final Sherlock Holmes book and it finds him semi-retired by the sea. I have enjoyed the books in general but am not as impressed as I thought I would be. I felt there were far too many short stories and not enough longer form stories which meant the characterisation was sometimes lacking.The deductions were sometimes far too fanciful too.
- The Bedside Book Of Algebra
- 07 May 2014
- OK, I confess, I am a maths geek. This book was very interesting even if you are not that big on maths. It gives a slight potted history of maths through the years from Greek through Indian, Muslim and European influences. It starts off very basic but some of the harder concepts are rushed through a little quickly.
- The Valley Of Fear – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Back to the Sherlock Holmes books. This one better in my opinion than the compilation books. I prefer the long form stories that give the characters time to develop and don’t just jump to the solution which appears to happen a lot in the other books. That said, this is a strange one as it is kind of a book of two halves. Firstly you get the standard Holmes and Watson adventure solving a crime and this is very interesting. Then you get a second part looking into the back story of the criminal. This is still interesting but a very different style and so seems completely out of place. Very odd indeed.
- Silverfin – Charlie Higson
- This is the first of the young James Bond novels that Charlie Higson has been writing. They are targeted at a teen audience and I thought Katie might enjoy them so we got this out of the library and I thought I would check it out first to see if it was suitable.
Quite interesting so far but starts off with a scene which might be a bit distressing for younger readers. However, since Katie has already read and watched Lord of the Rings, I am sure she will be OK.
2013
- The Magic Of Reality – Richard Dawkins
- My first Richard Dawkins book. Both a truth and also what could be written on the blurb. Aimed at teenagers this explains all kinds of science concepts that people used to think were magic and some people still attribute to God. A fascinating insight in to subjects including cosmology, earthquakes, rainbows etc. Some of the explanations border on tricky for younger readers but most of it is very straightforwardly explained.
- The Return of Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle
- And so, Holmes returns with more short stories.
- Mostly Harmless – Douglas Adams
- The Hound Of The Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle
- A longer Holmes book this one which is much more enjoyable as it gives the chance to appreciate the characters a bit more. That said, I found the result a little disappointing in the end.
- So Long And Thanks For All The Fish – Douglas Adams
- Life, The Universe And Everything – Douglas Adams
- The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe – Douglas Adams
- The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy – Douglas Adams
- I decided it was about time I re-read the Hitch Hiker books. Some of my favourite books of all time but it has been many years since I last read them. The first is still the best I think.
- The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle
- Another set of short stories. Most are enjoyable but again, the leaps of intuition are a little ridiculous at times.
- The Fry Chronicles – Stephen Fry
- By his own admission, this makes pompous reading at times. As much as I like Stephen Fry, he was a bit of a tit when younger and really backs up the commonly held view that Oxbridge students are stuck up twats. That said, you can’t really cater for what you were like when younger, everyone had times when they were a lesser person than they are now. The book made for interesting reading and went into quite a lot of detail of how he got to where he is. It was interesting to understand the stuff he did before A Bit Of Fry And Laurie which was my first exposure to him.
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle
- A number of short stories and the mysteries are certainly not as good or involved as in the first two books. Sometimes it gets a bit irritating the way SH is able to jump to ridiculous feats of intuition and you feel the cases would never hold up in court these days with the overwhelming lack of evidence. Nevertheless, still an enjoyable book.
- Snuff – Terry Pratchett
- Another great TP book. This time centring on the live of Commander Sam Vimes of the City Watch. He was not one of my favourite characters in the early books about him but I enjoyed the tribulations of including non-human characters into the city watch in later books. This one takes it even further introducing goblins and touches upon issues of class, slavery. Sounds like a lot of heavy subjects for a TP book but not really. He treats them with his customary light touch and this book is very funny.
- Sign Of The Four – Arthur Conan Doyle
- A very curious short story this. Amusing like the first one but strange conclusion reached really. Nevertheless an enjoyable read.
- The Psychopath Test – Jon Ronson
- My good friend Matt lent me this book as it was one I had been looking to read. I am also interested in his Men Who Stare At Goats book. The cases Jon puts forward are a fascinating insight into the minds of psychopaths but I found the first half of the book fairly slow moving. It was not really until the second half that it got more interesting. I also expected a bit more a of a parallel to be drawn with high powered CEOs but that part was fairly short really and I didn’t feel as though he really drew much of a strong conclusion in the end.
- A Study In Scarlet – Arthur Conan Doyle
- I got the Sherlock Holmes collection last Christmas and it is one of those sets of books that I feel I should have read a long time ago. People often rave about them. Having watched the excellent BBC version on TV recently with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman I found myself picturing them in the roles even though the BBC version is set in recent times. I found this book very enjoyable although the elementary deductions from Holmes do seem a bit fantastical at times. His summaries based on dust on a cuff and such like are interesting but you can’t see them standing up in a court of law these days.
- Unseen Academicals – Terry Pratchett
- This one was sitting on my bookshelf since last Christmas as I have spent most of the year reading Game Of Thrones. I have always enjoyed TP’s books but think they went off the boil for a while although the last few have been much better again. I actually think this is one of the better books as it made me laugh out loud much more then previous works.
- The Da-Da-De-Da-Da Code – Robert Rankin
- I like Robert Rankin’s books very much. He is unashamedly silly and there are lots of in-jokes if you have read his previous books. Each one is usually a take on something in recent culture twisted to a ridiculous level.
- Game of Thrones – George R R Martin
- I’ve just finished book 6 of Game of Thrones. These books are simply excellent. It sometimes seems as though you are 200 pages in and nothing has happened. Each chapter centres on one of the main characters and there are so many that it can be difficult to keep up but they have so much detail and are completely gripping.
2012
- The Da-Da-De-Da-Da Code – Robert Rankin
- Game of Thrones 5 – George RR Martin
- Game of Thrones 4 – George RR Martin
- Game of Thrones 3 – George RR Martin
- Game of Thrones 2 – George RR Martin
- Game of Thrones 1 – George RR Martin
- Bonfire Of The Vanities – Unknown
Not sure what happened between 2007 and 2011
2006
- Kness Up Mother Earth – Robert Rankin
- Search Engines – Unknown
- The Tin Princess – Phillip Pullman
- Tiger In The Well – Phillip Pullman
- Shadow In The North – Phillip Pullman
- Ruby In The Smoke – Phillip Pullman
- American Psycho – Brett Easton Ellis
- Going Postal – Terry Pratchett
- Ghosts Of Sleath – James Herbert
- The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Eifenegger
- The Secret History – Donna Tartt
- The Family Way – Tony Parsons
- The Whaleboat House – Mark Mills
2005
- Galilee – Clive Barker
- Short History – Bill Bryson
- Past Mortem – Ben Elton
- HP 6 – JK Rowling
- HP 5 – JK Rowling
- HP 4 – JK Rowling
- HP 3 – JK Rowling
- HP 2 – JK Rowling
- HP 1 – JK Rowling
- Walls Of Silence – Philip Jolowicz
- Ye Gods – Tom Holt
- Expecting Someone Taller – Tom Holt
- Vernon God Little – DBC Pierre
- Overtaken – Alexei Sayle
- The Frumious Bandersnatch – Ed McBain
- Second Angel – Phillip Kerr
- Wilt In Nowhere – Tom Sharpe
- The Predator – Michael Ridpath
- Saturn – Ben Bova
- Sick Puppy – Karl Hiaassen
- His And Hers – Mike Gayle
- Skipping Christmas – John Grisham
- Monstrous Regiment – Terry Pratchett
- Enders Game – Orson Scott Card
- Time Out Of Joint – Phillip K Dick
- A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
- Dog Listener. A Practical Guide – Jan Fennell
2004
- Psychlone – Greg Bear
- Swallows And Amazons – Arthur Ransome
- Toast – Nigel Slater
- Lawnmower Celebrity – Ben Hatch
- Snap – Mark Powell
- The Godfather – Owen Whittaker
- Notes From A Big Country – Bill Bryson
- Solar Lottery – Phillip K Dick
- Join Me – Danny Wallace
- The Amber Spyglass – Phillip Pullman
- The Subtle Knife – Phillip Pullman
- Northern Lights – Phillip Pullman
- Father Frank – Paul Burke
- Notes From a Small Country – Bill Bryson
- While The Sun Shines – John Harding
- The Black House – Stephen King & Peter Straub
- The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime – Mark Haddon
- Hollow Chocolate Bunnies Of The Apocalypse – Robert Rankin
- The Cloud Garden – Tom Hat Dyke & Paul Wilder
- Man And Wife – Tony Parsons
- Whatever Love Means – David Baddeil
- An Ice Cream War – William Boyd
- To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
- Nightwatch – Terry Pratchett
- Insomnia – Stephen King
- Catcher In The Rye – JD Salinger
- Lullaby – Chuck Palahniuk
- High Society – Ben Elton
- The Last Day – Glenn Keier