The Patrick Hamilton Appreciation Society discussion

This is a thread for you to post a review of the last book you read.

You might post a one liner, or you might post an essay.

The book might be Hamilton-esque, or it might be in stark contrast.

What have you just read? How was it? To what extent would you recommend it?

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My review of Murder in Mind. I do recommend it. It's a quick read so if you hate it, it's over in a jiffy anyway. It's about a guy in late 1940s London who has amnesia and is convinced he has murdered someone.

The book sort of felt like the offspring of Hangover Square and What's Become of Waring, if those books had sex. And if both parents were slightly more intelligent than their child.

Lobstergirl wrote: "My review of Murder in Mind. I do recommend it."

That's a great review Lobstergirl. Thanks. I will seek it out.

....Harry Sinton is a murderer. He knows it.

FYI it also goes by the name Fantasy and Fugue....I think that was the original title. I know Penguin published it at some point.

OK, some very brief reviews:

A Tale for the Time Being
Suicidal tendencies in Japan and literary lethargy in Canada wrapped in Buddhist thought experiments and a misunderstood Quantum theory one. (3 stars: not as profound as it thinks it is.)

Baba Yaga Laid an Egg
Stories of women ageing and a dissertation on a Central European myth by a well respected author as part of the Canongate Myth series. (4 stars: a bit too much dissertation.)

Operation Mincemeat: The True Spy Story That Changed The Course Of World War II
Very detailed recounting of a true story about a deception in WWII. (4 stars: a bit too much detail for me.)

In the process of reading Our Mutual Friend by Dickens, and if anything, it's ur-form Hamiltonian, a forerunner ... Large ensemble cast, class conflict and a kind of breakdown in the prevailing order of the day. Humor, and tragedy too. Add the gritty London location detail and we're off...

Lobstergirl wrote: "FYI Murder in Mind also goes by the name Fantasy and Fugue....I think that was the original title. I know Penguin published it at some point."

I'm very keen to give Roy Fuller a go. Seems to be a poet by the same name - are they one and the same? His books seem to be out of print based on my somewhat cursory research.

Thanks again Lobstergirl.

Val wrote: "OK, some very brief reviews"

A Tale for the Time Being - the premise sounds great, shame about the lack of profundity.

Baba Yaga Laid an Egg - eclectic is your middle name Val. "Baba Yaga is an old hag who lives in a house built on chicken legs and kidnaps small children. She is one of the most pervasive and powerful creatures in all mythology." "But what does she have to do with a writer's journey to Bulgaria in 2007 on behalf of her mother?" Another great premise.

Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory - ah yes. One I've read too, as you know. My own review here. A four star review for me too. Not as good as Ben Macintyre's, (the same author) Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal, but still an interesting and worthwhile read.

J. wrote: "In the process of reading Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens"

Not sure why I've read so little Charles Dickens because I've enjoyed all the books I've read by him. Perhaps because I'm so familiar with the stories through various adaptations.

J. wrote: "...if anything, it's ur-form Hamiltonian, a forerunner ... Large ensemble cast, class conflict and a kind of breakdown in the prevailing order of the day. Humor, and tragedy too. Add the gritty London location detail and we're off... "

Sold. What a wonderful summary J. I'd be very interested in your thoughts when you finish Our Mutual Friend.

Did you know that Patrick Hamilton adored Dickens and owned a complete set of his works?

There's a lineage of great London writers that could go something like Charles Dickens, George Gissing, Patrick Hamilton, Colin MacInnes, Harold Pinter and Martin Amis (other examples are available).

After WWII a few women writers got in on the act:
Up the Junction by Nell Dunn
The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
Georgy Girl by Margaret Forster
Before and during the war, most of the women writing about London tended to stick within the upper and middle class, although this authors characters are usually broke:
The Girls of Slender Means and A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark

Val wrote: "After WWII a few women writers got in on the act"

Very good point. I've not read any of those books, and need to put that right. I had The L-Shaped Room out of the library however someone reserved it before I got to read it.

I have The Lonely Londoners out of the library and plan to read that very soon - for a perspective from the newly arrived Londoner (and one of your recommendations if I remember rightly Val).

The Singer by Cathi Unsworth



I have just finished The Singer by Cathi Unsworth

David Peace, on the back cover, describes The Singer as "the Great Punk Novel". As a man who is passionate about music, and lived through, and loved, the punk era, this augured very well.

The book is firmly based within the UK punk, and post-punk eras, so plenty of real bands and songs feature in the story. Part of the fun of the book, for those steeped in the musical history of the era, is trying to work out who Cathi Unsworth modelled some of the fictional characters and bands on. For example there's a photographer who appears to be a combination of Kevin Cummings and Anton Corbijn, and one of the main bands draws heavily on 1980s indie favourites The Cocteau Twins, whilst another has elements of The Birthday Party, amongst others.

At first The Singer felt enjoyable if a little hackneyed, however as the story progressed, flipping between the early 2000s and the late 1970s/early 1980s, it became progressively more compelling, and by the end I was racing through the book's 450 pages keen to find out how it all ended.

A strength of the book is the range of diverse and distinctive characters, all of whom, to one degree or another are looking back at the past, many damaged by their personal histories, and bringing their own interpretation of what happened and why.

Cathi Unsworth evokes the punk era very powerfully and also convincingly places the tale in a range of places which include Camden, Portobello Road, Little Venice, Stoke Newington, Pigalle, Montmartre, and Bairro Alto. I know all of these places and she does a great job of describing each location.

Ultimately The Singer is a genre piece, and part of the grand tradition of crime fiction, although that said the book's conclusion owes more to gothic horror. Cathi Unsworth's dark tale convincingly evokes the punk era (and early 2000s) via an exciting, original and unexpected story.

After I'd finished I reflected on some of the more implausible aspects of the story, and how some of the writing felt rushed, but to dwell on that is to downplay the book's many strengths. This was a great read, my first book by Cathi Unsworth, and not my last. I will be reading more very soon. 4/5

Thanks to GoodReads hombre Mark for another interesting recommendation (here at TPHAS).

The Lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon would have been one of mine. There have been lots of books about the immigrant experience in London since that one, but it is still up there among the very best of them (in my opinion).

Nigeyb wrote: "the premise sounds great, shame about the lack of profundity."

I suppose A Tale for the Time Being is intellectually stimulating to anyone who has not indulged in thought experiments of the kind she uses: time is a series of tiny moments and also all time at once, up and down or dead and alive are the same and different, or Shrodinger's cat is (mathematically) both alive and dead until you open the box and look. I don't think [auth:Ruth Ozeki|7825] really goes anywhere with those thoughts though, they are raised but not explored. I kept thinking "and so...?", but she had moved on to something else.
I also think she rather misses the point of Shrodinger's. The cat is alive or dead depending on whether a random event (usually triggered by the decay of a single radioactive atom) has occurred or not. This is not the same as a series of circumstances, as these could be measured or calculated or affected from outside the box. The event must be random, unmeasurable and completely inside the box, and in addition the probability of it occurring or not must be the same. If this is expressed as a mathematical equation (as Shrodinger's wave equation does for the position of an electron) then both answers are equally true. When the box is opened one answer is shown to be true and the other false. (When the electron is detected it is shown to have been 'here' and not 'there'; the wave function is said to collapse because the answers are not equally true, which is mathematical nonsense.)
Perhaps a better, non-mathematical way of expressing it is that when you have the answer, you no longer have the question.
One way of resolving the mathematical paradox of Shrodinger's cat in a box is to imagine that the alternative outcome, the other equally true answer, exists in another universe. If you open the box and the cat is alive an alternative universe with a dead cat is created and vice versa; by opening the box you have killed a cat in one universe and have a live cat in another, but if you never open the box the one cat is both dead and alive (which is mathematical sense, but practical nonsense).
Anyway, the upshot of all that is that the writer in Canada should not be trying to find out whether the suicidal girl and her suicidal father are alive or not, because if she doesn't know then they are and if she does know then they are dead in one universe. She should not attempt to affect the outcome (even in a dream), if she is a character in a novel following the concept of a thought experiment.
In the novel the writer spends all her time trying to determine whether the Japanese girl was alive, is alive, etc. Ruth Ozecki raises the idea of the thought experiment and does not follow through with it. She also does not follow through with the Buddhist thought experiments , but that is fine by me, because I think they are about ways of thinking, or aids to meditation, rather than mathematical concepts.

I have looked up the quote.
Schrödinger wrote:
One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter, there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small, that perhaps in the course of the hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer that shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts.
It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a "blurred model" for representing reality. In itself, it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks.
—Erwin Schrödinger, Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik (The present situation in quantum mechanics), Naturwissenschaften
(translated by John D. Trimmer in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society)

Val wrote: "Schrödinger...."

I enjoyed that Val. Thank you.

Just to save time....

http://aberdeenvoice.com/2013/10/rock...

Nigeyb wrote: "Val wrote: "Schrödinger...."

I enjoyed that Val. Thank you."

All that leaves out the debatable question of whether it is even possible to be profound based on a thought experiment deliberately designed to be ridiculous.

Do you think I should include it in the 'official' review?
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

David wrote: "Graham Forbes - Rock And Roll Busker"

"Rock and Roll Busker" sounds very interesting David. It's not even on GoodReads yet. Thanks for the review.

Do you know Graham Forbes?

Val wrote: "Do you think I should include it in the 'official' review?"

Yes, definitely.

I am going to look both pedantic and geeky

but then I suppose I am.

Val wrote: "I am going to look both pedantic and geeky..but then I suppose I am."

Perhaps edit it down into a punchier summary? It is very interesting though and would probably be helpful too.

I just did a straight copy and paste. Let's see if I get any 'likes'.

I might be watching the Booker stream this evening to see how the author explains her understanding of it.

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/feat...

Hi Nigey

No, I don't know Graham, although I feel I do now! His backstory is scarily familiar to me.

It's well-written and as I said to the publisher, "It's far easier to enjoy and review a book where outrageous grammatical gaffes and spelling sins don't have me reaching for the subbing red pencil and I can just enjoy the yarn."

I understood it had been published, but I'm on so many publishers' mailing lists that I sometimes lose track.

David

David wrote: "I understood it had been published..."

It's here on Amazon - so it has been published. No one has put it on GoodReads yet.

David wrote: "I don't know Graham, although I feel I do now! His backstory is scarily familiar to me."

Sounds like a great read.

I have just finished Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford by Jessica Mitford

Like many, I am fascinated by the Mitford sisters. Books-wise, so far, I have only read "Hons and Rebels" by Jessica Mitford. Having read "Hons and Rebels" I was interested to find out more about her. Perhaps a 700 page plus book of her letters, and that covers her entire life, was a bit too ambitious. I cannot pretend to have read every letter contained in the book however I managed to read plenty, and I came away from the book even more impressed by Jessica (aka Decca) than I had expected.

Despite far more than her fair share of tragedy and upheaval, what emerges is a woman who faced life with courage, humour, conviction and honesty. From a very early age she rebelled against her aristocratic background, running away to Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and then America, where she married radical lawyer, Robert Treuhaft, having joined the Communist Party during the McCarthy era, which also signalled decades of civil rights activism.

The letters in this book cover her very early years up to her death. I was most interested in the letters she exchanged with her mother and sisters, and realised as I worked through this book that I might have been better off reading a biography about the family. Indeed I think this book would be most suitable for someone who has already got a good understanding of Jessica's own story and that of her family. That said, Peter Y. Sussman who edited this book, provides detailed a helpful introduction to each section, in addition to numerous useful explanatory footnotes - it must have taken him ages!

This book contains many wonderful letters which are well worth reading if you are interested in Jessica Mitford, and it is probably most suitable for readers who have already read her other works and want to dig deeper. 3/5

Another one...



I also finished Fitzrovia: London's Bohemia by Michael Bakewell last night.

"Much of the story of Fitzrovia is of talent blighted, promise unfulfilled and premature death through drink"

Fitzrovia: London's Bohemia by Michael Bakewell is a compact, 63 page book, published by the (wonderful) National Portrait Gallery in London that uses images from the gallery's collection, and other sources, and contains a three page profile of various Fitzrovia luminaries.

Fitzrovia is a neighbourhood in central London, near London's West End. The area has bohemian associations and was once home to artists, poets and writers, most notably in the first half of the twentieth century. Tom Driberg named the area after The Fitzroy Tavern - the meeting place of the London bohemians. Customers included Albert Pierrepoint, Aleister Crowley, and Prince Monolulu.

This book contains short profiles of, amongst others, Nancy Cunard, Walter Sickert, the Sitwells, Betty May, Dylan Thomas, George Orwell, Tambimuttu, Julian Maclaren Ross, Aleister Crowley, Nina Hamnett, Percy Wyndham Lewis, James Meary, and Augustus John.

I bought the book to help illustrate a a walking tour of Fitzrovia. I wanted something portable to show the two friends who are less aware of the neighbourhood's illustrious and colourful past. The short profiles bring each character alive. For example, Nina Hamnett, Fitzrovia's most notorious inhabitant, who in later life misconstrued an affectionate radio portrait as a grotesque caricature, and subsequently threw herself, or drunkenly fell, off her balcony. Or writer Julian Maclaren-Ross, who only worked once the pubs had shut, and who was known, at The Wheatsheaf, amongst other watering holes as the most relentless of the Fitzrovian monologists.

The book contains a bibliography of further reading for readers who are curious to find out more. My own recommendation is Paul Willetts's biography of Julian Maclaren-Ross "Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia". 3/5

I have just finished...



Stoner by John Edward Williams

A remarkable book

Good books are absorbing, and the best books allow the reader to completely inhabit that book's world.

"Stoner" has a mood that completely engulfed me.

A beautiful, compelling, sometimes horrific, haunting, powerful, quietly profound novel that has something to teach us all.

Simple, elegant prose takes us to the heart William Stoner's life. His is a very ordinary life. A dirt-poor farm boy from Missouri, born at the end of the nineteenth century, goes to college to study agriculture, and, instead of returning home stays to teach.

How can such a simple premise result in such perfect literature? Read it and find out.

The story is in turns depressing, uplifting, appalling, tragic, insightful, wise and funny.

A remarkable book. 5/5

Ah well, that was Bleak House again. 935 scintillating pages, read this time since we're devoting 4 consecutive monthly meetings of the local Dickens Fellowship to discussions of its complexity, innovation and beauty.

My own review, written when I first joined Goodreads, is on my own profile and summaries of both of the first two Bleak House meetings of the Fellowship are carried here:

http://aberdeenvoice.com/2013/09/tour...

and

http://aberdeenvoice.com/2013/10/dick...

It really does reveal something new on each re-reading. That's my third reading and its majesty gets ever more impressive.

Nigeyb wrote: "I'm very keen to give Roy Fuller a go. Seems to be a poet by the same name - are they one and the same? His books seem to be out of print based on my somewhat cursory research. "

Yes, they are the same person. Yes, I believe all his works are out of print. Fortunately my library has at least a couple.

David wrote: "Bleak House really does reveal something new on each re-reading. That's my third reading and its majesty gets ever more impressive."

Thanks David. I really enjoyed reading both your Aberdeen Voice articles.

David wrote: "I have a friend who divides the population into two categories, those who have read Steinbeck’s East of Eden and those for whom that is a pleasure in prospect. I’m pretty much of the same opinion, but with Bleak House as the tome in question."

I have managed to read East Of Eden, and need to hop over into the have-read-Bleak-House camp. You're an inspiration. Thanks.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Yes, they are the same person."

Interesting. I think that was much more common in days gone by. Far less people seem to aspire to be a poet these days.

I read very little poetry but a few years back I read Rapture by Carol Ann Duffy and thought it was magnificent.

I have just finished...




Bad Penny Blues by Cathi Unsworth

This is the second book I have read by Cathi Unsworth and, in common with The Singer, what impressed me was the clear evocation of the era. In this case, the unsolved "Jack the Stripper" murders that took place near Ladbroke Grove from 1959 to 1965. Cathi Unsworth's noir tale take us on a ride through early-mid 1960s London: a world of bent coppers, teddy boys, sleazy aristocrats, immigrant communities, prostitutes, the occult, bohemians, Soho, art colleges, pop music, and so on.

Real life events (e.g. Cassius Clay taking on Henry Cooper, and the election of Harold Wilson) mingle with thinly disguised fictionalised personalities from the era (e.g. Joe Meek, Heinz, Screaming Lord Sutch, Reggie Kray, and Freddie Mills).

It's a dizzying and impressive achievement, and a book I thoroughly enjoyed. My only criticisms are it's around a hundred pages too long, and there are so many characters who come and go I found it hard to keep track. Fortunately, through the Google Books search facility, I could find the page numbers for characters, and so go back and remind myself who they were and how they fitted in.

Another great book by Cathi Unsworth and recommended for anyone who enjoys well researched, credible, and evocative London fiction. 4/5

I have just finished Highland Fling by Nancy Mitford



Highland Fling was Nancy Mitford's first novel. It was published in 1931. I have recently bought all of Nancy Mitford's novels, and intend to read all eight.

It was interesting and informative for me, as someone who is working through each of Nancy Mitford's novels chronologically, to note that Jane Smiley, here in The Los Angeles Review of Books differentiates between Nancy Mitford's four pre-war novels, and her four post-war novels

But there is no real sense, in the pre-war works, of the grandeur and sophistication Mitford would achieve in the last four. There is, in fact, considerable evidence, especially in Wigs on the Green and Pigeon Pie, that Mitford's world view — compounded of knowing frivolity and evenhanded acceptance of the various political forces that are about to clash so tragically — is overwhelmed by her material. She can organise her story, more or less, and she can give her characters vivid life, but she can't acknowledge the meaning of their opinions or their actions. Her characters are imprisoned in a world where consequences are muffled by privilege and where all eccentricities are merely amusing. The clue to the narrowness of this world is Mitford's failure to introduce it systematically or to depict it with much detail. She writes from the centre of that world, for an audience who knows what she is talking about, for whom more explanation would retard the pace of the jokes.

The whole article is well worth a read, and it has whet my appetite for all of Nancy Mitford's work. I am encouraged to learn that her books should get progressively better and better.

Good comedic writing is notoriously difficult to do well. The sublime P.G. Wodehouse and early Evelyn Waugh, can reduce me to tears of laughter. Highland Fling, which provided the odd chuckle, suggests that Nancy Mitford might also have this talent.

Highland Fling is undeniably a pleasant read. The slight story has some great characters. Like P.G. Wodehouse, albeit on this occasion without the guaranteed hearty guffaws, what Nancy Mitford achieves in her first novel, is a window into the English aristocracy in the first half of the twentieth century. Nancy Mitford's nuanced descriptions of the personalities that populate Highland Fling highlight the acute intergenerational conflicts between the Bright Young Things and "the grown ups", many of whom are traditional, austere, stereotypically aristocratic Victorian characters. These figures are brought to life with clarity and wit. Nancy Mitford also manages to incorporate universal themes: relationships, family, love etc.

Highland Fling is a bit uneven, but I enjoyed it, and I look forward to reading more of her work. I am going to try to resist the temptation to read her second novel, Christmas Pudding (1932), before December 2013, so to better appreciate the novel's Christmas setting, but I may have to give in to the temptation to start reading it sooner. 3/5

At the moment, I'm nearing the end of 'Lionel Asbo' by Martin Amis, and I'm giving serious thought as to why I'd bothered. All wax and no wick.

Mark wrote: "All wax and no wick."

Thanks Mark - a great concluding phrase too.

I have just finished...



Books v. Cigarettes by George Orwell

What a wonderful book. Seven essays - all of which are interesting, insightful and readable - and it definitely saves the best until last...

As with so much of his work the final essay, "Such, Such Were The Joys", is an account of Orwell's school days that combines the personal with the polemical. One minute we're reading a wince-inducing account of the brutality of St Cyprians (Orwell's prep school) and the next this meanders into social history, philosophy and a deconstruction of the pre-WW1 class system. And all of it written with George Orwell's customary clarity and readability.

Interestingly I came across an article online, on a website set up to celebrate St Cyprians, that pours scorn over Orwell's version of event. Click here to read it. I must admit, and having read both, I think Orwell's version is more credible.

All the essays are interesting. In the opener, Books v. Cigarettes, Orwell argues, in 1946, that books are a relatively cheap form of entertainment despite many people's assertions to the contrary. He compares the cost of the books he's bought over the years with the amount he's spent on beer and cigarettes, and finds that even with his relatively high book consumption, books cost less than other vices. The same must surely still apply.

When Orwell wrote his essay, he states that there were 15,000 books published annually in the UK. According to Wikipedia, in 2011 there were 149,800 books published in the UK. What does that tell us? Has the market for reading expanded ten fold in the interim?

Who'd be a book reviewer if Orwell's description in Confessions Of A Book Reviewer is accurate? What's the value of a professional review? Worthless, according to Orwell. Still a book reviewer is better off than a film reviewer who doesn't get to work at home and sells his honour for a glass of inferior sherry

The Prevention of Literature makes a passionate, and when written, a topical, argument describing how totalitarianism, or other all prevailing orthodoxies, crush worthwhile literature, and how the destruction of individual liberty cripples the journalist, the sociological writer, the historian, the novelist, the critic and the poet, in that order. Imagination will not breed in captivity.

Patriotism comes under the Orwell gaze in My Country Right or Left, and Orwell concludes that no substitute has yet been found for patriotism. He even confesses to a faint feeling of sacrilege when he does not to stand to attention during God Save The King.

The penultimate essay How the Poor Die is a real eye opener. I was particularly struck how in the Parisian hospital Orwell describes in 1929, and as a non-paying patient in the uniform nightshirt, the patient primarily a specimen. The doctors and medical students ignoring the individual and discussing the patient as if he were not there. Orwell states he did not resent this but could never get used to it.

This book is a mere 125 pages and every page contains something interesting and enlightening. Proof that good writing never dates. 4/5

I have just finished "How Soon Is Now? The Madmen & Mavericks Who Made Independent Music" by Richard King

If you have any interest in British independent music 1975-2005 (with an emphasis on the 1980s); you feel an affinity with the independent labels of that era (Rough Trade, Factory, Postcard, 4AD etc.); and/or you enjoy well researched and readable books about popular music, then I would say you will find much to enjoy in Richard King's "How Soon Is Now? The Madmen & Mavericks Who Made Independent Music".

It is also a great companion book to Simon Reynolds' "Rip It Up and Start Again", and it is equally entertaining and informative.

As with all good books about music, it inspired me to go away and explore or revisit some of the key tracks from the era. For example, I'd completely forgotten about Colourbox despite loving their music when it was released - thirty years on they still sound wonderful. I was also very interested to read how a massive hit single effectively stopped their career in its tracks.

Looking back from the detached perspective of 2013, the indie labels of the 1980s, and the personalities that were associated with them, seem even more magical and remarkable. It was a remarkable era for popular music and this book is a compelling reminder of a glorious and important musical era. The book concludes in 2005 when, in a reverse of the rest of the music industry, many modern independent labels are prospering relative to the major labels. That said, if this book proves one thing, it's that it is very difficult to run a small and successful independent record label - and always has been. 4/5

Any juicy on Haysi Fantayzee?

Sadly not. However, by coincidence, I used to know them a bit. Jeremy was (Boy) George's best mate for a while and both, but especially Jeremy, were huge T.Rex and Marc Bolan fans.

Been chuckling for half an hour at you plucking Haysi Fantaysi's name out of the ether.

By the by, just started the Brett Smiley book.

I'm quite anxious to hear your thoughts on the Smiley book. As I'd mentioned earlier, Nina Antonia truly managed to transcend mere biography... there''s a raw nakedness to the book that I think anybody could relate to.

Meanwhile, I nipped into the MOMA shop today during my lunch break, strictly as an excuse to come in from the cold and browse the bookshelves, and ended up purchasing this...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Glam-Rock-Und...

It looks mighty tasty... so tasty, in fact, that I think I'm going to keep the shrinkwrap on and call it a birthday gift for the mussus.

Mark wrote: "I'm quite anxious to hear your thoughts on the Smiley book. As I'd mentioned earlier, Nina Antonia truly managed to transcend mere biography... there''s a raw nakedness to the book that I think anybody could relate to."

Early days but I'm already impressed.

Mark wrote: "It looks mighty tasty... so tasty, in fact, that I think I'm going to keep the shrinkwrap on and call it a birthday gift for the mussus. "

She's a lucky lady. That looks like a great book.

I recently bought another book on Glam by Dave Thompson "20th Century Rock & Roll-Glam" and Glam!: Bowie, Bolan and the Glitter Rock Revolution by Barney Hoskyns. I'll let you know what they're like. Perhaps you already know?

I'm about to do something that I haven't done in ages, something that I always do my best to avoid doing... throwing a book across the room before making it even half-way through, and hoping that it manages to get lost in the farthest reaches of the clutter, thus ensuring that I'm never tempted to pick it back up and have another go at it. I'd very high hopes for Richard Hoggart's 'The Uses of Literacy: Aspects of Working Class Life' [1957].

From the reviews that I'd read, I was expecting a sort of post-war version of Orwell's brilliant 'The Road To Wigan Pier.' I was wrong. I think it comes down to his writing style, which comes across, to me at least, as not just a little bit pompous and condescending. In my estimation, he failed where Orwell succeeded -- Hoggart put an entire class of people under a microscope, looked down upon them, disguised endless generalizations as facts, and came across as regarding the working classes as little more than fascinating animals in a zoo.

Has anyone else had a similar response to this book?

Mark wrote: "I'm about to do something that I haven't done in ages, something that I always do my best to avoid doing... throwing a book across the room before making it even half-way through, and hoping that it manages to get lost in the farthest reaches of the clutter, thus ensuring that I'm never tempted to pick it back up and have another go at it. I'd very high hopes for Richard Hoggart's 'The Uses of Literacy: Aspects of Working Class Life' [1957]."

Wow. That bad. I know nothing about it so cannot answer your question. Agree that "Wigan Pier" a great read.

I notice you're also reading the Suggs book "That Close: My Story". I'll be interested to hear what you make of it. I've read a few good reviews. I saw a very early Madness gig in the Dublin Castle in Camden Town. Never dreamed they'd still be so popular all these decades on.

Suggs' autobio, I'm happy to say, is a whole lot of fun. Not the sort of book that anyone would file bang between Ezra Pound and Dostoevsky, but quite a fun and engaging read nonetheless. It's sort of like sitting on a barstool listening to a fantastic raconteur peel off tale after tale, without any attempt to put himself across as being cooler than his subject matter.

Now if only someone would convince Jeremy to write a tell-all tome about his Haysi Fantayzee exploits...

I have just finished....



"The Prettiest Star: Whatever Happened to Brett Smiley?" by Nina Antonia

This book was recommended to me by Mark, after we discovered a shared love of (amongst other things) Glam Rock. I was vaguely aware of Brett Smiley because one of his songs, the wonderful "Va Va Va Voom" appears on the equally wonderful compilation album "Velvet Tinmine".

What I did not realise was that Brett had also inspired this book, and that an album he recorded around the same time as "Va Va Va Voom" also finally saw the light of day in 2004 - the same year this book was published.

This is the first book I've read by Nina Antonia, despite being interested in the subjects of her other books (Johnny Thunders, Pete Perrett, and the New York Dolls), and I enjoyed her personal style. She puts herself firmly in the narrative, so much so that it is as much about her own life as Brett Smiley's life. Both stories are compelling.

Brett's brief flirtation with fame started as a child actor in a stage production of "Oliver!". Later, as an 18 year old, he was discovered by Andew Loog Oldham, which finally resulted in the release of the "Va Va Va Voom" single in the UK. As part of the publicity for the record, Brett appeared on the Russell Harty Show. This can be viewed on YouTube and is well worth watching if anything I have written sounds interesting.

The single did not chart and that was the end of Brett's chances of achieving the fame he assumed was an inevitability. One person who never forgot Brett, or that appearance on Russell Harty, was Nina Antonia. His appearance had a profound effect on her.

Nina's own early life was not easy, and talismanic figures like Brett Smiley helped her to cope. I really enjoyed this interesting and well written book. A lot happens to both Brett and Nina, and both finally attain some hard earned insights and wisdom. 4/5

For fans of Glam Rock, Brett's 1970's Glam album "Breathlessly Brett" is wonderful and well worth acquiring. The reissued CD is now very expensive however the album can be downloaded for a far more reasonable price.

Really pleased to hear that the book manage to hit most of the right spots for you, just as I was thinking it would. As I think I'd mentioned before, 'The Prettiest Star' stands apart from Ms Antonia's other books. They're all great, particularly the Perrett biography, but they all lacked a certain something that this one abounded in. I think you'd agree that 'The Prettiest Star' would've been a completely different affair without the autobiographical content.

Anyhow, I'm truly happy to hear that you enjoyed it!

Mark wrote: "Really pleased to hear that the book manage to hit most of the right spots for you, just as I was thinking it would."

Thanks Mark, another splendid recommendation. I am indebted to you for some top notch literary inspiration.

Mark wrote: "I think you'd agree that 'The Prettiest Star' would've been a completely different affair without the autobiographical content."

Totally. I read one review that took issue with Nina placing herself in the story. I think her part is what made the book. Brett's story is a sad - if familiar and predictable - tale of addiction and thwarted ambition. By relating his impact on Nina's own difficult childhood and early adult life, Brett's story became more significant and compelling.

Mark wrote: "Anyhow, I'm truly happy to hear that you enjoyed it! "

Thanks. If you ever get over to England be sure to let me know: you'll find a beverage of your choice in a venue of your choice.

My home study Phd in Glamology continues. I have just finished...



Glam!: Bowie, Bolan And The Glitter Rock Revolution by Barney Hoskyns

A slim and concise (115 pages) volume that focusses on Glam's key players (Bowie, Bolan, Roxy Music, New York Dolls, Lou Reed) and a more passing reference to some of the lesser lights (Sweet, Slade, Suzi, Sparks, Mud, Rubettes etc.). I am fairly knowledgeable about Glam Rock and learnt nothing new, however I still thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and that is testimony to Barney Hoskyns' thoughtful and highly readable style.

Barney Hoskyns places the era in context, charts the all too brief rise and fall of Glam including quotes from well informed commentators and key participants, before briefly exploring Glam's legacy.

The book was published in 1998 and so only hints at Gary Glitter's fall from grace. The book also precedes the interest in the the so-called Junk Shop Glam scene that developed in the early 2000s. As in all musical genres, some of the best Glam tracks were recorded by those who were has-beens or were-never-gonna-bes. Some of this now highly collectible Junk Shop Glam has been issued on compilation CDs, most notably the three RPM Junk Shop Glam compilations (Boobs: The Junkshop Glam Discotheque, Velvet Tinmine: 20 Junkshop Glam Ravers, and Glitterbest: 20 Pre Punk & Glam Terrace Stompers). A more comprehensive book, or one written more recently, might choose to explore the one-offs who tried to cash in on the craze, leaving behind a lone stellar 45 before shuffling off back into complete and total obscurity.

This book is a great introduction to the Glam Rock genre, and also makes a satisfying read for the more informed reader who simply wants to enjoy a short, well written account of Glam's glory years.

I've just finished...




All The Young Punks - Punk Rockers In Their Own Words by George Berger

A very enjoyable romp through the golden age of punk rock as seen through the eyes of the participants - not the bands, not the movers and shakers, but the everyday punk in the street.

George Berger has come up with a very simple concept - basically ask volunteers a few simple questions about their involvement in the punk scene, a then and now photo, and then collate it, and Bob's Your Uncle. All done very much in the DIY spirit of punk.

The fact that I am *ahem* one of the participants in no way influences my positive feelings towards this book.

For the fans, by the fans, about the fans. Well done George. 4/5

I have just finished...




The Haçienda: How Not to Run a Club

"How Not To Run A Club" is spot on. This is a highly readable account about how Manchester's Factory Records launched a nightclub called The Haçienda, in Manchester, that traded from 1982 to 1997, reinventing UK club culture in the process. After a slow start, which saw the club half empty for most of its events, it finally became a symbol of the Madchester era, a global phenomenon, with the club's legendary nights packed out with people from far and wide.

Peter Hook, aka Hooky, the bassist of New Order was one of the investors. This book is his version of events - and it's an engaging, and lucid account, and it's well written in a conversational style.

Whilst New Order were being paid a modest weekly wage, the huge revenues they were generating for Factory Records were being ploughed into The Haçienda. By 1985, The Haçienda owed New Order £2 million. Pretty much everything the band earned went into the club. Finally Hooky, and the rest of the band, had to take more of an interest in the way the club was being run.

As Hooky concedes at the book's conclusion, ultimately he and his colleagues didn't want to run The Haçienda as a business - they wanted a playground for themselves and their friends. This amateurish and haphazard way of running a club resulted in some jaw dropping tales. Ludicrous and short-sighted business decisions, extraordinary drug consumption, violence, and local gangs terrorising the door staff and the customers, and so on. It all makes for a great read. The extent to which you might enjoy it will probably be related to the extent to which the subject matter interests you. I am interested in Factory, New Order, and youth culture generally, and thoroughly enjoyed it. 4/5

It sounds like Apple was 20 years before with even stronger drugs. I must investigate. So many books, so few leisure minutes!

Is it cheating to link to an online review of my last read, probably the last of the pre-Christmas releases for 2013?

http://aberdeenvoice.com/2013/11/jack...

Sub-titles available!

David wrote: "It sounds like Apple was 20 years before with even stronger drugs. I must investigate. So many books, so few leisure minutes!"

Sounds about right.

Thanks for your book review too - that looks like an interesting read.

I have just finished...




Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford

I have recently bought all of Nancy Mitford's novels, and intend to read all eight. Christmas Pudding (1932) follows on from Nancy Mitford's first novel Highland Fling (1931). Some of the same characters appear in both books. I enjoyed the continuation, however Christmas Pudding works perfectly well as a stand-alone novel.

In Christmas Pudding, which, despite the title, contains only a limited amount of Christmassy content, the usual array of colourful aristocratic characters converge in various settings. The younger Bright Young Things displaying their usual mix of homespun philosophy, bored affectation, and commenting on each other's love lives, and other gossip, whilst the older generation do much the same whilst also despairing about the younger generation, declining standards and the dangers of Bolsheviks.

When it's good it's wonderful. At the outset there's a character called Paul Fotheringay who is dismayed by the acclaim for his book. What he thinks is a serious work has been acclaimed as a comic masterpiece. There are other very amusing moments in the book too, and all told it is a light, easy, short and amusing book. As in Highland Fling, the book is best at bringing her various privileged characters vividly to life. At times this feels like reportage.

What I think the book lacks is any commentary or contrast. This is a hermetically sealed world where everyone is immune to the consequences of their actions, and the faceless domestic staff are there to smooth the way ahead. At least with P.G. Wodehouse the servants are given a voice, and also frequently used to highlight the idiosyncrasies (and occasionally the stupidity) of those above stairs. The story is very much told from the centre of Nancy Mitford's world. I am reliably informed that this changes as Nancy Mitford develops as an author, and there is a discernible change between her first four novels, and her second four novels. I am looking forward to moving through her work and observing her development first hand.

Christmas Pudding is a better book that Highland Fling, and both are very enjoyable. I laughed more during Christmas Pudding. So, in summary, its another enjoyable and humorous early novel from Nancy Mitford.

3/5