This is a reading log and it's mine

monkey9

JANUARY 2011



My Sh!t Life So Far by Frankie Boyle: This is a book that i had no idea i'd be reading or was even aware of it's existence when i woke up on the day of it's purchase.

It caught my eye while strolling through Waterstones in the Jervis Centre (RIP ) and after a quick look through and a couple of laughs, i decided to buy it.

I found him funny on Mock The Week and his stand up show i thought was quite good too

In saying that, this autobiography didn't quite turn out as funny as i hoped. It's hard to know what stuff was real and what was made up, but it didn't really matter. If not as funny, it was a good light read that maintained my interest thoughout and in fairness, there were a couple of moments that had me in tears of laughter.

"Paul Gascoigne is appearing in a TV show called Total Wipeout. This is cruel......Judging by the title i assume it's just Gazza staring at the screen attached to a saline drip, silently whispering the words to 'Fog on the Tyne' as someone performs brain surgery on him with an ice cream scoop. Actually, it sounds like a winner."

Reading that part on the bus home from work on a cold dark evening made me laugh out loud, i must admit. And the fact then that other passengers started looking at me strangely made me laugh that little bit more.

That was a passage near the start of the book, but it didn't quite manage to keep me laughing at that level throughout.

Then again, as the man himself says; "what kind of person buys the autobiography of a panel show contestant? Wake up you C*NT."




Borstal Boy by Brendan Behan A book i've been meaning to read for years and am so glad i finally got around to it. It's an autobiograhical account of his time spent in Borstal after being sent there at sixteen for IRA activity.

The writing in this is just superb, it's an absolute joy to read. There were times when, at home on my own, i would read this aloud. That's something i wouldn't normally do, but i just wanted to hear the words rather than them just being a voice in my head.

The story would be interspersed with the lyrics of old Irish ballads and poetry. Just some cracking, beautiful stuff.

Looking back, it's amazing how i found this book interesting in a way. Every day is the same, pretty much. They get up, shower, have meals, do work, read, sometimes fight, sometimes go to mass depending on your religion etc. But the writing makes it a joy. The relationships between the prisoners and friendships formed really comes through well.

It's like an Irish version of Dostoyevsky's House of the Dead. Both similar in the sense that everyday is the same, but the brilliance of the writing helps it move along quite swiftly.

Borstal Boy is definitely a book i'd have no problems in reccomending.

monkey9

Room by Emma Donoghue: Surely a book inspired by the Fritzel case? Jack has just turned five when the book starts and is excited about receiving his presents from his mam.

It soon becomes apparent that the room he lives in is his world and that he's never been outside of it. His mam has been locked there for years after been kidnapped by who Jack refers to as Old Nick.

The subject matter and plot is obviously disturbing, but it's equally beautiful through Jack's innocense and then wonderment.

What started off as a slow read turned into a very enjoyable book.




Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell: I'll probably end up seeing the oscar nominated film at some stage, but i always like to read the book first beforehand.

A very slow moving book about a fifteen year old girl who sets out to find her missing father who is due in court in a week's time and has put the house up as a bond. If she can't find him and get him to court, they lose everything.

This is set in the mountains of Missouri and it certainly seems like a place i wouldn't want to live. There are rules to to be obeyed amongst the locals and if they're not, then things can turn nasty and violent.

At first, i thought this was set in the 1800's, in wild west time. But i soon realised it was a more modern story with talk of earphones and cars. But even knowing this, i would still fall back into a default setting of believing it was cowboys and Indian time.

A short read that comes in in just under 200 pages, i was not disappointed. Really looking foward to seeing the film now.




House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski: Bloody Hell, i hardly know how to describe this book, you probably just have to read it for yourself.

To keep this short, a young guy called Johnny Truant who works in a tattoo parlour in LA, discovers notes and journals by a recently deceased man by the name of Zampano.

These journals describe a film called The Navidson Record. This film is made up of home recordings by Will Navidson, who discovers a secret doorway in his house that leads to a serious of tunnels, almost like a different dimension. The thing about the film is that it doesn't seem to exist.

This book starts to take over Truants life and not for the better.

I wonder how i'd have felt about the book had i read it when it was released in 2000. Since then, we've had films like Cloverfield, Rec, Paranormal Activity etc. All movies filmed as if you're watching events first hand on a camcorder. Back then, even though it's a book, it may have been more of a novelty. (Although in saying that, the Blair Witch Project had been released the year before).

The actual book itself is layed out in a way i've never read before. The video recordings that Navidson made are described in detail. Zampano gives notes and references to books that also don't exist. Johnny Truants journal entries get mixed up in this.

At one stage, you literally start reading this book upside down, sideways and any which way but loose. You end up having to hold the book up to a mirror at a certain point.

Does this all make sense? No, i doubt it. You just need to read it for yourself. At nearly 700 pages, there's a lot of reading to do, but stick with it.

monkey9

True Grit by Charles Portis: With all the talk about the oscar nominated film, i decided i'd try the book before going to see it and am so glad i did. This is now one of my favourite books.

It's not that big of a read at just over 200 pages and tells the story of Mattie Ross, a fourteen year old girl in the late 1800's wild west who wants to avenge the murder of her father at the hands of Tom Chaney.

She hires a whiskey swilling marshall called Rooster Cogburn to hunt Chaney down and bring him back to Fort Smith and have him tried and hung.

Though not happy that the girl insists on going with him on the journey, he agrees. They're joined by a Texas Ranger called LaBoeuf who is also tracking Chaney for another crime he committed in his jurisdiction.

It really is a fantastic and enjoyable read and it's a book i'll be going back to again, i'm sure.

The copy i have has an introduction by Donna Tartt which i didn't read until i had finished the book because i thought she might give away some parts of the story, which in fact she did. Nothing major, but her thoughts on the book should have been placed at the end rather than the start.

monkey9

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl:

The Dante club is a novel based around the real life poets and historians who in 1860's Boston, were the first to translate Dante's Divine Comedy into English for the American market.

In this story, a serial killer is murdering people based on the punishments and tortures described in the Inferno part of the Divine Comedy. The members of the Dante Club realise the connections and also that they would be the only ones who could solve the murders and so set about tracking down the killer.

Not only is this book a cracking read, it's very enlightening as to the works of Dante. I have a bit of interest in him now and may end up having a read of the Divine Comedy.

I loved this book. Absolutely brilliant. 10/10 for me.

monkey9

The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl: A novel based around the mysterious death of Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was found one night in Baltimore delirious, seemingly drunk with no idea how he got there or what he was doing there.

He was taken to hospital where he subsequently died.

In this novel, Quentin Clark sets about trying to find out what really happened to Poe, neglecting the important things in his own life in the process.

Another fantastic book from Matthew Pearl who has a great way of blending historical, mysterious fact in the world of literature with fictional crime thriller.


The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl: When Charles Dickens died from a stroke in 1870, he was halfway through his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Six installments had been published with another six to go. But his death before he could finish the novel made a mystery of the Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Pearl's third and most recent novel finds James Osgood, a partner in the publishing firm that distributes Dickens' novels in America, try to find if the final six installments were ever written, or at least if Dickens had left any clue as to how the novel would finish.

The investigations lead to a world of drug dens, intrigue and murder. Another superb novel from Pearl. I just hope he's currently working on another as i write.



Things The Grandchildren Should Know by Mark Everett : The memoirs, rather than an autobiography by Everett, the mainman in the band, eels

Even if you have never even heard of the band, i reckon this would still be a book of interest. But as a fan of the band, i really enjoyed it. There's no superfluous nonsense in this. All that Everett feels needs to be told is told and nothing more.

The big part of this book for me is the story of his family. I'd read about the deaths of his loved ones in music magazine articles and interviews. He discovered the body of his father who suffered a heart attack, his troubled sister committed suicide and his mother died from cancer, leaving him the only one left in his family.

He talks candidly about this in the book and it's really sad to read, yet very thought provoking. It's a great insight into his music and lyrics and as to how songs and albums came about.

monkey9

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn : I really really just couldn't get into this book at all. About a prisoner in a Soviet concentration camp, it describes a typical full day in great detail.

I've read novels and memoirs before about life in prison and quite enjoyed them, but this one was just too mundane for my liking.





An Epic Swindle by Brian Reade : As a Liverpool fan, i found this book most interesting and is a must read for any football fan as to how badly things can go when a football club is bought by the wrong people.

It's the story of the disasterous and tumultous reign of American businessmen Tom Hicks and George Gillette as owners of Liverpool FC as they brought the club to the verge of administration and left it flirting with relegation.



Hillsborough- The Truth by Phil Scraton : This documents the events of the day of the Hillsborough disaster on April 15th 1989 and also the two decades that followed as the families of the victims searched for justice for their loved ones.





Inverting The Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson : I'm really having a phase now where i'm constantly reading books about football. I have a load of them lined up.

This goes into the history of football tactics and formations and how football has evolved over the past 100 years or so.

monkey9

Forza Italia by Paddy Agnew : Paddy Agnew is an Irish journalist who moved to Italy in 1985 and writes for the Irish Times and World Soccer amongst others.

This is a book about his move to Italy and his experience covering Serie A, the Italian football league. A good book that shows how football and Italian history and life are very much intertwined.

monkey9

Calcio by John Foot: Probably the daddy of Italian football books, this breaks the story of Calcio (the Italian term for the word ‘football’) into different sections. Starting with the early origins and people credited with bringing football to Italy and giving it a structure and organisation, it discusses the various clubs and their histories. The tragedies that have befallen Italian football from the Superga plane crash in 1949 in which the entire great Torino side perished through to Heysel.

The Ultras and the violence and power that are connected with them, the scandals (and there are plenty of them), the links with fascism, it's all here.

A Big book and a fantastic read.