"The Kingdoms" by Natasha Pully. Just what would happen if England had lost the Battle of Waterloo and time travel was possible?

This is a good review of The Three Body Problem book by Cixin Liu and may just tease a couple of you into reading it.

I'm now reading This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel Levitin. It's excellent, a lead guitarist who is also a record producer and a cognitive psychologist.

My son buys me good Xmas presents.

Happy Birthday, Paul!

Happy bro-th day Paul. Happy broth day. You know what? Skip broth day and have a great BIRTHDAY!

Despite the huge pile of books that I've recently accumulated I've just ordered another one.  It looked too interesting not to buy.




Two long-time friends share an intimate and urgent conversation about life, music and their enduring love of America, with all its challenges and contradictions, in this stunningly-produced expansion of their ground-breaking Higher Ground podcast, featuring more than 350 photographs, exclusive bonus content, and never-before-seen archival material.

Renegades: Born in the USA is a candid, revealing, and entertaining dialogue between President Barack Obama and legendary musician Bruce Springsteen that explores everything from their origin stories and career-defining moments to their country's polarized politics and the growing distance between the American Dream and the American reality. Filled with full-colour photographs and rare archival material, it is a compelling and beautifully illustrated portrait of two outsiders-one Black and one white-looking for a way to connect their unconventional searches for meaning, identity, and community with the American story itself.


There is a lot to be enjoyed as they dig into a subject that has underpinned their very different careers: the gap between the glowing aspiration and cracked reality of the so-called American Dream . . . there is some serious political and philosophical content here. Springsteen and Obama are articulate and idealistic orators, and the conversation relentlessly pushes towards the shared goal of reclaiming a liberal, progressive vision of America in post-Trumpian times ― Daily Telegraph

This new book of conversations, photos and speeches is a beautifully presented, coffee table-friendly smorgasbord of uplift . . . Annotated versions of Obama speeches on their original notepaper, most movingly his passionate and compassionate eulogy for civil rights activist John Lewis ("like John, we have to keep getting into good trouble"), feel like a window on to history, as, to a lesser extent, do rather more pristine, handwritten Springsteen lyrics ― iNews

One may be a songwriter and the other a politician but Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama are both gifted storytellers who have crafted a story about themselves and their nation . . . Renegades reminds us that despite the hardness of the world and the challenges that demand to be faced there still exists the promise of better days -- Sarfraz Manzoor

In this beautifully curated coffee-table book, which bulks up the extended podcast transcripts with photographs, annotated speeches and handwritten song lyrics to lend a degree of polished intimacy, these American heavyweights find the silver linings adorning even the darkest of clouds ― The Times

Renegades: Born in the USA is human, vulnerable, smart, and passionate . . . Obama and Springsteen admire their country while considering its shortcomings and still come out the other side with a sense of patriotism and hope that spills over the bounds of a book ― Associated Press

A collection of intimate and thoughtful conversations between the President and the Boss ― Los Angeles Times

Do you dream of scoring an invitation to Springsteen's Colts Neck compound? Maybe strumming on those guitars, riding horses, riffing on the American experiment in the recording studio? Unless you're an American president, you're going to have to get in line. But in between daydreams, pick up Renegades. It's the closest thing to being a fly on the wall of an incredible friendship ― Esquire

For the first time I checked off my Leslie Charteris books against the Wikipedia list, which is made more tricky because:

a) Some books had a change of title during their lives
b) The Wikipedia list itself is missing quite a few titles
c) Charteris' last original book was The Saint in the Sun in 1963. All subsequent releases were collaborations or ghost written

I now have a comprehensive list to go by. What I did then was punch in four of my missing titles into Amazon as used books and they all came up as available.
I have just received three of them today. What a find!

Have been reading 'Running The Light' for a few weeks now. This book has created quite a bit of buzz in the media.

Published in 2020, written by comedian Sam Tallent, it's loosely based on his experiences on the road as a comedian though seen through the eyes of a fictional main character named Billy Ray Shafer.

Billy is a world class f#ck up in this book (though when he gets on stage he is a sorcerer) trying to get from gig to gig as he falls deeper and deeper into his addictions and is inebriated almost 24/7 but it's difficult to put this book down so it's a good escape from reality. Very clever writing. It feels like taking in a movie more than like reading a book.

Here's a write up on this book.

chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/the-sad-funny-monster-in-running-the-light/

I've started Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Not an author I've read before. It seems a bit 'Hunger Games' to start with but the writing style is good and the location quite unique.