Just started with this one. Very interesting as it is written as if the dog is writing the book!

From Amazon:

"Stein (How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets, 2005, etc.) uses a dog as narrator to clever effect in this tear-jerker about an aspiring race-car driver who suffers more woes than Job but never mistreats his dog.Lab mix Enzo believes he is different from other dogs, that he has a human soul in a dog body. Enzo is frustrated that he can use only "gestures" to communicate with his beloved owner Denny. Denny works in a Seattle auto-repair shop to earn money to race. Enzo watches racing channels on TV, soaking up facts and lore. Dog and man are happy in their bachelor Eden. Enter Eve. She and Enzo are wary at first. Then she goes into labor while Denny's away racing and she keeps Enzo beside her. Enzo adores the baby, Zoe, but he soon smells that something is off with Eve. By the time Zoe is a toddler, Eve has increasingly bad headaches but refuses to see a doctor until it's too late. Now come the travails. During Eve's painful, lingering death, her parents, who have never approved of Denny, loom increasingly large. When Eve dies, they sue for permanent custody of Zoe. Their case is weak until Denny is charged with rape: After a reunion of Eve's family shortly before her death, Denny gave a ride home to Eve's 15-year-old cousin, who attempted to seduce him; he rebuffed her but Enzo was the only witness. Eve's evil parents are behind the trumped-up charges. Noble Denny keeps fighting for Zoe, living by his mantra, "That which you manifest is before you." When he almost buckles, Enzo provides some rather unique assistance.Pointedly inspirational." (Kirkus Reviews)

I loved Polysyllabic Spree, I use it for reference to get me onto other Authors Like Jess Walter. The book on Autism he refrences George and Sam by Charlotte Moore is especially excellent.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

I cannot get this book out of my head, and I read it over a month ago. Apparently, there is also a film made of it, which I haven't seen, but the book is haunting me. Post-apocolyptic America, but whatever happened is only ever hinted at. A father and his son travelling to warmer parts, trying to avoid being caught by any survivors who have turned cannibal, and to find food where everything has been burned about 8 years before - no plants or trees grow, no animals left. We never learn their names, either. The two themes that keep coming to me are how quickly humans could revert to savage animals - yet that a small number of the survivors retain their higher selves and avoid cannibalism and cruelty. And, the fact of our relevance only in relationship to the experiences we have and the world surrounding us. The father has become irrelevant, as the world he grew up and lived in has vanished, but he cannot escape from its framework.

Green, Green, My Valley Now

How Green Was My Valley is one of my all time favorites, I think I read it the first time when I was about 9. Now I am catching up on the rest of Huw Morgan's life, though the library only had this one, and I believe there are two others in between. No Welsh-English translations in this either, wish I could read the Welsh bits. I absolutely love the way they speak in this book!

Wow, and if you've actually read to the end of this, looks like you've read my book!

i'm currently reading a book {from the library } about the himalayan sherpa's....fascinating stuff...

Over the years I've read a few Wrestling biogs and for the Mike Foley ones have always been the best (and funniest) but I picked this up in Asda a few days back and it's very captivating reading. I know that most people on here will be not interested in wrestling but for those who are I would suggest that this story of Bret 'the Hitman' Hart is certainly worth a read. It is brutally honest, profoundly funny and gives a great glimpse into the ins and outs of the Wrestling business. There is life in the small family promotions, then onto Japan and Bret's foray into the the WWF (as it was once called before the other WWF objected to the thought of Wrestling Pandas in Hell in a Cell matches! - Just kidding) and the WCW.

I'm about halfway through at the moment and it's fantastic.

I'm reading horror writer Richard Laymon's "The Lake"

A few pages in and it's, hmmm, okay. His style of writing isn't particularly all that good so should stick really to radio.
Already on page 28 and it's already mentioned his gambling habit, his drug addicted brother and his anorexic wife.
I think the rest of it is about society as a whole, which is why I bought it.
I'll give it a chance.

Just started reading this one. It's pretty okay so far. It's a theological assessment of their music and so much more. I'll let you know when I'm done with it how the rest of the book fairs.

Just been given this to read

Rev that's a fine book. Make sure you read the other two that followed. Brooklyn Tab story is truly amazing.

Have really enjoyed ready this book. There was always something pleasantly chaotic about The Slits and they rarely got the due they deserved. Zoe Street Howe has done a fine job rectifying that.

Also on the go at the moment is:



Neil Young has always been a source of interest to me. There are loads of albums I really like and then there's also a stack of stuff that is pretty poor (intentionally on his part so it would seem). The book is a few years old now but so far it is very fascinating to discover more about him.

"Apples" by Richard Milward
A boy/girl look at life growing up in Middlesbrough

I just started Andy Jones book Seductive Amoebae (Jules' brother) and can't put it down. It's quite dark in the vein of "American Psycho" and fantastically written.

Picked this up in Wrexham on Sunday. Looked very interesting.



from Amazon:

"Punk Fiction" is an anthology of short stories, poems and illustrations submitted by an impressive line up of contributors. Each piece of work shares one unifying theme - everything included in this collection will be inspired by a punk rock song. The book will open with a foreword by former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. Contributors have been hand-picked from the generations that followed the punk revolution; those at the forefront of contemporary popular culture, who have been (and are still being) influenced by the movement, rather than punk's original vanguard. Though they are drawn mainly from music, those involved also embrace all corners of the arts and include some of the most exciting contemporary authors around. The book will act as proof (if any were needed) that the punk rock legacy was not merely musical but that the stones it cast upon the surface of cultural life created ripples that reached into every corner, and exerted a force that continues to this day. £1 from this book will be donated to The Teenage Cancer Trust with every book sold.

The senior pupils of St Peter’s High School are on retreat to a secluded outdoor activity centre, coming to terms with the murder of a fellow pupil through the means you would expect: counselling, contemplation, candid discussion and even prayer – not to mention booze, drugs, clandestine liaisons and as much partying as they can get away with.

Not so far away, the commanders of a top-secret military experiment, long-since spiralled out of control, fear they may have literally unleashed the forces of Hell.

Two very different worlds are on a collision course, and will clash in an earthly battle between science and the supernatural, philosophy and faith, civilisation and savagery.

The bookies are offering evens.

A bit of a departure from his previous novels; whilst I'm reading it with great gusto it's not quite up to the standard of his others (with 100 pages to go) ... and no covert Alarm references to be found.

I've been reading this on and off for the past wee while. It's a bit awkward to read, being one of those 'coffee table' type books (you can get the paperback version in HMV really cheap these days, but it doesn't have a lot of the photos and the cool layout the big book does).

It's been an interesting read because there is a whole period of U2 that I switched off from (Achtung Baby to Pop) and never really knew what was going on in their minds around that time. It was good reading it from the horses mouth.

A couple of things that really stood out for me in the book were: 1. U2 really care about music. Not all of us may like what they are doing but they have a genuine passion to create the best music they feel they are able to. When they don't they are the first ones to say so. Reading the Chapter regarding the making of Pop and the whole Pop Mart tour it was very clear that they all thought the album was not what it should have been. 2. That Edge, Larry and Adam have as many good things to say as Bono does yet rarely get the opportunity to do so. A lot of what Bono has to say in the book is known territory for anyone reading the music press but what the other three have to say is what really makes the book. Adam Clayton seems to be the most quiet one of the band and yet I was impressed over and over again by his assessment of the music of U2, and the tours etc. Well worth reading.

I think you can get the hardback version quite cheaply in some places these days (on Amazon you can get it very cheap new and used!)