This is a history book written by David Mitchell, who played Mark Corrigan on Peep Show. I love that show, and I’m interested in history, so thought I’d give this a go. This book sits at an interesting level: he is a comedian rather than a professional historian, so it’s funny, and he’s happy to gloss over details and call people twats. I think he did actually study history though, and I believe he is fascinated by it so it’s not just a superficial celebrity book.
Stuff about Books I've Read
This is a biography of Terry Pratchett written by his assistant, Rob Wilkins. He says that Pratchett always meant to write an autobiography, and had lots of notes for the beginnings of one, but his early onset Alzheimer’s meant that it was never finished.
I spotted this in WHSmith while waiting for a flight to Hong Kong. I almost bought it, but it turned out I already had a copy on my e-reader. I read some of it while on the flight, but ended up putting it aside, as it really isn’t holiday reading. Once back, I picked it up again and finished it.
This is the third Discworld book, and the first in the witches series. It introduces Granny Weatherwax, one of the main characters of the whole series.
I knew a little about Fred and Rose west before reading this, I remember seeing the house in Gloucester on the news when I was a child. This book is the first I’ve read about them, it’s written by someonen who was a journalist at the time and was reporting on the case. It prominantly features extracts of the interviews that Fred West gave to the police during their investigations.
I read this one on a flight to Hong Kong. This is a non-fiction book about a group of libertarians who decide to all move into a particular town and try to collectively get their ideas adopted in it’s running. They believe that the government, other than in it’s most core functions such as national defense is a tyranny. They refuse to pay any taxes viewing it as theft, and think nealy all regulations and laws should be repealed. They seem to believe that when they achieve this people will be truly free and come together collectively to build a kind of utopia.
This book feels like two stories in one. The first is in what appears to be Russia, which is under strict authoritarian control. Their president effectively lives forever, as when their body dies the consciousness is passed on to another.
This is a dystopian novel by Philip K. Dick, which he described as semi-autobiographical. It tells the story of Robert Actor and his flatmates and friends, who are drug addicts. Most of them are addicted to a drug called Substance D, or death which deteriorates the users brain over time until they lose track of reality.
This is a 1950s post apocalyptic novel about everyone in the world other than the protagonist turning into vampires. The main character is living in his house, and has burnt the surrounding houses to the ground. Each night vampires bang on his walls and call out for him. His neighbour in particular calls for him by name over and over.
This is a post apocalyptic book from 1987 by Robert McCammon. It’s a very long book at nearly 1000 pages, I think it’s heavily influenced by The Stand by Stephen King which was released a few years before.
This is a science fiction book by Iain M. Banks. The only book I’ve read by him before was The Wasp Factory, which despite having read it a long time ago I still think about every now and then. It has stuck with me as a particularly dark and intense read.
This is a non-fiction book about a working class guy from London, who became a trader for Citibank. He makes a lot of money, but becomes increasingly disgusted about the inequality in the economy, and is predicting that it’s going to get progressively worse for ordinary working people.
This is a Philip K. Dick book. I’ve been a fan of his for years, but he wrote so many books that there are tons that I’ve never read. As is pretty common with his books this one deals with mental illness, and an unstable grip on reality.
This is a British cyberpunk novel, which I’m reading as this months pick for the Exeter Dystopian Novels Book Club. Structurally, the book has two narratives that end up joining together. One is the story of a character named Y, who has had her memory erased and been subjected to extensive body modifications. Not least, a third arm coming out of one of her shoulders. It turns out that she is in another dimension, one that was discovered by humanity many years ago but kept secret. This place is run by a character resembling some kind of feudel king named the Manor Lord.
This is the twenty-ninth Discworld book, and it features the Ankh-Morpork city watch. Mostly, though, it focuses on Sam Vimes, who is sent back in time with a criminal named Carcer due to a lightning storm over the Unseen University. They arrive a few days before a revolution that Vimes participated in as a young recruit to the watch. In this new timeline, Carcer kills young Sam’s mentor, John Keel, and Vimes ends up taking his place.