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Oct 9, 20221 min read
1020. Antoine Laurain - The Presidents Hat
One via P. Very light, Parisian story about a man who inadvertently steals Francois Mitterand’s hat from a Paris restaurant. He...
Dec 28, 20201 min read
839. Sandi Toksvig - Between The Stops
Book of the year so far. A lovely book by a lovely and very funny woman (I loved her hosting of ‘The News Quiz’, can’t get into Q1...
Nov 12, 20201 min read
826. Steve Martin - Born Standing Up
Not too sure why P bought this for me. I am a huge fan of Steve Martin’s early films – ‘Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid’ is probably my...
Sep 7, 20191 min read
712. Nina Stibbe - Reasons To Be Cheerful
Don’t know why I bought this. Slightly jokey female novel about a dental nurse/assistant –you can certainly learn quite a lot about...
Dec 25, 20161 min read
455. John Cleese - So Anyway...
An autobiographical fragment, covering odd bits of his life. Covered school, university and early showbiz career, roughly up to Monty...
Feb 4, 20161 min read
375. Fredrik Backman - A Man Called Ove
I didn’t like this much; P read it alternating between tears and hysterical laughter, but it did nothing for me. About a grumpy old and...
Nov 15, 20141 min read
261. Paul Merton - Only When I Laugh
Merton is a very funny man, but not a great writer; the prose is pretty plodding, and the intersected jokes are mainly visual. I didn’t...
Apr 11, 20141 min read
197. Reginald Hill - Pictures Of Perfection
Read this years ago; Hill got more experimental (not always successfully) as he got older. This is a parody of a classical comedy; no...
Mar 7, 20141 min read
186. Evelyn Waugh - Sword Of Honour
Nearly two weeks since I finished no.185. This is very long and I gave up on another book before starting it. It is not very good either;...
Oct 31, 20132 min read
159. William Boyd - An Ice-Cream War
My other birthday book! I read this years ago, enjoyed it, and couldn't find it on Amazon for the kindle, hence the paperback purchase. I...
Oct 21, 20131 min read
157. Graham Greene - Travels With My Aunt
Spent my Waterstones birthday token from Dan on a couple of books. I had never, except by name, heard of this but the blurb on the back...
Aug 9, 20131 min read
135. Anthony Burgess - Enderby Outside
Not a lot better than the first Enderby. Apart from the plot being different, I can’t think of much to say about it — is it a comedy...
Aug 2, 20121 min read
28. Oscar Wilde - The Importance Of Being Earnest
Read this as we are going to see it open-air next week. Just a vehicle for Wilde's wit with one-liners, but there is plenty of that. Get...