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I'm reading them in order as well. I'm up to Book 9: The Memory of Blood which is on my 'to read' pile.

I hadn't visited his website for a few weeks, and I got quite a shock as it's completely changed!

^ Reading them in order would add a level of complexity that would be a bridge too far.

That said in White Corridor keeps making reference to their previous case involving "the Highwayman" and there's quite a few spoilers in there too, so definitely something to be said for going with the correct order.

I am really enjoying White Corridor. I should finish it later today.

I'm on #4, Ten Second Staircase. All of this because I received #6, The Victoria Vanishes from someone. It looked interesting but then I found it wasn't the first book. So I went back to the beginning.

^ Very wise Jan

I am currently reading more Christopher Fowler...





Invisible Ink: How 100 Great Authors Disappeared by Christopher Fowler

Why do some authors fall out of favour? The answer, according to Christopher Fowler, is far more arbitrary than you might imagine: fashion, economics, luck, film adaptations and many more variables play a part. What is clear is that the majority of authors disappear including those whose books become touchstones for many of our lives.

Whilst reading online reviews of the excellent King Dido by Alexander Baron, I came across one by a reviewer who had heard about King Dido via Invisible Ink: How 100 Great Authors Disappeared by Christopher Fowler.

Frequently whilst authors disappear, their books live on in our homes and our memories and are passed to children, to friends, and to secondhand shops. Some even get rediscovered, like the aforementioned Alexander Baron who has had many of his titles republished in the last few years.

Each forgotten author gets a page or two and, so far, whilst I'm only 20 pages in, I am already making notes of writers who I feel compelled to try to read.

That sounds really interesting! Adding that to my to-reads. :)

It's brilliant Bronwyn. Very inspiring and very interesting.

Sounds interesting. I was thinking that this was the kind of book that I would get out of the library - the nearest library is in central Missouri, a state and a half away.

^ Definitely well worth getting hold of Jan.

I am currently reading (my third consecutive book by Christopher Fowler)...





Paperboy by Christopher Fowler

It's a memoir of Christopher Fowler's childhood in suburban London during the 1950s and 1960s. He was a lonely boy who spent his days between the library and the cinema, devouring novels, comics, etc.

His family are dysfunctional - a weird combination of the entertainingly eccentric and endearingly ordinary. Christopher Fowler perfectly captures the fairly grim world of post-war Britain before it bursts into colour in the mid-1960s and, to an extent, breaks free of the world of tight-lipped austerity. I'm over halfway through now and, whilst it's far from perfect, there's a lot to enjoy and it's a rich and astute evocation of a certain time and a place that, despite being ten years younger, I can readily relate to.

I am poised to start...




Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop by Bob Stanley

As a passionate popular music obsessive, this is a book I am very excited about finally getting round to reading. An 800 page behemoth. I'll let you know how I get on.

I am going to be starting my first Haruki Murakami book shortly and I am very much looking forward to it! Going to be beginning with The Wind Up Bird Chronicles. excited to be finally jumping on the band wagon!

^ The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a great place to start your Haruki Murakami journey. I adore his books and have read most of them. I am very jealous of you Amanda, taking your first step. Please keep us informed with your reactions.

Nigeyb wrote: "I am poised to start...




Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop by Bob Stanley

As a passionate popular music obsessive, this is a book I am very excited about f..."

What do you consider to be the parameters of modern pop music, Nigeyb? And do you love it all?!

^ I'm not sure I fully understand your first question Sarah. Removing the word "modern" and just considering pop music, I'd say it's anything that consciously seeks to find an audience so could be Clive Dunn's "Grandad", Laurie Anderson's "Oh Superman", Pharrell Williams' "Happy", the Ramones "Judy is a Punk" or Frank Sinatra's "Witchcraft".

Do I love it all? No - but I do enjoy a very eclectic range of music.

I was thinking more date-wise really - do you think it's now over or are we still in it? Do you think it started with the charts or a bit later?

I tend to think of my own parameters, which would be late 60s to late 70s, but realise that just covers what I know and like!

^ Ah. Got it. Thanks Sarah.

I'd say birth of rock n roll c1955 and into the present day. It's far less interesting to me now but I still listen to a large amount of new music - in addition to constantly making new discoveries from yesteryear.

I would say that your favoured years - late 60s to late 70s - is my favourite era too.

Baseball season is here, Monday was opening day and my team (White Sox) won. The team on the north side (Cubs) opened elsewhere, possibly Pittsburgh and have their local opening day on Friday. They're not supposed to get the weather the Sox had because Monday was beautiful and near 70. The Cubs will be lucky if the sun comes out and it is 50. Their ball park, Wrigley Field, turns 100 this year, although they weren't the team playing in it then. They were then the West side team. So there will be books this year about Wrigley. I think George Will is supposed to have one.

The other day I came across Hack's 191: Hack Wilson and His Incredible 1930 Season. I just started reading it this evening and it is very readable. Not just about baseball either. It also discusses the problems (and presumably the joys) of life in the big city in 1929 and 1930. Prohibition, gangsters, Valentine's Day and the little celebration Al Capone threw, etc. I'm liking it so far.

Hack's 191: Hack Wilson and His Incredible 1930 Season by Bill Chastain. With an introduction by former manager Don Zimmer.

^ Keep us informed with Hack's 191 Jan. That's a wonderful achievement from Hack Wilson.

Prohibition, gangsters, baseball.. what's not to love?


On a sporting tip I hope to read...



The Life and Times of Herbert Chapman by Patrick Barclay

...sometime very soon. Another sporting colossus.

Herbert Chapman, the boss of the all-conquering Arsenal side of the 1930s, was the father of all soccer managers, arguably the greatest of all time, and certainly the most imaginative. Many of the game's furniture, including floodlights and numbered shirts, were designed by him—even the tradition of a manager leading his team out at the FA Cup Final at Wembley—as were tactics that survive to this day and which can be detected in the great Barcelona team that has dominated European competition in recent years, three quarters of a century after his premature death in 1934. Working mostly for clubs in the north of England, including playing for Worksop, Northampton, Sheffield United, and Notts County, he retired from playing at the age of 29 to become a manager at Northampton. He moved to Leeds in 1912, then left to work in a munitions factory for the duration of the war, leaving under a cloud of scandal, later proved innocent. He managed Huddersfield for a time, where he built a team that was to win three English championship titles in succession. He then left for Arsenal and won three in four years. He died before the third title arrived at Highbury, but no one doubted to whom the credit was due. This book weaves Chapman's life into the times through which he lived, combining the narrative with both soccer playing and social history of the inter-war years, the dramatic era of the general strike, and the Depression of the 1930s. Among those who will testify to his soccer legacy are his successors at Arsenal: George Graham, who made a close study of his life, and Arsene Wenger, who knew of Chapman's special place in the pantheon even before taking over at Highbury.

I am still working my way through the 776 page...




Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop by Bob Stanley

I'm up to page 315 and absolutely loving it.

From Bob Stanley's perspective, modern pop began in 1952 when the first British chart was published and the first 7" singles were released. It ended in 1995 when Robson and Jerome reached the top of the charts with the first number one not to be available on vinyl since 1953. The digital age coinciding with the death rites of over 40 years of pop.

Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop is like being in the company of a passionate, informed, opinionated music lover who wants to take you on a whistle stop tour of everything interesting that happened during that period. It's fantastic. Six decades of magical music. So far as I know, this book is the first to attempt to the track the whole story from pre-rock n roll to house and techno via numerous sub-genres.

I am loving every page. It's a great achievement and one I recommend to anyone who loves pop music.

Nigeyb, that book sounds so interesting! I might have to check it out. It also has one of the highest ratings I've ever seen on goodreads. Wow.

To go along with Hack's 191, I am also reading Eliot Asinof's Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series. This way I have the whole city covered.

^ Splendid Jan. I look forward to reading your thoughts once you've finished both books.

Amanda wrote: "Nigeyb, that book sounds so interesting! I might have to check it out. It also has one of the highest ratings I've ever seen on goodreads. Wow."

It is indeed wonderful Amanda. I'd say the more you are interested in the subject the more you'll get out of it - as a minor caveat.

I'm about halfway through our fiction choice for May 2014...




The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene

So far it's very intriguing and unusual, and should make for a splendid Fiction discussion in May 2014.

I am taking another of my occasional trips down memory lane...




Jennings Goes to School by Anthony Buckeridge

I used to enjoy the Jennings book as a boy. I've read the first couple of chapters and, after we'd got the basic set up out of the way (Jennings as a new boy at an English boarding school in the 1950s), it was the once familiar routine of a comedic misunderstanding with Jennings triumphing. I read some aloud to my 10 year old son and it had him chuckling, so it all suggests that the Jennings magic still works on a potential new generation.

I have just started..




The Lowlife by Alexander Baron

30 pages in an already another great read.

This is my third book by Alexander Baron (and follows The Human Kind and King Dido), and he's now another writer whose work I intend to read in its entirety. Here's more information to perhaps inspire my fellow BYTers...

Novels

From the City, from the Plough. (1948) a novel about the fictional 5th Battalion of the Wessex Regiment British Army. The novel takes place in the weeks leading up to D Day and during the Normandy campaign. It was widely believed that the battalion was based on units of the 43rd Wessex Division and its attacks on Hill 112 and Mont Pincon in Normandy. This novel was re-issued by London publisher Black Spring Press in June 2010.

There's No Home (1950) - On the interaction of wartime British soldiers with the people of Catania, Sicily, focusing on a doomed love affair. Two stanzas of Hamish Henderson's The 51st Highland Division's Farewell to Sicily serve as the motto. Republished by Sort Of Books in June 2011. Discussions concerning a film adaptation of this novel are currently in progress.

Rosie Hogarth (1951), set in London. Republished by Five Leaves Press in 2010.

With Hope, Farewell (1952), set in London.

The Human Kind (1953). The third in Baron's 'War Trilogy'. This was a collection of short stories that were based upon the author's own wartime experiences. The book was later filmed as The Victors (1963), with the British characters changed into Americans in order to attract American audiences.

The Golden Princess (1954), about La Malinche.

Queen of the East (1956), an historical novel about Zenobia, Queen of the short lived Palmyrene Empire, and her antagonist Aurelian, Emperor of Rome.

Seeing Life (1958),

The Lowlife (1963), set in Hackney, is "a riotous, off-beat novel about gamblers, prostitutes and lay-abouts of London's East End". Re-issued by Black Spring Press in June 2010. Discussions concerning a film adaptation of this novel are currently in progress.

strip jack naked (1966), sequel to The Lowlife

King Dido (1969), set in the East End in 1911. In autumn 2009 this was re-issued in New London Editions, an imprint of Five Leaves Press. Discussions concerning a film adaptation of this novel are currently in progress.

The In Between Time (1971)

Gentle Folk (1976); adapted by Baron as a BBC television drama (1980)

Franco Is Dying (1977)

I am currently reading....





"Charles Hawtrey 1914 1988" by Roger Lewis

It's a curious biography of an equally curious little man. Perhaps the saddest act in the history of British cinema? Though also one who enriched the world of 1970s cinema and television where the Carry On films were a staple of growing up.

Unlike his outrageous Carry On compadre, Kenneth Williams, little has been written about Charles Hawtrey. This may well be the perfect little book to sum up one of the sadder stories of British showbusiness, albeit one about a natural comedian who, like a select few (e.g. Eric Morecambe and Tommy Cooper), was funny even whilst doing very little.

I'll report back.

I've just started reading something quite far removed from the BYT world. It's...





He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond (1984) - so far, so incredible. Very powerful and taut. Noir ++



My library has none of his work excepting a copy of his autobiography - The Hidden Files. In the little synopsis in the catalogue it states...

The autobiography of Derek Raymond - Fifties wide-boy and amateur art-dealer, Sixties mainstream novelist and Eighties crime-writer. It reflects the contradictions in his personality - a mixture of bleakness and urbanity, black despair and courteous generosity.

That alone is enough to make me sit up and want to hold a copy in my hands however I thought I'd read one of his novels first.

He Died With His Eyes Open inaugurated the Factory series, nominal police procedurals narrated by the unnamed protagonist, a sergeant at LondonMetropolitan Police’s Department of Unexplained Deaths, also known as A14. A14 handles the crummy lowlife murders, in contrast with attention-grabbing homicides handled by the prestigious Serious Crimes Division, better known as Scotland Yard.



...

Derek Raymond was born Robin Cook in 1931. The son of a textile magnate, he dropped out of Eton aged sixteen and spent much of his early career among criminals and was employed at various times as a pornographer, organiser of illegal gambling, money launderer, pig-slaughterer and minicab driver.. The Factory series followed his early novels, The Crust on Its Uppers and A State of Denmark. His literary memoir The Hidden Files was published in 1992. He died in London in 1994.

What do my fellow BYTers have to say about Mr R and/or his work?

I'm poised to start reading....




A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell - our June 2014 BYT fiction read.

^ Early days, however, so far, so wonderful. I've got a good feeling about A Question of Upbringing. Here's to another great BYT discussion.

Nigeyb wrote: "^ Early days, however, so far, so wonderful. I've got a good feeling about A Question of Upbringing. Here's to another great BYT discussion."

Ha Hey! Nigeyb, I'd love to be in earshot when you get to the part when Widmerpool reports what has happened to Le Bas, after Stringham makes that phone call.

^ I'm not there yet but I'll keep you posted Greg.

I picked it up from Kindle.

Greg wrote: "I'd love to be in earshot when you get to the part when Widmerpool reports what has happened to Le Bas, after Stringham makes that phone call. "

Just read it. Wonderful.

Jan C wrote: "I picked it up from Kindle."

Hurrah. I look forward to your thoughts on it Jan.

A Question of Upbringing is surprisingly enjoyable for a book in which very little actually happens. I'm about halfway through now. Beautifully written and with some great comedic set pieces.

Read it BYTers. It should be another good discussion.

As I near the conclusion of A Question of Upbringing (our June BYT fiction group read triv fans), I thought I'd just mention that I am really enjoying it. I think we should have fun discussing it and I hope to see lots of BYTers joining in the fun.

I'm listening to a couple of audio books at the minute(...I find I can potter in my garden and still 'read'!!! Wonderful)...

The Picture of Dorian Gray
All Quiet on the Western Front

I'm also reading The Novel in the Viola by Natasha Solomons and continuing with Maugham's short stories which I'm savouring slowly like you would with expensive chocolates!

Exactly what do you get with audio books? Are they somebody ready direct from the book or a cast like a play with narration or can you buy both styles. How do they compare with reading?

All of the above!

I'm an audible member which means I pay £7.99 per month and can choose any of audible's titles at the rate of one per month. This works out good value as the best audio books can be very expensive at around £20+.

You can sample them before buying as whether you'll like the voice reading them is quite subjective...some will be good but others may grate.

Ally wrote: "All of the above!

I'm an audible member which means I pay £7.99 per month and can choose any of audible's titles at the rate of one per month. This works out good value as the best audio books ca..."

I've lately been getting books on MP3 (?) from the library that I listen to on my phone and tablet via Overdrive. I didn't know how you listened to books from the library until my brother told me about Overdrive.

My husband gets Audible and loves it. He gets more for him than me, but I've enjoyed some too. Other audiobooks have been on cd from people. I like audiobooks; I use them in the car and I have a long commute to one of my jobs.

I'm currently listening to The Guns of August still. I'm nearly done though. I think I'm getting more out of it than I was reading, but I still don't understand all the military stuff...

I'm still picking all All Quiet... and The Beauty and the Sorrow too.

Not related to here I just started A Clash of Kings. So long...

Bronwyn wrote: "My husband gets Audible and loves it. He gets more for him than me, but I've enjoyed some too. Other audiobooks have been on cd from people. I like audiobooks; I use them in the car and I have a lo..."

I had to return Guns of August to the library before I finished it (I practically forgot I had it) and am now on the waiting list to get it again.

I love audiobooks, too! I always have 1 going in my car (right now it's The Winter Sea, which I'm enjoying).

If anyone's interested in young adult and/or classics, there's a free summer audio reading program where you get 2 books per week and once you download them, they're yours to keep! They try to pair a current YA book with a classic each week. . I've done it for 2 years (I lost the first batch when my computer died, now I back them up on a flash drive!). It starts this week!


I'm currently reading the 5th Flavia deLuce novel, Speaking from Among the Bones and our non-fiction group read Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II. I'm enjoying them both.

That's really cool, Jennifer! I'll definitely be checking that out further. :)

Having recently read, and really enjoyed, our BYT June 2014 fiction choice...




A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell -

...I am currently reading the second book in "A Dance to the Music of Time", the twelve-volume cycle of novels by Anthony Powell....



A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell

It's a a story that revolves around parties whose attendees are searching for money, jobs, sex, social status etc. A marketplaces if you will. As with A Question of Upbringing, on one level, it's full of day-to-day detail however it's still a joy. There is so much to discuss with these books, not least how everything we know is filtered through narrator Nick Jenkins. How reliable is he? He frequently revises his opinions about those he meets not least Widmerpool whose personal journey continues apace.

Roll on June.

I'm currently reading The Complete Stories of Evelyn Waugh. Mostly they're very good, some are better than others though. I really enjoyed Bella Fleace Gave a Party, Cruise, and On Guard. Winner Takes All was good too. I just finished the two chapters from the unfinished Work Suspended and next is Charles Ryder's Schooldays. I'm really enjoying it overall. (I'm struck again with the short stories with how interconnected his books are and how characters are mentioned in passing and turn up in other stories. I really love that aspect of his works.)

I have a week off work so I'm reading loads this week (...don't you just love those weeks off! Especially as it's rainy so no guilty feelings that I should be in the garden instead!).

As well as listening to Nancy Mitford's 'Love in a Cold Climate' I picked up these from the library...

Dorothea's War by Dorothea Crewdson
The Lie by Helen Dunmore
Park Lane by Frances Osborne

I also have on the go...

Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres (...a modern writer who I feel is in the same league as Waugh, Maugham & co.)
The Novel in the Viola by Natasha Solomons
& I'm continuing to dip in and out of Maugham's short stories.

Phew!

After just finishing Hangover Square, and soon to start The Slaves of Solitude I am in a London vibe, so I'm reading H.V. Morton's The Nights of London, which is just more Morton magic.

I'm trying to find a book to grab me, so I've got several started:
Behemoth
The English Patient
Wither
The Scarlet Letter

So far they're all good enough, but none are as of yet exciting or compelling.