Reading - November 2013

The Week (2 November 2013 / Issue 944))

The Mysterious Affair At Styles by Agatha Christie (1920)

Agatha Christie was probably the first "grown-up" author I read (my mother's influence, I expect) and I come back to her books every now and then. A classic mystery. I read it online thanks to Project Gutenberg.

How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran (2012)

The Les Paul Guitar Book by Tony Bacon (2009)

Third edition of a very nicely presented history of the legendary guitar. The printing is excellent quality and the pictures are lovely, but I don't like the house style of alternating two pages of text with two of illustrations, although I can understand why it's done. I could also have done with more technical details about the guitar as well as the history.

The Sacred Art Of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre (2002)

One of my favourite books (this is the second time this year I have read it). I really like the characters.

The Week (11 November 2013 / Issue 945)

A Snowball In Hell by Christopher Brookmyre (2008)

The sequel to The Sacred Art Of Stealing, with Angelique and Zal returning, and Simon Darcourt reappearing. Sick in places - in, um, a good way - and highly acerbic. Part of the satire involves the hypocrisy of the "general public" who profess to despise the celebrity shennanigans but buy the newspapers that report it by their millions. We, the readers of this book, are of course above this - as we read a book that uses such (albeit fictional) shennanigans as plot points. Anyway, very funny.

Guitarist (December 2013 / Issue 375)

The Week (18 November 2013 / Issue 946)

A Field Guide To The English by Sarah Lyall (2009)