30/11/2015

Reading - November 2015

A Slip Of The Keyboard by Terry Pratchett (2014)
A collection of articles for various papers and magazines. There's a certain amount of repetition across them; maybe you could call them "themes" - such as the belittling of "fantasy" as a literary genre. Entertaining and interesting, in small, manageable chunks.
Saturday The Rabbi Went Hungry by Harry Kemelman (1966)
A period piece in some respects, and of its time, but interesting for the background in Judaism. The whole series is available in eBook form from the library, so that works for me and my shiny new Kobo Aura!
The Week (31 October 2015 / Issue 1046)
Sunday The Rabbi Stayed Home by Harry Kemelman (1969)
Again, of its time but nevertheless interesting and engaging.
The Week (7 November 2015 / Issue 1047)
Guitarist (December 2015 / Issue 401)
The Week (14 November 2015 / Issue 1048)
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (2008)
Highly readable pop-science, as expected from Gladwell. I'm not convinced the topics covered all hang together, quite, but there are very interesting viewpoints on a number of subjects. Read it in about 3 days.
Be My Enemy by Christopher Brookmyre (2004)
Parlabane on good form. Again.
The Week (21 November 2015 / Issue 1049)
How Music Works by David Byrne (2012)
A very mixed bag of a book by the Talking Heads front man. Some of it is interesting, some of it is indulgent, some is just a bit silly. Byrne's observation of how a venue affects the music made for it is new to me (although not original, I am sure); whereas his assessment of "How To Make A Scene" is basically just a rundown of what made the CBGB's scene, with little awareness of how a myriad of other factors could come together in a myriad of ways to achieve the same end. Which is odd, because he is one of the more widely travelled "pop" stars. I got a bit impatient towards the end, which was dragging somewhat.