Reading - July 2016

The Week (2 July 2016 / Issue 1080)

Published only days after the referendum and already out of date. The perils of printed news.

Roarke's Wife by Beverly Barton (1997)

Kind of a combined romance/whodunnit. Appealing in places but a little unbelievable in others.

The Week (9 July 2016 / Issue 1081)

Guitar & Bass (August 2016 / Vol 27 No. 11)

At Home by Bill Bryson (2010)

I read once that Terry Deary (author of Horrible Histories) employed a team of researchers to find interesting facts, which he would then combine into books. I don't know how Bill Bryson works but given the "select" bibliography at the back - which is 26 pages long and contains over 500 books - I assume he does the same. The result is a loosely themed collection of always interesting and occasionally fascinating bits and pieces of information (I've been quoting them at people for days), but one that nevertheless feels like the information is driving the book rather than the other way round.

The Week (16 July 2016 / Issue 1082)

Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger (1994)

Brilliant telling of the Apollo 13 story, which, by having a clear narrative arc, manages to bring in lots of other information about Apollo and NASA without being dull.

The Week (23 July 2016 / Issue 1083)

Guitarist (Summer 2016 / Issue 410)

The Week (30 July 2016 / Issue 1084)

Bread Matters: Why and How to Make Your Own by Andrew Whitley (2009)