Reading - October 2024

Phew, Eh Readers? by Tom Hibbert, ed. Barney Hoskyns & Jasper Murison-Bowie (2024)

I remember Tom Hibbert's "Who The Hell ..." columns from Q magazine very well - always the first article in the magazine, always an amusing read. But I was surprised to find that the Q house style, which I would have credited to Mark Ellen, is attributed by Ellen himself to Hibbert. Perhaps that accounts for the superlatives thrown around by many of the contributors here, who all seem to have regarded the man with much fondness. Sad to say, though, the pieces collected here don't live up to the picture painted by his friends; they're somewhat superficial and not particularly funny. Ideal for a ten minute diversion in Smash Hits maybe, but there's no evidence of the "master satirist" here. The book's all right but by the end - the painful "Pendennis" columns - I was just counting the pages until I was finished.

How to Handle a Heartbreaker by Marie Harte (2014)

Ruining Mr. Perfect by Marie Harte (2014)

The next two instalments in Marie Harte's McCauley Brothers series are basically the same as the first - but that doesn't matter really. They are very readable, contain relatable and enjoyable characters, and plenty of hot sex scenes. Not that I care about those of course.

All Gone to Look for America by Peter Millar (2009)

The title's slight - deliberate? - misquote of Simon & Garfunkel's gorgeous "America" is one of a few odd factual errors that I noticed (who is "Karin" Carpenter?), each of which have me wondering just slightly about the accuracy of the rest of the book. Which is a shame, because it's an entertaining journey across the rail network of the US. Millar is not writing with the same level of effortless wit or wisdom as Bill Bryson, but kept me interested throughout.

All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye by Christopher Brookmyre (2006)

Undemanding fantasy fun. I've said before it would make a great film, but I think the biggest issue with it - for studios - is that the main protagonist is a middle-aged woman, which, sadly, even in this day and age, is not considered to be a marketable proposition. Certainly the plot is no more far-fetched than many thrillers.

In Rides Trouble by Julie Ann Walker (2012)

The second book in the Black Knights Inc series leans even more heavily into the thriller aspect, which has two unfortunate side-effects: firstly, it reduces the romance element to a very simple story arc; but secondly, because it does have the necessary romance, the story is stripped of any suspense, since obviously it's going to end happily. A decent read, but I was starting to lose patience by about two-thirds of the way through.

Awkward Situations for Men by Danny Wallace (2010)

I like Danny Wallace's long-form adventures, but this collection of short columns reads like it's probably culled from a newspaper or magazine and is a bit disjointed. Some decent laugh-out-loud moments but overall a bit disappointing.