John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

Ian Leslie

2025 

A very 2020s take on a 1950s relationship

There are one or two books about The Beatles already^{[citation needed]} so it would take a novel approach to make this much-analysed subject fresh. Thankfully, that's what Ian Leslie has achieved, using 43 songs as jumping off points for an in-depth look at the central relationship in the band, that between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It makes for an interesting, engrossing read, one I enjoyed very much.

But - you knew there was a "but" coming, surely - entertaining as it is, I can't take it too seriously. If you leave out the (very) well-known facts and biographical elements, what's left is basically just reams of speculation. Leslie - a psychologist, to judge by his previous books - has taken snippets of old interviews and pieces of lyrics that Lennon and McCartney both acknowledged were often just included because they fitted the music, and built upon them a castle of sand.

Leslie even points this out himself: in the chapter about "I Am The Walrus", he mentions how John Lennon:

"rails at 'experts textperts' - those who confidently offered interpretations of Beatles lyrics"

while literally doing the same thing himself in the same paragraph (and the rest of the book), apparently unaware of the irony. 

Overall, although it's an interesting approach, I'm not sure the conclusions are warranted based on the slender evidence. Lennon and McCartney met in the late 50s and barely more than twenty years later one of them was dead. What they went through together, no-one else will understand, but casting it in the light of a 21st century bromance is almost certainly not how they thought of it themselves. At least, that's my opinion. But what do I know, since I'm not them, and neither is Ian Leslie.

Reading - May 2026

Alex by Charles Peattie and Russell Taylor (1987 - 2024)

I first came across Alex in The Independent, probably in the late 80s or early 90s. It was always a very sharp satire on City life and I've bought a few books from the early 2000s. Finding out that it was still being published as late as 2024 was a bit of a surprise - nearly forty years is some going! Luckily the cartoons - yes, all 9,021 of them - are on the Alex site and although it took me a while to go through them, I enjoyed it.

John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie (2025)

A very 2020s take on a 1950s relationship.

Round Ireland With a Fridge by Tony Hawks (1998)

Gently amusing re-read that is a bit dated now perhaps.

The Sure Thing by Steven L. Bloom and Jonathan Roberts (second draft, 1983)

The Sure Thing is an little gem of a film that doesn't get much recognition. Having just watched the film and then the "Making of", I was curious to read the script. This second draft is fascinating because, although it contains most of the same scenes as the eventual film, most of the dialog is completely different; the characterisation is inconsistent, it's not clear why either of the main characters would like each other and in general it's a noticeably worse film. From things mentioned casually in the featurette, I suspect that Rob Reiner, then right at the beginning of his directing career, basically rewrote the script, or at least heavily guided the authors. It often seems unfair to talk of a "Rob Reiner film" but given the similarities in tone between this and When Harry Met Sally a few years later (which was written by Nora Ephron but developed in collaboration with Reiner) it seems fair to give him a reasonable amount of credit here.

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (1933)

Having just watched the TV dramatisation from 2010 (with David Suchet), I wanted to read the book again to remind myself of the plot and see how close the adaptation came. Well, it's pretty close: the book has less action, which is fitting for a locked-room mystery, and although the solution is now well known, it isn't any less impressive from a story telling point of view.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis (2010)

Having just re-watched the film (twice!), I wanted to re-read the book. It's ten years since I first did, and the story it tells is still just as shocking. I don't fully understand the financial products involved (although I'm slightly mollified that the same is true for all but a handful of people in the world), but it doesn't stop this being a fascinating read. That said, while we hear from the people who figured out that the whole sub-prime market was a house of cards waiting to fall, we don't hear from anyone who built it. Were they just kidding themselves or did they understand what was going on but just didn't care? I suspect, and Lewis hints, that they won't or are legally bound not to discuss it, but it would be good to know. Lewis weaves a compelling tale and concludes, as any rational person surely must, that the issue, while complex, is not unsolvable. But there has to be a political will to solve it, and that's the thing that was - and is - really lacking. Why is that absent? Now there's a question.

Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis (1989)

One of the themes that strike me from both this and The Big Short is the way that the money markets (is that the right term?) too often end up being the tail that wags the dog of actual industry. The sub-prime crisis was caused by the banks' demands for more and more mortgages that could be packaged up into bonds, and similarly here we learn that junk bonds were so profitable that investment banks, having run out of them, artificially created more by engineering corporate takeovers that would then end up being financed by more junk bonds. I'm sure I'm over-simplifying things, but there's an imbalance here surely. Anyway, Michael Lewis is as entertaining as always while maintaining a sane view into the madness of the 80s (a madness that is mild compared to what later occurred, of course).

Going Home by Stacy Finz (2014)

Our online library finally has the last two books in this series and so, as a reminder, I re-read this first one. No surprises of course, but still a sweet and wholesome romance.

Flash Boys by Michael Lewis (2015)

The last in the trilogy of Michael Lewis books I got a week ago and the first I hadn't read before, Flash Boys (he does give good title) is just as interesting, this time about the next way that the financial markets conspired to make money at the expense of ordinary people - high frequency trading (HFT). Again, though, in taking the perspective of the people who uncovered the shenanigans (those who then founded the stock exchange IEX), we're left with the impression of shadowy demons behind the scenes who created the mess in the first place, but who we never hear from. Someone - lots of people - figured out how HFT could work and made billions from it. I can understand why many of them wouldn't be keen to talk publicly but surely enough would to make the genesis of the story tellable. As it is, this is like coming in to the story when it's about to end; we find out what happened but not really who or how. Lewis makes it excellently readable though, as always.

Reading - April 2026

My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (1919)

An early collection of stories - some date originally to 1911 - and including some that don't actually feature Jeeves and Wooster at all, but an apparent Bertie Wooster prototype called Reggie Pepper. The Wodehouse style is all in place and just as enjoyable as ever.

Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson (2014)

I was keen to read this as the title promised an amusing look into why people behave in incomprehensible ways. That was scotched pretty quickly: the title is the funniest thing about it and in any case the author quickly explains that there aren't really any "idiots" at all, just people we don't understand. OK, that's fair enough - in my more tolerant moments, I recognise this perfectly well, even if it's not really what I wanted to read. But when Erikson then goes on to claim that everyone's personality traits derive from one of four categories (a theory derived from a piece of 1920s bunkum), he really lost me. Because even allowing for his stipulation that most people are mixtures of personality types, the central concept is still obviously and comically reductive. To quote Ben Goldacre: I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that. What Erikson presents is barely more useful or scientific than a horoscope: generic observations that allow people to say, "yes, I know someone just like that!" without offering any real insight. The whole thing is beautifully deconstructed in a detailed article by VoF, the Swedish Skeptics' Association, and exposed for the pseudoscience it is.

And Away ... by Bob Mortimer (2021)

A genial, leisurely tour through Bob Mortimer's life, in which he comes across as slightly bemused at what he's achieved. His emergence from behind Vic Reeves to become the much-loved comedian he is now is a sweet story, one that he implies kind of happened to him. As ever, I'm sure this fails to mention the amounts of hard work put into the achievement. But he's easy company and the book is never less than engaging.

Carry On Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (1925)

A wonderfully amusing collection of short stories, including "Bertie Changes His Mind", the only Jeeves & Wooster story narrated from the perspective of Jeeves. Now available for free from Project Gutenberg, along with many other Wodehouse volumes.

Reading - March 2026

Unexpected by Lori Foster (2003)

Some good bits, some "wtf??" moments, a sense of slightly different plots and fiction styles being stitched together, all made this an OK read but nothing more.

The Cornish Midwife by Jo Bartlett (2021)

A simple and straightforward romance. The main male character is too perfect but that's often the case in these things. I'm not sure why I chose this other than that I needed something to read, but it was fine. I probably won't bother with the other (checks ...) seven books in the series though.

You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry (2021)

Given the recent Netflix film, I was expecting the library's copies of the book to be all taken - which they were. But there were plenty of copies under the book's original title - so score one for doing a little bit of research! Anyway, my personal little victories and smugness aside, this is a very enjoyable, modern, friends-to-lovers romance that uses jumps between different periods in the relationship to good effect. The last minute misunderstanding that I complained about in the film is present here, but there's less of the slapstick, which is an improvement over the film, I think. All in all, a very satisfying read.

What Have I Done? by Ben Elton (2025)

I'm happy to say that this very readable book has changed my mind about about Ben Elton. Not that I disliked either him or his work, but since I was primarily aware of him through his standup comedy on TV, I thought of him as shouty, not particularly subtle comedian. However, he's always thought of himself as a writer and on the evidence presented here, which includes way more TV, books and plays than I realised, it's impossible not to agree. He's passionate about his work and the same way about his achievements and about defending himself against the unnecessary and unfair criticism he's faced over the years - all with justification, I'd say. The books never palls - he's met, worked with and has stories about a huge number of people - and I finished it in a few days. And crucially, it's inspired me to seek out more of his work. I mean, I probably will at some point, once I've cleared my backlog (this is a joke, I never clear my backlog ... but I will add some of his books to it!)

Celeb by Charles Peattie and Mark Warren (2002)

Amusing collection of the cartoons from Private Eye.

Bluff Your Way In Jazz by Peter Gammond & Peter Clayton (1987)

Part genuinely informative summary of jazz and part a series of jokes that assume you're already familiar with it (I always remembered the quote: "[...] the rumour that [John Coltrane] had a crush on Julie Andrews is unfounded", which assumes you know his version of "My Favourite Things"). I've owned this book since I was a student and, like all of the Bluffer's Guides, it never fails to make me smile.

One Moment by Becky Hunter (2023)

"Perfect for fans of David Nicholls" it says here on Borrow Box, and I can see the comparison: a bittersweet romance that has a dead person in it. The story is very readable and the people feel real - I mean apart from the supernatural element - and I enjoyed it. It's not quite as much of a time loop as the blurb promises (not at all, in fact) but the ending is sweet and gives a bit of closure.

Bluff Your Way in Motoring by John McManus (1989)

Amusing but dated.

Reading - February 2026

Hello World by Hannah Fry (2018)

Subtitled "How to be human in the age of the machine", this is an interesting but possibly already slightly dated look at how algorithms affect our lives in the 21st century. The main thing that dates it is, of course, the rise of AI in the last 3-4 years. Then again, the LLMs (ChatGPT et al) are essentially just very sophisticated algorithms and the ethics and issues raised by using them haven't changed, even though their use has become more widely known and, to some extent, accepted. In her conclusion, Fry suggests that the main developments needed to accommodate algorithms into human life is to firstly make them more open, rather than proprietary black boxes, and secondly to properly understand and work with their limitations rather than just blindly accepting their results as truth - both suggestions that make perfect sense but sadly seem a little far away at the moment.

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig (2024)

I'm not normally particularly fond of magical realism, but Matt Haig's books have always hit a reasonable blend for me: not too fantastical, but just enough to make the metaphor work and the points come across. Here, however, it's just a bit too much and the main character just a bit too magical. Why this should be so when I am quite happy to watch MCU films that dress up the same kind of superpowers with "science", I'm not sure, but there we go. The narrative is always good - Haig writes with a deceptively simple clarity that I reminds me a little of Alexander McCall Smith - but the points being made, despite being ones I can't possibly disagree with, seem a little heavy-handed.

The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary (2019)

The ostensibly high concept of this novel ("Tiffy and Leon share a bed. Tiffy and Leon have never met ...") is actually largely irrelevant, as exactly the same story could have been told with a two bedroom flat. Luckily it doesn't stop the development of a sweet relationship and a good story. Once I got into it properly I polished the second half of the book off in an afternoon. A very welcome birthday present from K!

When Good Things Happen To Bad Boys by Lori Foster, Erin McCarthy & Helen Kay Dimon (2006)

Three short stories: two not bad, one a bit weird. All showing their age - thankfully we don't think it's romantic when men force themselves on women any more.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (1995)

Superficially, this is a little time capsule from thirty years ago - mixtapes, smoking in pubs, recording things off the telly, remember that? At a deeper level, of course, it's timeless: about a certain type of man who never really grew up. I can remember enjoying the novel when I last read it - probably only a couple of years after it came out, when I was in my mid-twenties, ten years younger than Rob is in the book - as I recognised a kindred spirit, someone a little too obsessive about music and prone to feeling lost in an adult world. But ten years later, I was that man in a suit with a good job, wife and kids that Rob finds so intimidating when he meets one of his ex-girlfriends (an episode that forms a much smaller part of the plot than I remember, interestingly). And now I'm twenty years older again, I just find him a bit irritating - a self-centred child who can't understand why people are annoyed with him. The book's still a good read though.

Reading - January 2026

The Shawshank Redemption by Frank Darabont (~1993)

It always surprises me how quick it is to read a script compared to the impact it has on the screen. Since I'm very familiar with the film, it's easy to visualise it as I read, but taking something from words on a page to a film isn't something I can imagine. Perhaps, as an experiment, I need to find a script before I watch the film.

The Islander: My Life in Music and Beyond by Chris Blackwell with Paul Morley (2022)

Chris Blackwell is a legend in the music industry, as the founder, chief exec and all round spiritual centre of Island records for decades. Oddly, Wikipedia just lists his occupation as "record producer", which is correct but includes less than 10% of what he did at Island, let alone afterwards. This autobiography covers it all nicely, in a dry, matter-of-fact way that initially seemed a bit boring. But as the chapters passed and the litany of his achievements and genre-defining artists build up, it becomes more and more impressive. Also, a nicely short book, which these things should be.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World by Edgar Wright & Michael Bacall (2010)

I don't know why so many film scripts are freely available on the web but it's great to be able to read them. This was great fun.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (2020)

There's plenty of wisdom here that goes deeper than the easy headline of "love the life you have rather than the one you don't", wrapped up in a story that's easy to read and easy to feel inspired by. It's obvious why it's been so popular.

Pride and Pleasure by Sylvia Day (2011)

A historical romance with a setting that seems like the author watched a single episode of a period drama for research and then guessed the rest. Points for featuring an independent woman in that day and age; minus more points for making her a simpering mess when the right man comes along. Passed the time but otherwise of little merit.