Quick Round-up: Books

I seem to have whizzed through a handful of books in the last few weeks, including Madonna: An Intimate Biography (J. Randy Taraborrelli, 2002) which does what it says on the cover, up to the Drowned World tour in 2002 anyway. With Madonna's MDNA proving to be all kinds of danceable I decided to finally pull this book off the shelf before it got even more out of date (I was hoping the library would have the more up-to-date edition, but sadly not) and find out a bit more about the Queen of Pop. Taraborrelli seems to have had excellent access to friends and family, as well as having a healthy regard for the successes and failures that Madonna has experienced in the worlds of music and movies in her life. My over-whelming impression was that she was a bit of a bitch with a single-minded desire for success and infamy, but that a lot of the bluster of Madonna comes from her experiences as a child, losing her mother young and seeing her father remarry. Reading about Madonna's life gave me a greater understanding of some of her lyrics, why she went in certain directions, and how hard it must be for a man to be in a relationship with her. The biography was an easy, enlightening read, full of gossip and intrigue but without being salacious or tawdry.

Slightly different non-fiction, but I suppose still dealing with a mythical creature, The Natural History of Unicorns (Chris Lavers, 2009) was the very first book I've taken out of a (public) library. It caught my eye as I browsed the shelves as it seemed like such an odd concept that I had to know more. Lavers traces the history of the unicorn in ancient texts from disparate parts of the world, through representations in the Bible and Christianity, to treks into Africa to hunt the fabled one-horned creature. In trying to uncover the real life animals that prompted belief in the unicorn, and the mystical attributes given to 'alicorn', the name given to the horn and the substane it is made from, Lavers provides a natural history of the narwhal, the okapi and various antelope and goats that could have inspired the myths. While on occasion the text seemed to veer too far away from unicorns in parsing ancient bits of writing, Lavers creates convincing arguments to point to how unicorns were/are real, they are just amalgamations of living animals combined with the desire and belief of humans that such a divine being can exist.

On the fiction front I polished off Buried (Mark Billingham, 2006), in which DI Thorne, who I haven't caught up with in a while, investigates a kidnapping in his own inimitable, realistic and humorous style; and Murder Suicide (Keith Ablow, 2004) which sees forensic psychologist Frank Clevenger trying to understand whether a brilliant inventor committed suicide days before life-changing surgery, or whether he was murdered by one of the many suspects in his life. Thorne and Clevenger are typical crime heroes in that they are somewhat maverick-style loners with flaws, yet Billingham and Ablow steer clear of cliché with tightly plotted mysteries that are all about character and character development of their leads. So Thorne continues to grapple with the death of his father a couple of books ago, while Clevenger has an adopted teenage son to mentor and protect. Billingham and Ablow are writers I am always happy to come back to.

In a break away from detective fiction I took another long-term resident from the book shelf and finally cracked the front page on The Princess Bride (William Goldman, 1973/99). I had seen the movie version some time ago and must admit that I didn't really get it, so I was intrigued by what the book would be. It's an oddity. Goldman is supposedly so enamoured with a book that his grandfather read to him as a sick child, written by S. Morgenstern of Florin, a country supposedly existing in Northern Europe, and so he sets out to translate an English abridgement for his own son. Thus Goldman and his 'family' are characters in the background of the telling of the tale of Princess Buttercup, her suitor Wesley, evil Prince Humperdinck, giant Fezzik and swordsman Inigo Montoya, and Goldman regularly breaks into the story to explain parts, tell you what he cut from the Morgenstern text and to reassure the reader when it looks like a favourite character may die. It's a tricky way to write a book, and I'm not sure I really bought it and the reasons for it. It is funny in the parody aspect of fairy tale heroes and adventurous derring do, and the plot is engaging and warm hearted, I just can't help but feel that perhaps it doesn't have quite enough bite to really work as a spoof.

My second library loan was Remembrance of Things I Forgot (Bob Smith, 2011), a book that has rattled around in my mind for days after reading. The premise is fantastic - John Sherkston plans to break up with his boyfriend, who has just invented a time machine for the US Government in 2006, when evil Vice President Dick Cheney hits a switch and sends John back to 1986, where he teams up with his young self and young future-boyfriend to try and prevent his sister from killing herself in 15 years, as well as to prevent George W.  Bush from becoming President and screwing the country. How could this set up not reap huge rewards? And it truly does, for the most part. Smith has a fantastically ascerbic wit that had me really laughing out loud, and the time travel plotting is intricate and well constructed, full of what ifs and ponderous questions like, if you could go back and time and change something, would you. Nowhere is this question better explored than in John's attempts to save his father from drinking himself to death, and his sister from shooting herself - his interactions with his family as a middle-aged man are touchingly portrayed, adding much depth and emotional heft to the novel. Initially, the idea of an evil Cheney running around 1986 trying to stop John from changing the future is hilarious and the liberal bias of the character and writer is screamingly clear. Unfortunately, I found the continued attacks on Cheney and Bush became wearying and a little repetitive, and the characters' plans to frame Bush in a sex scandal thereby preventing his presidency is funny but on occasion the barbs are just out right nasty. I mean, I understand that their time in office wasn't the best - yes there were wars, people died - but they were not super villains without conscience (or Syria's Assad). Luckily things get back on track by the end of the book and the bad taste doesn't linger as long as the exciting ideas thrown up by the time travel plot - chief of which involves the confusing sexual attraction between John and his 26 year old self ('Junior'), a quirk that wouldn't have been possible had the lead been heterosexual, and a very enticing quandry it is at that.

The Know-It-All (A.J. Jacobs, 2004)

basics...
The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World is a very funny, informative account of A.J. Jacob's self-imposed quest to read the entire 33 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica. 

brilliant...
A quirky concept, the book is broken down into chapters by letter, and further fragmented into sections headed by a specific Britannica topic. Jacobs relates interesting, shocking or amusing anecdotes from the revered tomes and provides commentary on his experience of reading every single entry across 33,000 pages. It's a mammoth task, and although he rarely wavers, there are moments when he questions what exactly he's getting out of it - is he learning more, does he remember what he has read, is it all futile? It's a funny journey and one that I enjoyed sharing. More than just a collection of facts, The Know-It-All provides an insight into the author's life as a journalist living in New York post-9/11, and we follow his growing relationship with his super-brainy father, and his wife's attempts to get pregnant. Jacobs joins Mensa and tries to use his new knowledge to win big on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, as well as impressing/irritating friends and family with facts about obscure Latvian villages or ancient customs. I've retained little of the knowledge I gleaned from Jacob's watered-down version of the Britannica, but as with the author, I think I learned more from the human stories, about the quest for knowledge and how it is not an end in itself.

briefly...
Warm and witty, fact-packed and teeming with humanity too, The Know-It-All is a treasure trove of unexpected pleasures.

The Naked Ape Trilogy (Desmond Morris, 1967-1971)

basics...
A trilogy of investigations into the human animal by Desmond Morris, from the (in)famous The Naked Ape (1967) through less well known The Human Zoo (1969) and Intimate Behaviour (1971). 

brilliant...
I picked up this hardback in a charity shop, drawn by my fleeting knowledge of the Naked Ape and the intriguing subject matter. It's taken me a few months to get through all 3 alongside various works of fiction, even though combined they only total 500 pages, and it's been an interesting read. The Naked Ape stirred controversy when it came out in 1967 for Morris' study of the animalistic, zoological approach that he takes with human nature. He looks for reasons behind human behaviour in the history and evolution of the species, as well as in the context of our busy modern lives, with comparisons made with our hairier ape cousins. The 'sequel' looks at how humanity's move to the cities is mirrored by the lives of captive zoo animals and how the conditions affect our behaviours. The final piece of the trilogy sees Morris examine the ways that human beings are intimate, from handshakes and sex to using pets, masturbation and pillows as intimacy proxies. While some of the statistics and references are dated the conclusions that Morris draws are interesting and leave many a moment for pause and reflection. It seems like Morris has an evolutionary, behavioural or childhood explanation for every single human action, from the tiniest thing like the way your cross your legs to the reasons we like certain animals over others. It's a fascinating trilogy, with the first and third books my favourites, and it's a really easy read - there are no footnotes or bothersome facts and statistics, well there are a few, but mostly the books are written to be read and understood by anyone so are refreshingly jargon-free.

but...
The dated references include some dubious responses to homosexuality. I'm surprised it's covered at all, but for the most part, as with the majority of the activities explored by Morris, homosexuality is treated dispassionately, without judgement. Maybe it was just me though but sometimes I did feel that there was a bias against homosexuality on occasion, which I take as a sign of the times the books were written. The 'prejudice' also stretches to descriptions of women as mothers and homemakers, and the assumption that couples are married before having children - a bit old-fashioned but excusable.

briefly...
Not as shocking as I expected, The Naked Ape Trilogy has been eclipsed by a more free-thinking time, where this sort of human behaviour study is not novel, but even many decades later Morris makes strong arguments that are difficult to disagree with. 

One World Divisible: A Global History Since 1945 (David Reynolds, 2000)

basics...
This book does it exactly what it says in the (sub)title, spanning 55 years of history in 700 pages, with a truly global reach. 

brilliant...
I first picked this book up a few years ago and didn't get very far. Back in May I hefted it down from the shelf and got stuck back in, and just a few short months later I'm done. Reynolds has produced an extraordinary work. Covering the East and West and everything inbetween, from Cold War beginnings to the fall of the USSR, taking in economic crises, the emergence of new technologies and countries and also finding time to look at social changes amongst the world-changing big events, One World Divisible was an enthralling read from beginning to end. Some sections were a bit less interesting than others - mostly ones that dwelt on economics - but that's less the fault of the historian than history itself, and of course my particular interests. I learnt a lot from this overview of world affairs, and Reynolds writes in a way that is accessible and even pleasurable, something other non-fiction writers could learn from. I particularly liked how Reynolds wove stories of different parts of the globe into the over-arching narrative, not just seeing events from a Western point of view.

briefly...
Comprehensive, enlightening and readable, an excellent introduction to world history and an awe-inspiring feat of abridgement, turning 55 turbulent years into a readable narrative.

What Should I Do With My Life? (Po Bronson, 2003)

basics...
In need of some direction and inspiration for where my life is going I picked up this wonderfully titled book by the oddly named Po Bronson. It turned out to be full of real life stories of people who have changed career or found their calling, or simply just done something different with their lives. 

brilliant...
Bronson's approach divides the stories into useful sections, some deal with the question alongside other commitments like family, others with what it means to find fulfilment in a job, and whether you should actively seek out opportunities that could lead to failure. The author also gets involved in the stories, as in he goes and visits with each person, and he offers comment on their choices but without judgement (much). The book therefore made me think a bit more creatively about my future and what it is I might like to do, and more importantly, the stories encouraged me not to give up hope, that the right job could come along by accident, although it helps to explore possibilities. While I didn't put the book down knowing the answer to the title's question, I'm more confident about being able to figure it out and enjoy doing so. While reading the book I've begun volunteering at the Playhouse, and I'm about to begin a second Open University course, on creative writing - I'm not sure I consciously did these things as a direct result of my reading this work, but it may have helped.
briefly...
A thought-provoking work, with a range of interesting people leading varied and fulfilling lives - a real piece of inspiration to ponder as I go. 

Maggie: Her Fatal Legacy (John Sergeant, 2005)

Being born in 1984 I spent my youngest years growing up in Margaret Thatcher's Britain, but being so young I knew little of this. As I've grown older most of the stuff I hear about Thatcher is overwhelmingly negative - particularly in Gay Times and Attitude which hold her to account for Section 28. Outside of the gay sphere, the Falklands, miners and the poll tax are some of Thatcher's less well remembered legacies. I've been intrigued about what kept her in power from 1979 to 1990 if she was so terrible, and so when browsing in a bookshop one day I came across John Sergeant's book, Maggie. A fan of Sergeant's wit from his stints on Have I Got News For You, I decided to give the book a go, and having just whizzed through it on a week off work full of cold, I've come out quite a bit wiser about Thatcher's fall from grace and her political legacy, if not much more the wiser about her decade long appeal to voters. 

Sergeant writes with the same gentle humour and intelligence as he demonstrates on TV (Strictly Come Dancing notwithstanding), and he conveys some very dry and boring seeming political concepts in an understandable and interesting manner - his descriptions of the Exchange Rate Mechanism and the internal workings of Conservative party leadership elections could have been snore-fests in lesser hands, but his experience of broadcast news journalism and ability to explain political processes in 30 second sound bites comes in hand. His access to members of then current and previous government ministers, including John Major and Tony Blair, and his presence at many of the events he discusses means that he speaks with authority. 

The book discusses the last few years of Thatcher's 'reign' and how she was ousted by her own party, and then how she managed to play a part, however unwittingly, in the downfall of the Conservative party and Major's subsequent government, leading to an appalling result for them at the 1997 election. This 'fatal legecy' Sergeant argues continued within the party in opposition as pro-European and Euro-sceptic factions fell out, causing disunity and distrust by the British public. It is clear that Sergeant holds Thatcher in high regard in terms of the impact and power she held and the influence she continued to have on politics long after she ceased to be PM, but this is no sycophantic treatise, rather it's a skillful, balanced look at how Thatcher and the myth of Maggie came to influence the political landscape of the 1990's and 2000's. A fascinating read that has helped with my political understanding immeasurably. 

The Year 1000 (Robert Lacey & Danny Danziger, 1999)

Subtitled: 'What life was like at the turn of the first millennium', The Year 1000 is a readable romp through the calendar from January to December, charting the life and times of people 1000 years ago. The authors draw on a wide range of sources and cover things like farming, the position of women, religion, royalty, wars, medicine, food... barely a subject left untouched, and at 200 pages it's not over-full with facts and information, but I found there was just enough to keep me turning the pages and interested in the subjects. 

I've never really considered what life must have been like for people before the Battle of Hastings in 1066, when most English history seems to begin. Lacey and Danziger explain who was in charge before that time, and what led up and from the famous battle, but they also step away from the bigger picture events to focus on the generalities of daily life, like the good diets people had, the relative lack of diseases from later years when populations crowded into cities, the roots of festivals both religious/Christian and pagan that still exist in some form today... It's a fascinating trip, written with good humour and a journalistic readability. 

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (David Simon, 1991/2006)

I picked up Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets probably for the same reason a lot of other people will have done, because as the front cover says it's from 'the creator of The Wire', David Simon. And while I've only got through the first season of what it supposed to be the best show on TV, that didn't stop me being intrigued by this work of non-fiction, that Simon wrote in 1991 and formed the basis of the US crime drama Homicide: Life on the Street.

This book was more compelling than any other non-fiction book I've read. I was utterly absorbed by the cast of detectives, criminals and and civilians. Simon's prose is a pleasure to read, and he makes the process of homicide investigations so easy to understand and yet he writes with grand brush strokes, giving an overview of the whole process in chunks along the way. He explains crime scene investigation (such as it was in 1988, no shiny CSI-style stuff here), interrogation techniques, how white murders differ from black, police internal investigations, autopsies, court-rooms and juries... I really feel that he gives an entire picture of what life is like for a homicide detective. 

Simon followed this squad of Baltimore detectives for a year, and his immersion in their world shows through - not only does he detail the heartbreaking child murders, the frustration of whodunnits, the joy of dunkers, the meaninglessness of yet another drug-killing, he also picks out the gallows humour of those poor souls who's job it is to clean up after so much destruction, he shows how some detectives are haunted by particular cases, and the camaraderie of these men (and they're all men) is sometimes touching, often laugh-out-loud funny. 

The front cover quotes the Daily Telegraph as saying Homicide 'reads like a thriller' and I'd have to agree - the scope, the attention given to each character, the sheer readable nature of the narrative, they all add up to the classic thriller, but with the added edge of these characters being living, breathing, real people. After I'd devoured the 600+ pages of the original text, I was pleased to read Simon's 2006 post-script, which provided an update on where the detectives are now, and how his book influenced his TV shows that followed. It's the cherry on an overwhelming delicious cake, albeit one filled with gunshot wounds, grieving relatives and world-weary police - a masterpiece.

Talking Cock (Richard Herring, 2003)

In my quest to read those books that have been sitting on my shelf for far too long I picked up Talking Cock: A Celebration of Man and his Manhood. Written by comedian Richard Herring after a show of the same name, I found that once I'd started I couldn't put this book down! That's not just because the subject matter is fascinating, it's because Herring's writing is hilarious, literally laugh-out-loud funny, it had me in stitches. It's not just a bunch of 'knob gags' though, rather an interesting insight into 'man's best friend' and his relationship with it. 

Using a home-made online questionnaire to solicit opinions from men and women about penises, asking questions about the size, use of and satisfaction with it, among other things, along with copious research into scientific and cultural writings on the subject, Herring provides a thought-provoking treatise on the cock. He looks at the penis and it's treatment through history, he looks at the medical, scientific parts of it, examines circumcision, considers masturbation and sex, and everything else inbetween. 

What could have been a crude endeavour with no real substance turns out to be one of the funniest and most informative books I've read on any subject. If only all non-fiction was this entertaining! I'm a bit nervous about searching for the picture to accompany the article though, typing 'Talking Cock' into Google could throw up some interesting suggestions.

Forever Today (Deborah Wearing, 2005)

In my quest to get through some of the books gathering dust on our shelves I plucked something a bit different off last weekend, a memoir. I’ve read a few biographies (Bill Clinton, Churchill, Stalin, Walt Disney, Dolly Parton – spot the connection?!) but never a memoir like this one, Forever Today, written by Deborah Weaving. I don’t even know what possessed me to purchase this, I was possibly adding to my basket on the Book People in order to get free post and packing.

I devoured the book in less than a week (I’m getting through a few like that lately) as it was a truly fascinating account. Deborah Weaving writes about her husband Clive, formerly a respected conductor and musician, who was struck down with an illness in 1985 that wiped out the part of his brain that holds and forms memories. While he still has procedural memory and thus can dress himself, make a cup of tea and even play the piano, he is unable to create new memories, thus every few minutes he believes he has just ‘woken up’. When Deborah enters the room he’s seeing her for the first time, if she’s out of sight for a moment he’s forgotten she was ever there and is pleased to see her all over again.

Deborah writes of the illness, with real compassion – she was and continues to be deeply in love with Clive, and he remembers that he loves her, constantly writing in his diary that he wants her to arrive ‘at the speed of light’. Rather than being maudlin and downbeat, Forever Today is a touching, heartfelt account of the love shared between two people, and the barrier that Clive’s illness throws in their way. I was fascinated with the description of his condition, but Weaving’s writing never makes her husband feel like a scientific study subject.

From the harrowing early days of the illness, through the endless loop of repetition (Clive always asking the same questions, unable to remember answers) to Deborah’s decision to divorce Clive and look for love elsewhere in USA and Greece, the book charts Deborah’s attempts to deal with the disease, her fight to obtain proper support for amnesiacs, and her sense of utter loss and semi-grief when she tries to move on with her life. She is unable to stop loving Clive though, and happily by the end of the book, Clive is showing massive improvements in his ability to absorb information and they renew their marriage vows. Deborah finds solace in religion to assist her in dealing with Clive, and there the memoir ends.

I was pleased to discover that Clive is still living, in his 70s, according to Wikipedia. His story is endless interesting and touching, and Deborah’s experiences offer much food for thought. This may have been a bit of a random purchase, nevertheless it has been a rewarding one.

Walt Disney: The Biography (Neal Gabler, 2006)

Hands down the best non-fiction work I've ever read - and quite possibly the best book period - Neal Gabler's officially sanctioned biography of Walt Disney is a peerless volume. Gabler had access to the Walt Disney archives and has clearly talked to hundreds of people and read masses of letters, previous biographies and interviews, and the result is an account of Disney's life that is unlikely to be equalled. 

It's taken me several months to read this book - not because it's hard going or over long (600-odd pages). I've got the first edition hardback version so it's a weighty tome and not designed for taking on trains or reading comfortably sat up in bed so I've had to lie down and savour it. Everytime I opened it up I got lost in the tales of Mickey Mouse, Snow White, Disneyland and everything else. Sometimes devouring in short bursts was the only way to keep up with all that Disney packed into his relatively short life. 

So many advances in filmmaking and beyond were done first or done best by Walt - colour shorts, feature-length animation, Fantasia, movie studios getting into TV, the Disneyland theme park, animatronics, storyboards... the list of his accomplishments is almost unending and continue to have an impact across the world. Gabler doesn't shy away from Walt's follies or faults - this isn't just a big back-slap for the animation genius. Walt is shown as a physically unhealthy, chain-smoking, peevish figure often. Gabler faces accusations of Walt's anti-semitism and racism head on and provides evidence he was guilty of neither any more than people were in the 30s, 40s, 50s. There's not a great deal about Walt's relationship with Lillian, his wife, but then that is because the movies, theme park and all were his focus for much of the time. 

The picture that Gabler paints of Disney is far from the utopian ideal that many think his company now pedals. The biography is a tale of perseverance, of success and failure and of one man's drive to always being doing something new, something different, something he enjoyed. From the early days of animation, through the second world war when the Disney Studio was commissioned by the government to produce propaganda, through to experiments in TV and the success of the theme parks, Walt Disney's life was never boring, and this biography brought everything vividly to life. A masterpiece.

Scandinavia (Tony Griffiths, 2004)

One of the books I took with me on our trip to Copenhagen in December was the non-fiction history Scandinavia, which did exactly what it says on the cover, namely giving a swift run through the last few hundred years of life in Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway (and, very briefly in one paragraph, Iceland). In just 280 pages, author Tony Griffiths zips through the history of 4 countries, and therein lies the biggest problem I had with the book. As alternating passages covered alternating countries, it was very easy to lose track of which historical leaders led which country, or which bit of which Scandinavian city he was talking about. 

The book would have been greatly improved through the inclusion of two appendices - one with a chronological list of leaders for each country, and a second with some bloody maps! It found it most odd that there's not a single map or illustration in the whole volume, despite being a book about a part of the world that is not that well documented. I know what the capital cities of each country is, but to be honest I'd be hard pressed to pin point them on a map, let alone know where some of the more obscure regions of Norway are or which towns lay on the Finnish border with Russia. 

Despite my grumbles, Scandinavia was a very interesting read, albeit occasionally infuriating. It's a fascinating part of the world, and I'm always open to learning more about this planet we call home. As ever, I read these books and then instantly forget everything I've read, or rather I couldn't call to mind specific facts or dates, but by osmosis I've processed information for later. The most interesting parts of Scandinavia where in the twentieth century and during the war years when each country had a different approach to getting involved, or had different enemies. It's fascinating stuff. Before the twentieth century the 4 Scandinavian countries used to be into a bit of 'wife-swapping' with each other and Russia, sometimes Norway and Denmark were united, sometimes Finland and Russia... it was hard to keep up with sometimes - maybe a 3rd appendix would be good, showing the various inter-relationships. 

As an introduction to the histories of 4 fascinating countries, Scandinavia was successful. If I wanted to know more though I'd look to separate volumes on each for more depth and coherence. 

The Hell of it All (Charlie Brooker, 2009)

It took me a while to get through The Hell of it All, the third compilation of Charlie Brooker's Guardian columns, and not because I didn't enjoy it, it's just that a little Charlie goes a long way. 'A genius of spleen' reads the Independent's front cover quote, and they're right, but page after page after page of spleen can be fairly hard going. Brooker's style is hilarious and he's great at pulling apart awful TV shows in his Screen Burn columns or offering sarcastic comment on world events in his other articles. It's not often he showers praise on anything. So a couple of year's worth of splentic articles can become a little wearying if not portioned out over a few weeks, months, years. Brooker has a mastery with the English language that I can only dream of, and his way around a simile or metaphor is to be greatly admired. When you read Screen Burn you really do wonder at the amount of crap that is broadcast on TV these days, and Charlie Brooker is a great guide through the worst of it, talking honestly and with real vitriol, but he saves it for where it's needed.

Mircotrends: Surprising Tales of the Way We Live Today (Mark J. Penn & E. Kinney Zalesne, 2007)

Microtrends is a non-fiction book that presents 75 different trends that are currently happening in America, and attempts to show that these trends, of 1% of the population, could mean big things for the future of politics, culture or society. Author Penn has been a pollster for various world leaders, including Bill Clinton, and he clearly knows what he’s talking about.

The trends are split into different categories including Relationships, Technology and International, and each Microtrend Penn identifies is given about 4 pages of analysis, including graphs and tables. All of the trends are backed up by polling data and Penn makes some convincing arguments. Inevitably, of the 75 trends some are more interesting than others, while some are just odd. There are Late-Breaking Gays, men who come out later in life in bigger numbers than before, Knitting Teenagers who are bucking the techno, online trend, and LATs, couples who Live Together Apart in two houses rather than sharing a common home.

I picked up the book not realising that it concentrated on US trends, so I was a little disappointed in that respect, but many of the Microtrends are applicable to UK living, and there are the occasional sidebar and 15 final chapters on international variants or specific international trends. Penn’s thesis that Microtrends are changing the face and values of the (US) electorate is persuasive, and the evidence he uses provides much food for thought.

The Queen: Elizabeth II and the Monarchy (Ben Pimlott, 2002)

The Queen is a fascinating, enthralling biography of Elizabeth II and her family, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I'm a fan of the royal family for some reason - and the reasons for the public interest in royalty are well covered in Pimlott's work, particularly in the final 5 chapters of the updated Golden Jubilee Edition. 

The life of the Queen is pretty much a history of the twentieth century in Britain. Born in 1926, the Queen has had about 16 Prime Ministers, lost an Empire and gained a Commonwealth, as a Princess she took part in the VE day celebrations that ended WWII, she's met presidents, popes and other royalty, and she just keeps going. Pimlott's book details some of the absurdities of royal life and tradition - such as a certain member of parliament being at the birth of heirs to the throne, a practise now ended - as well as the more intimate moments of the royal family, without being salacious or gossipy. This is no tell all expose, it's a measured, very readable historical account that places the Queen at the heart of a steady, rarely changing institution. 

It's only a shame that the biography ends at 2002, on a sad note - the last events of note being the deaths of Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother. The new chapters are interesting in that they break away somewhat from the standard biography to look back over history to find parallels with older monarchs to explain how and why they hold so much fascination. The chapters covering Diana's death and the massive public outpouring of grief are gripping, and they quite rightly question why everyone cared so much. Pimlott also highlighted how the Queen became more accepting of change after Diana's death, and how the monarchy began to embrace the Diana way of doing things, such as being more hands on when among the public. 

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother lived into her 102nd year. If Elizabeth II is as long-lived as her mother there should be a good deal more to say in future editions of the book, which I look forward to eagerly. I wonder what Pimlott would have to say about the Duchess of York's recent transgressions?

James Bond: The Legacy (John Cork & Bruce Scivally, 2002)

As my adventures watching the James Bond series near an end (just Die Another Day to fit in) I thought I'd pull the massive hardback off the shelf and read about my favourite spy hero. The Legacy is an official history of 007, published with full involvement and cooperation of the team behind the series, and full of glossy photos of the movies, behind the scenes, the actors, and much more. 

The authors take you from Ian Fleming's original novels chronologically through to Die Another Day, along the way detailing the history behind each movie, the creative decisions, the impact of Bond, and how the real world has influenced and been influenced by the most famous secret agent in history. The emphasis on culture makes this a very interesting read, as I learnt how the Bond films changed the British film industry (and not just through the construction of a number of massive soundstages), the blockbuster film industry, and even how the real life MI5 goes about it's business (the first female head of MI5 credits Judi Dench's portrayal as M with helping attain her position). 

The collaborative efforts that Cubby Broccoli and his crew put into every movie shows that these movies were not put together by focus groups - it really comes across in the back stories just how each contributer to the Bond mythos cared passionately about this character and his world. Reading The Legacy (and listening to Bond soundtracks as I did so) has helped me to appreciate the worlds into which each movie was birthed, and it has left me wanting to revisit the series afresh, despite just having watched most of the films! I don't think I've read a more interesting or entertaining history of a TV or film product, and I look forward to starting Bond Girls Are Forever, the companion volume, also co-written by John Cork, very soon.

China: A History (John Keay, 2008)

Over the last 12 months I've read histories of Europe and London, and now I've just finished John Keay's China: A History, which I enjoyed thoroughly. It's strange to enjoy reading a non-fiction book so much I think, I read histories to learn and fictions to be entertained, but Keay really made what could have been a hard slog over a couple of thousand years of history into something I couldn't wait to read. 

I've read lots about modern China in recent articles in The Week and Time magazines, and as far as I can see it's shaping up to be the next super power, so I wanted to learn more about this huge country, about which I knew embarrassingly little. Now I couldn't quote figures, dates and names about Chinese history after reading this book (my memory sucks) but I've got a great overview of what made China into a future world leader. The worlds of the emperors, both ancient and not-so-ancient were vividly brought to life through Keay's accessible prose - he made the often-similar sounding or confusing names of people, peoples, dynasties and places such as the Qing, Manchu, Song or Beijing, understandable. I found this history (for there's a reason it's called 'A History', as Keay explains in the introduction, there have been many histories written through the centuries, and as the adage goes, history is written by the victors, so writing a comprehensive history means teasing out the nuances and biases of the old texts) of China fascinating and compelling - it's amazing what effect internal and external forces have on creating (or destroying) cultures. 

It's amazing how much Keay packs in to just over 500 pages, and my only note of negativity about the book is that the final chapters concerning the birth of Maoism and the People's Republic of China left me a little confused, but I've got a biography sat on the shelf to help me get up to speed. But I think that will wait until another day. I need a change of pace from massive history tomes, as interesting as they are. I see from the front of the book that Keay has written a history of India... I just may seek that out.

Around the World in 80 Days (Michael Palin, 1989)

I wanted a nice, quick read to take with my to the in-laws over New Year, so I grabbed of one of the books from a recent Book People purchase, Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days. As hoped, it was it easy to read and dip into, broken up into 80 'chapters' over 230 pages, so good to pick up between games of Wii or while watching someone else on the XBox. 

I've not seen any of Michael Palin's travel documentaries, and I've not read his books before. I did buy my Dad a set of the larger format, photo-packed editions for his birthday a year or two back, but I think I prefer the set I've got, that collects 5 standard-sized paperbacks together, and which have photo inserts. 

I've tended to read massive tomes about Churchill and the History of Europe lately, which take some getting in to, and usually take me months to finish. Around the World is a lot lighter in many ways - in tone, style and heft - and a different prospect altogether as it's really a diary containing snapshots of the world. Palin's brief was to copy Jules Verne's hero, Phileas Fogg, and travel around the world within 80 days, without recourse to flight. What this means is that Palin travels on the whole by boat, with the occassional train ride across America or drive across Saudi Arabia. 

Palin peppers the text with the add fact about each point on his journey, but the book is mostly focussed on the people he meets along the way who help or hinder his progress. You wouldn't read this book to learn a lot about the world, Palin merely gives a flavour of the cultures he brushes up against, and often there's a lot that can be learnt through comparisons of his experiences with customs and immigration of each country. The book is not just a snapshot of various countries (well, cities and ports mainly), such as France, Italy, Dubai, Singapore, Japan, Aspen, etc. It's also a snapshot of 1988, specifically September-December, when Palin's trip took place. So Palin faces foreigners who shout 'Thatcher' at him, or he bumps up against incidents that occur moments before or after his arrival/departures in some lands, such as the Clapham rail disaster that happened just 1 day before Palin's arrival back in London. 

I enjoyed the breezy yet intelligent and witty style of Palin's writing, and often it was as interesting or amusing to learn how his Passepartout (as his fellow travelling crew members are affectionately known) are managing to sleep or with local cuisine as it is to learn about the history of Jeddah or Madras. It is the human stories that Palin is interested in, and this is what I enjoyed most about the book. I will look forward to the other 4 books in the Palin box set after this, and will look out for the shows on TV/DVD.

The Chain of Curiosity (Sandi Toksvig, 2009)

I've just finished Sandi Toksvig's The Chain of Curiosity, a collection of the great Danish wit's columns from the Sunday Telegraph that I got for free with my points from The Book People. I've seen Ms Toksvig on TV here and there and I've always been fond of her acute sense of humour and head for trivia - she's especially good on QI. In fact, there were a couple of things I've read that have appeared on the current series of QI, funnily enough. 

I enjoyed this collection, and I zipped through it pretty quickly, which I always feel is the mark of a good book (although I'm taking my time with my current fiction choice at the moment, but that's only because The Chain of Curiosity was so moreish). Sandi's columns - all running to 3 easily digestible pages in the book are humours looks at whatever event is happening that day, in history or to the writer. Several times I found myself laughing out loud and then reading passages out to Andrew. As a humourous book, it succeeds, and as a trivia book it's just as good, I'd recommend it to anyone with an appreciation of language and the world around us in general.

A Traveller's History of London (Richard Tames, 4th Edition, 2002)

After finishing the History of Europe I needed a new book to take on a weekend to London, so what better than A Traveller's Guide to London? On a trip to the capital a couple of years ago I read the appropriate Do Not Pass Go by Tim Moore, which takes a trip around London via the locations to be found on an original Monopoly board. That was a funny, interesting and novel guide to the sights and culture of London, and was more of a travelogue than a history book. 

The Traveller's Guide should perhaps be renamed. The main 4/5 of the book is a chronological history of the city. It's full of interesting facts and people, but it's all a bit 'bitty' and lacking substance. The best bit of the Guide, which could truly be called a 'Traveller's Guide' are the sections in the back of the book, which explain historical facts about The Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, London's bridges, train terminals, etc. By concentrating on specific themes/locations there is more coherence to the information, and it's easier to take it all in. 

I want to read a really good history of London, and this book was a good primer, but I'm going to have to find a more 'worthy' tome I think. It was an easy read though, so it'll be good to dip into again.