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Books

Braehead Cabbage

Baldy radge
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As is well documented on here I've struggled with my mental health,I've noticed several things that I used to do that raised my mood.
The one thing I haven't got back into is books,used to be a voracious reader but now I struggle.
So recommendations.
A novel
An autobiography/biography
And factual history.
I look forward to any response
 
As is well documented on here I've struggled with my mental health,I've noticed several things that I used to do that raised my mood.
The one thing I haven't got back into is books,used to be a voracious reader but now I struggle.
So recommendations.
A novel
An autobiography/biography
And factual history.
I look forward to any response
If you're looking for something really light to get you back into reading I'd heartily recommend the DCI Logan series by JD Kirk. Don't get me wrong, the actual crimes in it are pretty brutal but the writing style is really light hearted and I can find myself up till all hours reading them whereas usually if I try to read a book in bed I'm asleep within a page and a half.

There's about a dozen of them and they're mostly £2.99 each on kindle.
 
As is well documented on here I've struggled with my mental health,I've noticed several things that I used to do that raised my mood.
The one thing I haven't got back into is books,used to be a voracious reader but now I struggle.
So recommendations.
A novel
An autobiography/biography
And factual history.
I look forward to any response
Have a bash at Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time - and let me know how you get on. I've tried it on several occasions and never made it past chapter 4 due to brain hurt ☹️
 
If you like history I highly recommend CJ Sansom’s Shardlake series or SJ Parris’s Bruno Giordano books. Ian Rankin can do little wrong in my eyes, if you like dark Italian thrillers try Valerio Varesi or Michele Giuttari, both are good.

Every second or so book I read is about Spain, pure escapism. Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas is superb as is Cathedral of the Sea and the Hand of Fatima by Ildefonso Falcones.
 
Don't read half as much as I used to but the last 3 books I've read have all been decent. All pretty light reading:

Hellraisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, and Oliver Reed by Robert Sellers
Alan Partridge: Nomad
Standing in Another Man's Grave - Ian Rankin
 
I’d agree with 1875 on Ian Rankin, his work is always a good read.

If you’re looking for easy reading action/thriller stuff you can’t go wrong with Lee Child’s books.

Scoundrels by Duncan Crowe and James Peak is brilliant and very funny.

Don Winslow wrote and excellent trilogy of books set across a 30 year period about the war on drugs - The Power of the Dog, The Cartel, The Border.

The Godfather by Mario Puzo is a classic.
 
The Godfather by Mario Puzo is a classic.

As is the Sicilian.
 
So many books I'd love to be able to read again for the first time. Just glancing at the shelves behind me, Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis; To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee; Watership Down, Richard Adams; Islands in the Stream, Ernest Hemingway. Also anything by PG Wodehouse.
For crime novels, I like Dick Francis (horse racing) and Donna Leon (Venice).
For biography, Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt.
For history, I found Hitler, A Study in Tyranny by Alan Bullock fascinating.
 
I like psychobabble. Interested in recommendations for that?

jackie Plenderleith book looks a cracker - he’s one of the oldest living Scottish internationals as well as ex hibs.
 
I’m really no into fiction but I made an effort to read 1984 recently. I’d recommend that.
 
I’m really no into fiction but I made an effort to read 1984 recently. I’d recommend that.
Ah, but was it fiction? :unsure:
 
I like psychobabble. Interested in recommendations for that?

jackie Plenderleith book looks a cracker - he’s one of the oldest living Scottish internationals as well as ex hibs.
Anything welcome
 
If you grew up in Edinburgh and are late 50s try Dear Alfonso by Mary Contini.
Its about a young Italian boy before the outbreak of ww2 who comes to Edinburgh marries a Scots Italian girl and becomes part of the Valvona &Crolla empire.
Flits between Italy and Scotland.
You don’t have to be Italian to enjoy it,it’s a real feel good book took me back to my childhood in Edinburgh and the times I spent in Italy.
 
If you grew up in Edinburgh and are late 50s try Dear Alfonso by Mary Contini.
Its about a young Italian boy before the outbreak of ww2 who comes to Edinburgh marries a Scots Italian girl and becomes part of the Valvona &Crolla empire.
Flits between Italy and Scotland.
You don’t have to be Italian to enjoy it,it’s a real feel good book took me back to my childhood in Edinburgh and the times I spent in Italy.
Mary is the late Carlo’s daughter in law? Used to be a food journalist?

sounds good. Carlo was a lovely guy.
 
Ah, but was it fiction? :unsure:
Genius post 👍🏼
 
As is well documented on here I've struggled with my mental health,I've noticed several things that I used to do that raised my mood.
The one thing I haven't got back into is books,used to be a voracious reader but now I struggle.
So recommendations.
A novel
An autobiography/biography
And factual history.
I look forward to any response
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
The God Delusion or the Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens
Jerusalem The biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Ryan69 is a Slaver by The Bounce Massive
 
Mary is the late Carlo’s daughter in law? Used to be a food journalist?

sounds good. Carlo was a lovely guy.
He was a really nice guy. Loved going into that shop in the old days before it got all posh. Still a great shop but lost a lot of its character.
RIP Carlo the Prince of Pozzouli. 🇮🇹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
 
Ian Rankin, Stephen Jardine books.
I'm a springsteen fan so Born to Run also a go to.
 
If you like history I highly recommend CJ Sansom’s Shardlake series or SJ Parris’s Bruno Giordano books. Ian Rankin can do little wrong in my eyes, if you like dark Italian thrillers try Valerio Varesi or Michele Giuttari, both are good.

Every second or so book I read is about Spain, pure escapism. Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas is superb as is Cathedral of the Sea and the Hand of Fatima by Ildefonso Falcones.
Think we spoke about this before M,I've read and loved Rankins books for years but the most recent one I read I just couldn't get into it and gave up
 
Read a few autobiography's lately. Slash from Guns N Roses was a pretty good read.
 
Think we spoke about this before M,I've read and loved Rankins books for years but the most recent one I read I just couldn't get into it and gave up

Funny if its the one about his daughters man, me too, have jumped to two other books instead.
 
Funny if its the one about his daughters man, me too, have jumped to two other books instead.
In a house of lies
 
In a house of lies

I think I have to read that yet, will check later.
 
Think we spoke about this before M,I've read and loved Rankins books for years but the most recent one I read I just couldn't get into it and gave up
I'm a big fan of Ian Rankin's books too. I'd characterise those DCI Logan books I mentioned earlier as being a bit like a dumbed down Ian Rankin with some of the humorous turns of phrase you might expect from Chris Brookmyre.
 
As is well documented on here I've struggled with my mental health,I've noticed several things that I used to do that raised my mood.
The one thing I haven't got back into is books,used to be a voracious reader but now I struggle.
So recommendations.
A novel
An autobiography/biography
And factual history.
I look forward to any response

Considering if you are maybe having a struggle with concentration and immersing yourself in a book have you considered a book or two of short stories so that you can back to your reading in smaller steps? A few years ago after some trauma I lost the ability to 'get into' reading books and enjoying them as I'd always done and this helped me. I also figured out that I did more 'real' reading at bedtime and so bought a tablet so that I could read backlit text. (I know there are disavantages in looking at screens before sleeping so there can be a trade-off for some.

A book of short stories I'd like to recommend was written many years ago and the title story made into an intriguing kitchen sink drama of the day. It's 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' by the late Alan Sillitoe. It comprises nine shrt stories, each and every one of them a shining little gem, which have predominantly timeless themes.
 
If you want rollicking good crime fiction with LOL moments can I recommend Christopher Brookmeyer?A St Midden fan with a knowledge of working class scenarios.I am usually through his novels in a couple of days and am left with a feeling of deep satisfaction when done.
 
As is well documented on here I've struggled with my mental health,I've noticed several things that I used to do that raised my mood.
The one thing I haven't got back into is books,used to be a voracious reader but now I struggle.
So recommendations.
A novel
An autobiography/biography
And factual history.
I look forward to any response
I go through periods when I struggle to get through a single page and then others when I’ll read every chance I get.

For fiction try ‘Leonard and Hungry Paul’ by Ronan Hession. He from Ireland and writes funny stuff that gave me hope in dark times. It really cheered me up.

Jenni Fagan is a radge from Embra and has written 3 great novels - I’d suggest starting with ‘The Panopticon’ which is an explosion of teenage emotion in a world of violent isolation and confusion.


For biography I mostly read music bios. So really that depends on who you like musically. If you like The Fall then Mark E Smith’s book ‘Renegade’ is hilarious. In contrast read his ex-wife Brix Smart Smith’s biography ‘The Rise, The Fall & The Rise’ which is also hilarious but I don’t think she meant it to be.

Factual history I’d suggest the trilogy of books by Stuart Cosgrove on late 60s America. They mix cultural upheaval with what was happening musically in 3 cities. Detroit 1967, Memphis 1968, and Harlem 1969.
 
Best I've read lately are A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, and Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell.
 
Best I've read lately are A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, and Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell.
A Gentleman in Moscow is very good.
I would recommend Eddie's Bastard, by William Kowalksi.

On the biography/ autobiography front. To Hell and Back. Niki Lauda.
This one gives an insight into a driven individual.
 
If you like Biographies of Rock,Viv Albertine's Boys Boys Boys, Clothes Clothes Clothes, Rock Rock Rock is very good. Steve Jone's' Lonely Boy is revalatory, John Lydon's Anger is an Energy is at points honest, at points dishonest.At one point it almost flew across the room to hit the wall.Lydon is Lydon, the Marmite of rock.
 
If you like Biographies of Rock,Viv Albertine's Boys Boys Boys, Clothes Clothes Clothes, Rock Rock Rock is very good. Steve Jone's' Lonely Boy is revalatory, John Lydon's Anger is an Energy is at points honest, at points dishonest.At one point it almost flew across the room to hit the wall.Lydon is Lydon, the Marmite of rock.
I enjoyed the Steve Jones book - he had a hugely successful radio show ‘Jonesy’s Jukebox’ on local radio when I moved to Los Angeles back in 2004 that me and my then future wife listened to together. I had known he was a thief and a fan of the Faces but loved his tales when he linked the 2 things together.

Viv Albertine’s book was a great read as well although I now have slightly mixed view on how 4 real she is. The fact that she now comes across so posh and looks so amazingly put together just seems mental when you read of her days hanging out with so many long since dead heroin addicts. I feel she can’t have just been a rich tourist having a laugh but something makes me feel she was/is. I read the Cosey Fanni Tutti biography ‘Art, Sex, Music’ around the same time and maybe that’s why I feel the way I do about Viv. Cosey’s work - Music and Art, is just so radge, and her life with and without Genesis P-Orridge is a staggering read.

I don’t think I’ve read the Lydon book - I’ve definitely read one or part of one but I think it was the No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs book. I was/am a big P.i.L. fan and really liked Lydon because he was so contrary yet wise but he’s turned into such a prick the last couple years (same as John Cleese) that it becomes hard to stomach him anymore.
 
If you like coffee table type books,just for looking through and going 'Wow! what a gid photie!' 'Young Punks' by Sheila Rock is an absolute treat.
 
I enjoyed the Steve Jones book - he had a hugely successful radio show ‘Jonesy’s Jukebox’ on local radio when I moved to Los Angeles back in 2004 that me and my then future wife listened to together. I had known he was a thief and a fan of the Faces but loved his tales when he linked the 2 things together.

Viv Albertine’s book was a great read as well although I now have slightly mixed view on how 4 real she is. The fact that she now comes across so posh and looks so amazingly put together just seems mental when you read of her days hanging out with so many long since dead heroin addicts. I feel she can’t have just been a rich tourist having a laugh but something makes me feel she was/is. I read the Cosey Fanni Tutti biography ‘Art, Sex, Music’ around the same time and maybe that’s why I feel the way I do about Viv. Cosey’s work - Music and Art, is just so radge, and her life with and without Genesis P-Orridge is a staggering read.

I don’t think I’ve read the Lydon book - I’ve definitely read one or part of one but I think it was the No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs book. I was/am a big P.i.L. fan and really liked Lydon because he was so contrary yet wise but he’s turned into such a prick the last couple years (same as John Cleese) that it becomes hard to stomach him anymore.
The Slits are one of my favourite bands so whether Viv is a bit of a posh bird or no' I think I'd like her.
I'm a fan of Throbbing Grisstle as well ,but I think some of their beliefs as far as young children are concerned a bit off puting. I once was at a 'Noise' festival with my brother in law's band and went back to a flat where I had to sit through a video night about Mass Murderers,various other psychos,listening to folk babel on about Alistair Crowley and watch a video of Genesis P-Orridge get a Prince Albert and boy was I glad to get on the ferry from Holland to Hull and get safely back to my bed.
 
The Slits are one of my favourite bands so whether Viv is a bit of a posh bird or no' I think I'd like her.
I'm a fan of Throbbing Grisstle as well ,but I think some of their beliefs as far as young children are concerned a bit off puting. I once was at a 'Noise' festival with my brother in law's band and went back to a flat where I had to sit through a video night about Mass Murderers,various other psychos,listening to folk babel on about Alistair Crowley and watch a video of Genesis P-Orridge get a Prince Albert and boy was I glad to get on the ferry from Holland to Hull and get safely back to my bed.
Yeah, I’m sure she’s a great person to hang out with - I’m always seeing photos of her with people and it looks like they all think she’s barry. In fact this morning on my twitter was a photo of her and Ian Rankin all shits and giggles.

I was maybe 2 years too young for all the real Throbbing Gristle / PTV magick temple stuff. I saw PTV once in London in 1987. I do remember reading an interview with Genesis back then when he was going on about his cock and ball piercings and dangling music promoters out of windows and I thought he was not someone I’d want to hang out with. To this day I can’t work out how serious people like Rose McDowell, Boyd Rice, and Genesis were about the witchcraft stuff and if that new folk stuff is just racist bullshit or not. I think they probably all smelt quite moldy.
 
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier. Swashbuckling and smuggling, can't beat it!
 
As is well documented on here I've struggled with my mental health,I've noticed several things that I used to do that raised my mood.
The one thing I haven't got back into is books,used to be a voracious reader but now I struggle.
So recommendations.
A novel
An autobiography/biography
And factual history.
I look forward to any response
I struggle too and i really find reading or listening to a book helps (audible) I listen or read every day to help. Recent listens have been Pat Nevins Autobiography, Alex Ferguson, Alan Davies, Michael J Fox. All brilliant listens.

Some good podcasts too around on various genres such as West Cork.

Reading, Ian Rankin all of them are brilliant and i am currently reading a DCI Crime Series by Joy Ellis. Can recommend all.
 
Regards sport oriented books I think of two in particular as being absolutely outstanding. One, which perhaps wouldn't be so much of interest here, is 'The Game' by Ken Dryden. It's a season-long diary and reflections on the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club in their barnstorming early-1970s days. Dryden was the stand-out goalie in team that was a galaxy of superstars,aimed at the great prize - yet another Stanley Cup victory. Dryden, an educated man who became a politican gives insights from his observations into the players' psyche and behaviours which are outstanding and fascinating in his last season before choosing to end his career at his peak at season's end.

The other book will, I'm guessing, be no mystery to many on here. It's 'My Father and Other Working Class Football Heroes by Gary Imlach. Some will know Gary as a sports broadcaster but maybe less known outside of his home town is that his father, Stewart Imlach was a Scottish football internationalist who played in the 1958 World Cup and won an FA Cup winners medal with Nottingham Forest in 1958. The book charts those times and follows Stewart's struggle to have the international caps awarded to him that were his right. Our own Eddie Turnbull went through a similar battle shortly after him as I recall. It's an account of a son's proud love and admiration for his father and his achievements which also cronicles the life of a professional football in the late 1950s on a maximum wage. Gary talks of his dad, who originally hailed from Lossiemouth, heading off to the City Ground for training in the morning on his bike from their West Bridgford home with his ladders and bag of tools attached to his crossbar, ready to go straight to his signwriting job in the afternoon after training.

As an aside, at that time some years ago I was sitting having a quiet afternoon pint one day in the public bar of a pretty and ancient pub in the middle of nowhere in the Nottinghamshire countryside, reading the back page of the local Nottingham Evening Post, there was an article about Stewart Imlach's wrestle to be awarded his beloved Scotland caps. An elderly gent sat down opposite and exclaimed, he was a 'guid 'un you know, we used to call him "the Rabbit" because he was so bloody quick'. Said in an instantly recognisable accent to me which I questioned, he then went on to say he was a Hearts supporter!. We then had an utterly magical and memorable conversation about his days and memories watching the Terrible Trio and the Famous Five on opposite Saturdays.
 
Regards sport oriented books I think of two in particular as being absolutely outstanding. One, which perhaps wouldn't be so much of interest here, is 'The Game' by Ken Dryden. It's a season-long diary and reflections on the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club in their barnstorming early-1970s days. Dryden was the stand-out goalie in team that was a galaxy of superstars,aimed at the great prize - yet another Stanley Cup victory. Dryden, an educated man who became a politican gives insights from his observations into the players' psyche and behaviours which are outstanding and fascinating in his last season before choosing to end his career at his peak at season's end.

The other book will, I'm guessing, be no mystery to many on here. It's 'My Father and Other Working Class Football Heroes by Gary Imlach. Some will know Gary as a sports broadcaster but maybe less known outside of his home town is that his father, Stewart Imlach was a Scottish football internationalist who played in the 1958 World Cup and won an FA Cup winners medal with Nottingham Forest in 1958. The book charts those times and follows Stewart's struggle to have the international caps awarded to him that were his right. Our own Eddie Turnbull went through a similar battle shortly after him as I recall. It's an account of a son's proud love and admiration for his father and his achievements which also cronicles the life of a professional football in the late 1950s on a maximum wage. Gary talks of his dad, who originally hailed from Lossiemouth, heading off to the City Ground for training in the morning on his bike from their West Bridgford home with his ladders and bag of tools attached to his crossbar, ready to go straight to his signwriting job in the afternoon after training.

As an aside, at that time some years ago I was sitting having a quiet afternoon pint one day in the public bar of a pretty and ancient pub in the middle of nowhere in the Nottinghamshire countryside, reading the back page of the local Nottingham Evening Post, there was an article about Stewart Imlach's wrestle to be awarded his beloved Scotland caps. An elderly gent sat down opposite and exclaimed, he was a 'guid 'un you know, we used to call him "the Rabbit" because he was so bloody quick'. Said in an instantly recognisable accent to me which I questioned, he then went on to say he was a Hearts supporter!. We then had an utterly magical and memorable conversation about his days and memories watching the Terrible Trio and the Famous Five on opposite Saturdays.

Great story Stu. Hope you are well?
 
Great story Stu. Hope you are well?
Cheers Mark, yeh I'm fine mate. I hope you are too pal. Nice to be around here.
 
Cheers Mark, yeh I'm fine mate. I hope you are too pal. Nice to be around here.

Nice to see you back, its a mellower, nicer place nowadays.
 

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