Bicycle Diaries (David Byrne)

David Byrne 
Bicycle Diaries

This is a great concept in that when David travels he takes a foldup bike and explores wherever he is, usually cities, by cycling. Some chapters focus just on the city and others David uses what he sees to branch off into his own views on different subjects or analyses a theme such as art. It's very readable but by it's very nature I guess you can put it down after you've read a chapter as you know that the next is a different city. Byrne obviously has a good eye for detail and the descriptions of places, with unprofessional photos, are refreshing. He looks at places with a visitors eye and whilst reading the London chapter felt myself thinking "really, is that really true" but without spending a lot of time living in a city you're bound not to understand the whole truth about what goes on in it. Maybe no one ever can and my description of how I see London is very different from a neighbour's. But yeah, he does seem to view my city from a tourist's eye. But all in all a very interesting read if a little jumpy especially at the end where we get some odd and impractical cycle parking designs.

24 Hour Party People (Tony Wilson)

Tony Wilson
24 Hour Party People



What seems to be a semi true book about the rise of and fall of Factory Records. Very entertaining and mostly believable. A mad tale of inspired band signings and venue opening brought down by no sense of how to manage the same. In fact the whole point was not to manage through contracts. Seems that all the money that New Order made went on luxuries particularly the doomed Hacienda club. They all (mostly) had a bloody good time doing it all though. Well worth the read.

Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens)

Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist



Dickens is forced on schoolkids and thereby puts us off by our very contrariness and obstinacy in liking anything that teachers put in front of us. Or maybe that was just me and my mates. He is a brilliant writer and you can just imagine folk eagerly anticipating the next installment as it was published. The characters are engaging and repulsive by turns and the story has pathos and comedy in shedloads. Although Dickens does rail against the injustices of the age, which strike a chord even now, I'm not sure that today he'd get away with such descriptions of Fagin. The characters are a little tabloides but he was a journalist and he's obviously making a point about why people find the place they're at, how they struggle in life and what they need to do to make ends meet. And of course the inevitable, for the stories purpose, consequences which are not wholly fair on our heroes or villians. The poor and needy are contrasted with those with wealth and status although the former are far more developed as characters and in the plot. Although the London described is mainly gone, at least not as obvious on the surface, the conditions described and lives lived are the same for a great many across the globe. A gripping read and as I read it in the priveleged position of holidaying in an idyllic spot in Mallorca about as far from Dickensian London as you can get, at least within some sort of civilisation, then it was a strange experience to look up from a passage about cold damp crowded London streets full of filth and the destitute to gaze across the fjord like bay and beach from our holiday villa.

Undisputed Truth (Mike Tyson)

Mike Tyson
Undisputed Truth

One of the most compelling no holds barred autobiographies I've read. Tyson let's us into his deep soul and whilst even in the pits you sort of feel that he's half boasting of what he's doing he obviously sees the bad side too. He never seems to apologise to the people he's wronged but in a way turns his wrongs back on himself wallowing in self pity and excusing his behaviour as to the way that he was brought up. And given his upbrining it's hard not to understand that's why he is the way he is. Not sure many would turn out different. His boxing made him incredibly well read at an early age in his career and the whole book is framed in the wider picture of his place in boxing history. The last part gets a big sugary, despite the language, and you ultimately feel very sorry for him. As he says, no one can read this and feel jealous of him. Except maybe his childhood peers at least those that are still alive. Which isn't many if the book is to be believed. I'm not a boxing fan and knew very little about Tyson except for the ear incident but this is a fascinating read of addiction and chaos. Must find out how the last year or so have treated The Champ.