The Stone Roses: War and Peace (Simon Spence)

Simon Spence
The Stone Roses: War and Peace

A great read of the history of one of the bands that defined a generation. Not my generation but a little later. I missed the initial hype as was out of the country for a while but soon got into them. I hadn't realised their musical pedigree (who influenced them) or the madness that surrounded them. Time must have stood still for them, or the opposite. Years working on an album. Fifteen of some of them not talking to each other. A warts and all very detailed and well researched book which ends with them reforming soon leading to when I saw them at Finsbury Park. Worth reading and better than some band books.

Fear (Stefan Zweig)

Stefan Zweig
Fear

A short novel by an Austrian who fled Hitler settling in London then Bath before America and then committing suicide in a pact with his wife in Brazil. And the novel isn't a bundle of laughs either. Not to give the game away but it's about how someone's life can be overtaken by fear due to consequences of a misdemeanour. At times the subject feels elation and freedom but is brought back to earth by reality in the shape of her family, which she re-evaluates. Following freedom due to the misdemeanour and the initial consequences the fear sets in closing round claustrophobically until intolerable. Interesting ending. Enjoyable book.