So Paddy Got Up - Andrew Mangan (ed.)

An anthology of Arsenal-related writing, the quality of So Paddy Got Up is wildly variable. Predictably, it's the professional writers such as Paolo Bandini, Philippe Auclair and Amy Lawrence who contribute the best pieces.

The House at Pooh Corner – A.A. Milne

The peace of Hundred Acre Wood is disturbed by a new arrival called Tigger, the game of poohsticks is invented and Eeyore once again demonstrates that he’s the most insightful of the gang. 

The ending, in which Christopher Robin has grown up and must leave his friends, is genuinely heartbreaking.

The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex - Mark Kermode

I listen to the Kermode and Mayo podcast every week, and also follow the bequiffed one’s video blog, so it is impossible to read this without having his voice in my head. This is essentially an extended, structured rant about many of his hobbyhorses including such perennials as the imminent death of 3D, the importance of projectionists and why Sex and the City 2 is a vomitous piece of consumerist pornography.

If you don't know the bloke, this is a classic review to serve as an introduction:

Nurse is a Neighbour – Joanna Jones

This is an engaging, fictionalised account of being a district nurse in an English village (in Derbyshire, maybe) in the 1950s. Most of the comedy arises from Nurse Jones’ eccentric roster of patients, and there are some interesting asides about the introduction of the National Health Service.

Wodehouse; a life – Robert McCrum

I never knew how involved Wodehouse was in Broadway, having collaborated at times with such luminaries as Jerome Kern and Cole Porter. Although the middle part of this biography could have done with a bit of a prune, there are some nice details about showbiz, including a couple of stints in Hollywood.

Of course, the main reason for reading a Wodehouse biog is for an explanation of the calamitous Berlin broadcasts during WWII. The book argues, successfully in my opinion, that “Plum” was essentially a political naïf and had no understanding of the consequences of his actions. The Edwardian world of his imagination, so delightful in his fiction, was utterly inappropriate in new circumstances, and he suffered for his decision perhaps too much.

The Waterworks – E.L. Doctorow

There’s an annoying thing...in this book...where dotdotdot ellipses...occur randomly.

Nevertheless, Doctorow is a class act and I soon got over that tic to enjoy the Gothic atmosphere of 1870s NYC, reminiscent of Caleb Carr’s The Alienist mashed with Gangs of New York with a dash of Edith Wharton. The plot starts off as a missing person mystery before morphing into something extremely sinister.

It’s a fine, high-class page-turner, and ripe for adaptation into a Call of Cthulhu adventure.

Five Billion Sold – David Glynn

This is essentially a series of brief profiles of blockbuster authors, the sense of reading a magazine exacerbated by the extensive use of pictures, generally leaden prose and even pull-out quotes.

As for the subjects, there are two I think are fine (Tolkien, Pratchett), a few I had never heard of (Louis L’Amour, Nora Roberts), and quite a number for whom I feel active contempt (Lee Childs, Jeffrey Archer, James Patterson). 

Did you know that when Anne Rice was born she was christened Howard?