Category: Non-Fiction

koma?

Posted on by Greig

Margrave Of The Marshes

John Peel & Sheila Ravenscroft

Margrave Of The MarshesJohn Peel’s autobiography was posthumously completed by his Wife and children.
A fascinating, if scattershot, telling of Peel’s life up until shortly before he married his first wife and his radio career took off in the USA, is as much as he completed before his death of a heart attack in Peru in October 2004.
The rest of the book is related by his wife, Sheila (also known as Pig), and is a bittersweet reminiscence of her life with him and an honest telling of the obsessiveness that drove Peel in doing his job.
It made me miss Peel very much.
If you ever spent time listening to the man’s radio shows, you have to read this book.

Rating: B

goooooooool?

Posted on by Greig

Futebol

Alex Bellos

futebolFabulous history of Brazilian football and an examination of Brazil through it’s relationship with football.
Everyone knows about Brazil’s national team and the skillful game they personify, but I’ve never known much about the history of football in Brazil – even though I’ve always wondered how they got to be so good.
This book is a fascinating introduction to the way football became the Brazilian obsession and so tightly bound up with national identity and pride.
By looking not only at their World Cup teams and players (fascinating chapter about Garrincha by the way), but at club football, grassroots football, the Brazilian ‘mystique’ and how politics and religion all tie in together to create potent mix in this giant country.
It was mind blowing to realize that the most supported club in Brazil, Flamengo, has a support somewhere in the region of five times the population of Scotland.
If you’ve ever wanted to know more about Brazil or Brazilian football I would highly recommend this book.

Rating: A

vine street?

Posted on by Greig

Do Not Pass Go

Tim Moore

Monopoly (the board game) has got a lot to answer for and this is the latest thing.
Moore visits the London streets featured in the game and looks at how they have changed since they were picked for the board game in the 1930’s.
This is a mildly amusing, occasionally frustrating and digression filled read.
The main pity is that Moore is capable of being funnier than this and that he sometimes comes across as terribly half-hearted in his approach to the project.
I liked it OK. I wouldn’t class it as a must read, well unless you have a burning desire to read a mildly funny travel/historical guide to London’s monopoly streets.
If that description fits you, then great, otherwise I’d recommend it only as something to borrow from a library.

Rating: B-

brief update (4)

Posted on by Greig

Understanding Comics

Scott McCloud

This a serious discussion of the nature and potential of sequential art written in comic form.
It’s a very persuasive and powerful piece of work.
Probably for people who’d like to have some insight into the theory and practice of comics.

Rating: A

brief update (1)

Posted on by Greig

24 Hour Party People

Anthony Wilson

This is the novelization of the script of one my favourite films of
recent years.
It’s a very entertaining fictional acccount of the true story of Factory
Records.
The book is by Anthony Wilson who ran Factory Records and who fills the
book with asides that point out the bits of the film that are utterly
untrue, kind of true or just plain true. It’s an enjoyable read

Rating: B