Category Archives: Review

Book Review: Garrison Keillor ~ Lake Woebegon Days (1985)

Posted on October 14, 2019 by

Garrison is a radio star in the mid-West of the USA. His show is a slow conversational series of supposed memories. He speaks in a drawling and yet compelling voice and once hooked…. If you’ve heard his voice then the … Continue reading →

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Ten Golden Oldie books for Christmas, 2019

Posted on September 26, 2019 by

Christmas is the book buying season with shelves full of celebrity cookbooks, autobiographies, star novelists and so on. They’re all sold at premium prices. Meanwhile there are millions of books which are superb and can be bought for a fraction … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Len Deighton ~ Faith (1994)

Posted on August 26, 2019 by

It was Deighton’s misfortune to be a brilliant author at the same time as John le Carre was also writing. Salieri had a similar problem with Mozart! So why read Deighton? I returned to Deighton after 25 years and was … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Oliver Bullough ~ Moneyland: Why thieves and crooks now rule the world and how to take it back (2018)

Posted on August 12, 2019 by

There is an investigative book. Like all investigative books it offers revelations, which alter our perception of the foundations of society itself. Misha Glenny’s McMafia: Seriously Organised Crime (2008) is the grand-father of the genre. His book is now so … Continue reading →

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Book Review: John Carreyrou ~ Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup (2018)

Posted on July 29, 2019 by

Without trivialising this wonderful book I was reminded of a joke as I followed the career of Elizabeth Holmes: Q. What’s a gold mine? A. A hole in the ground owned by a liar Elizabeth worshipped Steve Jobs and Bill … Continue reading →

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Film Review: Yesterday (Himesh Patel and Lily James)

Posted on July 22, 2019 by

This was advertised on the side of buses as ‘The feel good film of the summer’. This normally means that you should park your brains in a foyer locker on the way in. And that would be a good tactic … Continue reading →

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Film Review: Maradona (director – Asif Kapadia)

Posted on July 15, 2019 by

Diego Maradona’s reputation, as a footballer, has survived the decades since retirement. His reputation has also survived revelations about his criminal and sleazy life-style whilst in Naples, which is remarkable testament to his genius. This documentary enhances Maradona’s reputation notwithstanding … Continue reading →

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