The Return of The £5 Amazon E-Book Buying Game : Backlisted Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As it's the time of year when you get Amazon gift vouchers as presents. Proceed to spend what you want and then realise there's £5 less which you don't know what to deal with.

Occasionally on this blog I play a game where following all the recommendations from Amazon I see how many ebooks I can get for a fiver.

This time I'm going to play the game based on the Backlisted literary podcast. Based on books by writers or as guests in the podcast from episode one I will see how many I can download for a pound or less for a total of £5. This doesn't include books available for free or (obviously) books I already have. The other rule here is one book per author

So...

Their Finest by Lissa Evans, a guest on the first and other programmes. A novel about an ad agency in World War Two. 99p.

Coming Up for Air by George Orwell. I've read his essays, Burmese Days and of course 1984 and Animal Farm. But whilst I've got a Classic  Penguin paperback of The Clergyman's Daughter I haven't got round to reading his other fiction. So hopefully this will redress the balance. 84p

James Joyce wrote a novella? Well apparently he did. I must admit to having etons of James Joyce ebooks that I haven't yet got round to reading and this is another one. It's called The Dead. 49p

Jonathan Coe's The Rotters Club. Another contributor to the podcast. An author I've always wanted to get round to read. 99p

Ostrich Country by David Nobbs. An actual author discussed on Backlisted. I've read The Fall and Rise Of Reginald Perrin books. Novels which are far deeper than they first appear so I'm excited about this. 99p

Finally All the Sad Young Men by F Scott Fitzgerald. A sequel to The Great Gatsby. As regular readers will know I view Fitzgerald as literary Switzerland in that I don't dislike him but I don't get why he's considered great. I've never read The Great Gatsby mind. So this sequel has (once I've done so) curiosity value.

So what has this exercise achieved? No idea. Still it was fun playing it.

Until the next time.

The Farewell Tour Of The McDonald's Menu Part Two: Chicken Select

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For those of you not regular readers of this blog I've decided to forgo the instant (and then instantly forgotten) pleasures of McDonalds for the sake of my waistline but before I do to eat every regular medium meal from their menu.

This is (as they say) an occasional series. So occasional that I've only ever done it once before. But cometh the circumstances cometh the occasion. Therefore Part Two it is.

As the title gives away the McDonald's meal du jour is the Chicken Select. And here it is.

Not Exactly A Sight For A Hungry Tummy

Now the first thing to ask about this meal is this? Why is it called Select? After all in Britain McDonald's have been pushing the Chicken McNugget like it was a healthy option. Saying that it was one hundred percent chicken and only chicken. So what makes these Chickens so different that they are "Select"? To misquote Orwell perhaps in McDonald's all Chickens are equal but some are more Select than others?

I suspect their marketing department (who don't forget calls a Chicken burger in a bun a "Legend") wanted to give the impression by using the word "Select" that it was more of a high class product than those riff-raff at KFC which you could have if ponced up KFC (aka Nandos) wasn't available. For the record I like KFC. If only because there's no pretence. It's Fried Chicken...live with it.

And by the way the fries, why are they so wimpish? They really are the featherweights of potato cuts.

It's edible. But nothing more than that. Unless you're a snob the Select tag really is worthless. I'll try to remember that when it comes to say goodbye to the Mcnugget and see what tastes better.

Suspect really that it will be a dead heat.

Until the next time.

Of Books Read And Borrowed Leading To My Big Enviormental Question

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well the collected essays of Brian Aldiss is now finished. And for the most part I enjoyed it. You will rarely have a consistent view of any anthology but for the moment calling him the George Orwell of Science Fiction essays (though not all are Sci-fi) seems appropriate.

There are a few caveats. Some of these essays were so above me they were rocket to the moon length. Also this particular ebook lazily put certain volumes together even though some of the essays appeared twice, which was annoying. But approaching subjects like Mary Shelley or George Orwell from his sci-fi perspective is interesting and unusual. The book was worth reading for those essays alone.

Won't read the other Brian Aldiss I have on my Kindle yet, I'll save that for another day. So back to Charles Dickens and David Copperfield.

Went to Sully library to choose some new books. The Fiction choice was..

Edward Marston - Timetable of Death

I've never read The Railway Inspector crime series before. So this is new to me. But when waiting for my daughter at her school read sixty one pages of this book without realising I'd gone through so much in a short space of time. That is the mark of a good writer. Early days obviously, but it looks promising.

The other book. The one I wasn't sure to get but eventually decided upon was this.

David Attenborough - New Life Stories

This leads to my environmental question. Because I should explain first that I've never watched a David Attenborough or any animal programme.

So the question: Can you be truly care for the environment when you're wary in the presence of animals?

I believe in being environmentally friendly. I do believe in climate change and have shown that landscapes are important to me. Also I'm against zoos believing that animals should be allowed to roam free but at the same time I'm ambivalent to anything that's not human.

Part of the reason for this, possibly all of it, is my actual phobia for dogs. Brought on by being almost mauled by an Alsatian when I was a very young child. Even now, no matter how small the dog ("He won't bite,he's showing he likes you") my reaction is to stiffen with fear.

So I can't say I've read many animal books. When I finish it that will need to be borne in mind.

Until the next time.

In Early Shift Days and Longer Nights The Surprising Winner Is George Orwell

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For the past four days I've been working the early shift at work. Six in the morning until two in the afternoon to be precise. In terms of reading haven't done that much during this period because, if you've been lucky enough not to have worked outside the nine to five, what you get is a sort of minor jet lag.

So on this case I wake up fine, do my job, drive home, have a sandwich and in front of the television proceed to nod off between two forty five until half past three when a sort of mental alarm clock jolts me up with a reminder that I need to pick up my daughter from the school bus. I don't mean to nod off you understand. It just sneaks up and takes over.

I'll come back to that waiting for a god awful long time school bus in a moment. Let's just finish off by saying that during these early shift days I'm ok between four and seven thirty when I have to prepare for the next day and then get ready to sleep around an hour's later.

So you see reading wise I've not really had the chance expect that it for the Kindle. It had not occurred to me whilst waiting for my daughter from school that even at around four o'clock the light begins to difficult to read the current "car book" I have from Alan Coren. So the Kindle with it's backlight comes into it's own as well of course reading in the evening and the collected essays of George Orwell was finished.

Being "collected essays" there were some I liked and others I didn't but on the whole I liked it. There were important political stuff (though I didn't agree with his definition of Welsh nationalism) but it was the range that impressed me the most. He could write articles on politics one moment then working in a bookshop the next. What also interested me were his demolition jobs on Kipling (who I've never read) and H G Wells (who, based on the books I've read I don't like).

So the next book on great electronic unread is My Dining Hell (a Penguin ebook special) by Jay Rayner. A slight tome which basically seems to be a selection of his worst experiences as restaurant critic of The Observer newspaper. To be honest only bought it to finish off the last bit of an Amazon gift voucher given on my birthday so I don't have high expectations.

Until the next time

Of Books Read,Bought and Kindled

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well another one of those six books I commenced reading a few weeks ago has at last been finished. The Nowhere Men by Michael Calvin.

It's an impressive book about football talent spotters. Explaining to me that it's far more than watching a kid in the local park and saying "He could be the next Ronaldo".

It's explains, with credible readability that it's all computers, analytics, gut instincts and reports. There is a science to this now.

The book is not without it's problems. It hasn't aged well (published in 2013). The Newcastle system, which the author seemed to admire, has been undermined by their relegation from the Premier League. And the portrait of David Moyes as the assured manager of Everton is far from the potentially tragic figure he is now.

It also does seem to lag around the middle. The author going to every nook and cranny to talk about the subject where for a general reader such a thorough clean isn't really needed. Still, the chapter on the talent scout who discovered David Rocastle is worth getting the book for by itself.

I won't be getting a football book to replace this one from the library until I've finished the Sue Townsend I also borrowed there.

A sign of old age is loss of memory. I'd forgotten to mention a book I'd bought for 20p a few weeks back, It was:

Alexander Pushkin - Eugene Onegin

This is apparently a "verse novel". Never read one of these before. Anyway the Penguin Book budget is currently £3.20.

I've decided to start reading now more from the Kindle during the night for the reasons I gave in an earlier post. The first ebook is going to be the complete essays of George Orwell. We'll see how this goes.

Until the next time.

In Which An Old Idea Regarding Penguins Is Brought Back To Life And I Go to The Library

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

A while back I started a blog about my collection of vintage Penguin and Pelican paperbacks. When I say vintage, it's not just those ones which were numbered 1,2,3 etc but also those with the standard coloured spines (eg orange,green or black). The blog had three separate tags to it. Firstly I would chat about reading, where I read etc. Secondly I'd chat about what I'd thought of the book and Thirdly I would give myself a budget of just £1 a week.

Eventually though I stopped the blog. Basically because I could feel myself being repetitive. Well now I'm bringing the idea back. Partly because it seemed a fun thing to do but also as this blog is more than just books it would be part of it and not it's whole so it wouldn't be boring to you the reader.

The rules are simple:

1) The books must be of the type I mentioned earlier.

2) The budget is just £1 a week which can be rollovered.

3) I cannot go to any event (like a boot sale) because they might sell books. It has to be because I've gone to a specific place for completely different reason.

(Like today)

And that's it.

Today I had to go to Porthcawl as I needed to change my library books. Let's deal with that visit first for I was running late. I'd got into the bath at nine am and didn't get out of it until sometime before eleven. So just one football book was chosen and quickly. It was this.

Carlo Ancelotti - Quiet Leadership

As far as I can tell this book is about his management style which is fair enough. His Champions League successes shows that he has earned writing a book like this.

After that I went to the Porthcawl Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) to pick on the Penguins/Pelicans du jour. I was fortunate enough to buy four which were:

Robert Graves - I Claudius

This orange spined version is the original of the Claudius series of books. I'd read Claudius The God and liked it so have high hopes 

Roger McGough - Blazing Fruit

This is a selection of his poetry. As I've explained in a previous post won't deny that I'm no regular reader or listener to poetry. Still will give it a go.

1877 - George Orwell - A Clergyman's Daughter

You know you wait a long while to buy Orwell books and then three come within four days. Odd cover for a book written in the nineteen thirties. The only vintage Penguin amongst the four.

Sir Walter Scott - Ivanhoe

You know I remember picking an abridged schools printing of Ivanhoe when I was nine/ten and thinking. "This is rubbish" and soon putting it down again. Now that I'm (much) older though not necessarily wiser I'll give this black spined version another go when it's turn amongst the great unread arises.

All of this cost me just 90p. Meaning that unless I can unexpectedly buy a book for 10p From next Monday the budget rolls to £1.10.

We'll see how this revival of an old idea goes.

Until the next time.

London/Epping Part Two: In Which I Make A Belated Goodbye To The Boleyn, Go To The Orient And Buy Some Books

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Unusually for me. I actually had a plan for a Saturday when not working. The first part was simple. It had been the first opportunity to go to Upton Park and visit the Boleyn Ground since it's closure and West Ham's move to the Olympic Stadium.Pathetic though it sounds, especially for a fifty two year old man I wanted to say goodbye personally.

It was a grey day but thankfully did not rain which was fine with me. The underground journey was surprisingly swift and soon I was out of the station and face to face with an old friend.

Memories are made of this

Of Brooking and Bonds,Dicks and Cottee to name but a few. This was a place that once had a big part of my life when I was much younger.

A small tear was shed....in a manly East End way of course.

A Wistful Moment

Closest I could get

Nearby there is a statue of the legendary 1966 West Ham World Cup heroes. Had to get a picture of that as well.

The Heroes

And opposite the statue there is...

The Newham Bookshop !!!

Which is organised in the same higgledy piggeldy way I like bookshops to be. So that you, the reader,can revel in discovery.

The Search For Reading Treasure Begins

Unfortunatly wasn't sure what I was going to spend in the next main stop I was going to visit so couldn't splash out. So just bought a few individual essays by George Orwell and Anne Patchett

Today's trio

Upton Park is very much a multi cultural area as it was when I was young. So I didn't think that much had changed. Queens market for example.

Not that much different from when I was here last

So it was coming up to twelve o'clock. Hungry. What shall I have? A Subway? A Greggs? Ethnic cuisine? Well as it happened when I saw this it became a no brainer.

The Legend That Is Percy Ingle

I remember their cream doughnuts as a child....as you do.

Can't say anything has changed since I last went into a Percy Ingle. But nostalgia won. Ordered a cheese roll and a Lucozade.....living on the edge.

It was eventually time to go. Given that I'm living in Wales it's unlikely I'll be visiting Upton Park ever again unless there's a major unexpected swerve in my life. So thankyou Boelyn and Upton Park for the memories. I will always appreciate them.

Thankyou

Sadly No More

Given that it was one of the few times I'm in the area West Ham uncharitably were playing away at West Bromwich Albion. What that meant was that to watch a football match I had to go to the Orient.....Leyton Orient.

What I've realised recently is that Leyton Orient was the precursor to my views on Cardiff City,Swansea City and Newport County in that to me they were like being very friendly with a woman but not having an affair as you're faithful to your wife. It's the only English club I feel that way about. My views normally are mainly neutral (including Millwall) moving to dislike (Tottenham) and absolute hatred (Arsenal).

I regularly visited Brisbane Road when West Ham were playing away. The last time though was about 1996/1997 before I moved to Wales. The O's were playing Merthyr Tydfil in the third round of the FA Cup and I thought it would be a good idea to take the wife there given that she's Welsh. Who says I don't know how to treat a woman?

Anyway they were playing Yeovil Town FC and I made up my mind to go to BRISBANE ROAD (I really can't call it The Matchroom Stadium). I was in for a few shocks firstly ...

These are apartments around the ground

And then ...

All very modern

Went into the club shop (or Superstore as clubs like to call it now). Bought an Orient football shirt for my collection which I'll tell my wife is a Christmas present from her to me (I'll reveal it then), a pen and a match programme.

On paper, by which I mean the match programme, the Os were in the top half the division whilst Yeovil were in the bottom three position. So this should've been an easy victory for the home side.

Before I say anything else let me just say that I hereby claim to be the first person to read a Helene Hanff book during the breaks in a game at Leyton Orient. Here is the proof;

I rest my case

Obviously Leyton Orient were aware I'd last visited about twenty years back. What other reason could there be for the fact that the pre match music came from the Now That's What I Call Nineties back catalgue. Fatboy Slim anyone? Or perhaps you feel you want to "Jump Around"?

(A quick digression. The biggest cheer of the game came at half time when the announcer told the crowd that West Ham were losing three nil (eventually to lose 4-2). Obviously I'm bothered but will always keep the faith. That said. there will need to be a turnaround soon or else the situation will get worse and quickly.)

So to the match. In the first half Orient dominated but just could score. Yeovil occasionally moved forward but it had been mainly the home team. The second half seemed to go exactly the same way. Orient were by far the better team except in finishing. Either a pass went to fresh air or a shot to goal was so wayward the players must have thought that the ball was installed with Satnav so that it could be guided through the net.

BRISBANE ROAD!!!

And there was this. 

"MOVEMENT!"

A guy a few rows behind me kept shouting this throughout the match. And he had a point. What seemed to happen was that Orient would start to attack but whoever had the ball would stop as the player didn't seem to know what to do next. By the time he did the moment was gone.

"MOVEMENT!"

The guy shouted this so often I did wonder whether in a parallel universe he was a ballet teacher.

A draw seemed to be the inevitable result..... until in the seventy sixth minute Yeovil had a corner which they took short. The resulting cross reached the head of Tom Eaves and the away team had scored.

One nil then to Yeovil. With the first and only time in the entire game they showed a genuine piece of skill.

There was of course uproar with the home support. Some people even decided that there was about thirteen minutes left it was time to leave. Orient did try to gain a late equaliser and had a chance kicked off the line but it was to no avail. They had lost.

Boos rang out around the ground.

The player sitting down did not escape abuse

The fans anger then turned towards their owner Francesco Becchetti. "Becchetti out" came the cry. From an executive box he emerged and just waved the fans away as if they were peasants. The Roman Emperor approach it appears.

I'd enjoyed today. Aside of course from the results.

Until the next time.