Books - Reviews by Auto_Da

Books - Reviews by Auto_Da_Fe

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
Auto_Da_Fe 16th Nov 2015		Book Phil Neal - Life At The Kop (1987)	Rated 5/10 A pretty ordinary autobiography by a very good footballer. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 15th Nov 2015		Book Merv Grist - Life At The Tip (1993)	Rated 7/10 In which we follow manager Les Bence through a difficult season in charge of Athletico Whaddon as they attempt to negotiate the Multivite Vegeburger/Singleton's Valve Replacement League. This started life as a fanzine, and became a regular feature in When Saturday Comes. Those who spend their time closer to the base than the apex of English football's pyramid will enjoy this. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 15th Nov 2015		Book Mark E. Smith - The Fall Lyrics (1985)	Rated 10/10 Lyrics, notes, drawings, sleeve notes, photocopies of reviews from The Fall at the height of their powers. Plus translations of the lyrics into German. While by no means exhaustive, this contains material (e.g. "Wigan Soul Poem") which is nowhere else available. Although it appears to have been made with the co-operation of Mark & Brix, I seem to remember that Mark later denied this, and stopped any repress or further edition. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 10th Nov 2015		Book Jack Luger - Ask Me No Questions I'll Tell You No Lies (1991)	Review Suggestions as to how to survive interviews and, indeed, interrogation. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 10th Nov 2015		Book Bill Kaysing - Great Hideouts Of The West (1987)	Review Suggestions for off-the-grid living in the western USA 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 10th Nov 2015		Book Cormac McCarthy - Outer Dark (2010)	Rated 8/10 In which a poor young woman bears her brother's child, and nothing good comes from it. As ever, McCarthy's language is magnificent. While this isn't quite up to the standard of his very best (Blood Meridian, The Border Trilogy), it's very good indeed - and much better than the better known (if only because of the film adaptation) The Road. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 10th Nov 2015		Book John Prebble - The Highland Clearances (1969)	Rated 7/10 A couple of years ago, I was on the North coast of Scotland, and saw a historical noticeboard about the Durness Riots. It seemed extraordinary that there could ever have been riots in such a remote place, and I picked this up to learn more about it. This book tells the awful tale of how the population of the Scottish Highlands was forced to emigrate in order to be replaced by sheep. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 10th Nov 2015		Book James J. Martin - Men Against The State (1970)	Rated 6/10 An in depth look into 19th century attempts to establish anarchist communities in the United States. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 9th Nov 2015		Book Rudy Rucker - Wetware (1989)	Rated 7/10 Earlyish cyberpunk potboiler in which humans and robots struggle for dominance whilst speaking hipster jive on the moon (and then on Earth). Quite knowing, contains nods to Thomas Pynchon, and I suspect, many more I didn't notice. Closer though, in its deranged energy, to Philip K Dick - and appropriately, it's a winner of the Philip K Dick award. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 9th Nov 2015		Book Stan Bowles - The Original Stan The Man (1996)	Rated 6/10 Football anecdotage. The writing's not great, but the subject matter is a legend. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 7th Nov 2015		Book Gillian Darley - Villages Of Vision (1978)	Rated 7/10 A study of British villages that were built to further an agenda, usually political or social. I found it fascinating, and have traveled , in the quarter century since buying it, to visit the majority of the communities described within. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 7th Nov 2015		Book Leonie Swann - Glennkill (2007)	Rated 7/10 In which a flock of sheep, in Ireland, attempt to discover who murdered their shepherd. The sheep point of view is well done throughout, and this is easily the best Schafskrimi (sheep crime novel) that I've read. (The follow-up awaits though). 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 7th Nov 2015		Book Steve Hanley - The Big Midweek (2014)	Rated 8/10 Steve Hanley tells the story of his time in The Fall. Illuminating and very enjoyable. This is much the best of the assorted Fall books. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 7th Nov 2015		Book Paco Ignacio Taibo II - An Easy Thing (2005)	Rated 7/10 In which Taibo introduces his highly idiosyncratic detective Héctor Belascoarán Shayne. Set in Mexico City, this is highly political, always entertaining and - as crime fiction goes - top drawer. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 7th Nov 2015		Book George Saunders - Civilwarland In Bad Decline (1997)	Rated 9/10 Set in a slightly off kilter, decaying present, this is about as good as the short story gets - at least since the heyday of Raymond Carver. Sad, funny and moving. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 29th Oct 2015		Book Richard Hell - I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp (2014)	Review Very interesting insight into pre and early punk times in NYC. Author is not sympathetic, which is disappointing (at least to someone who loves his music) 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 29th Oct 2015		Book Bob Shaw - Orbitsville (1991)	Rated 5/10 In which Larry Niven's "Ringworld" is outsized by a Dyson sphere. Perfectly readable, but run of the mill space opera. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 28th Oct 2015		Book Harry Mathews - The Sinking Of The Odradek Stadium (1986)	Rated 7/10 The correspondence between a Florida librarian, and his SE Asian wife, in search of a 15th century treasure. Two unreliable narrators, one with an impressionistic take on the English language. Very clever - it improves with rereading. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 17th Oct 2015		Book Michael Bond - Monsieur Pamplemousse And The Militant Midwives (2012)	Rated 4/10 In which the worlds of gastronomy and espionage meet. Unfortunately, this is much less amusing than it thinks it is. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 16th Oct 2015		Book Karen Russell - St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves (2007)	Rated 8/10 High quality short stories from the same ballpark inhabited by George Saunders. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 12th Oct 2015		Book Bernard Werber - Empire Of The Ants (1997)	Rated 5/10 In which the ants march remorselessly on. Although the blurbed descriptions ("masterpiece", "best book I have read this year") are ludicrous, it's an easy read and a page turner. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 10th Oct 2015		Book Donald E. Westlake - Enough! (1980)	Rated 4/10 In which a minor TV actor commits an accidental murder and complications ensue. As Westlake's comedy/crime/thriller novels go, this is weak. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 5th Oct 2015		Book Imraan Coovadia - The Institute For Taxi Poetry (2012)	Rated 7/10 In which the protagonist's mentor as a taxi poet is murdered and much history is revealed. Like Bolano's 'Savage Detectives', this seems to be set in a slightly parallel world in which poetry is of much more importance. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Auto_Da_Fe 5th Oct 2015		Book Elias Canetti - Auto Da Fé (1978)	Rated 10/10 In which a misanthropic professor marries his housekeeper (misled by the respect with which she treats his books), and bad things ensue. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?