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Category Archives: book review
What books should I read??
Hello occasional/regular readers. Help! I have loads of great books on my shelves. Some, it’s true, I will never get around to reading. And I am not going to be buying many more (short of winning the lottery, this is). … Continue reading
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Book clips – “Young Hearts Run Free” by Dave Haslam
Young Hearts Run Free: The Real Story of the 1970s by Dave Haslam This book was quite good fun – well written, breezy. And I feel smarter – or better informed – for having read it. Astounding how much overt … Continue reading
“Only Connect”: Red Pepper on Syriza, feminism and movements. (But oh, the turgidity.)
There are two pieces in the latest worthy Red Pepper (1) worthy of note (so far – I’ve not finished it). They are both book reviews. “Syriza in Greece has been the most successful in mobilising popular and electoral support … Continue reading
Posted in activism, book review
Tagged Lynne Segal, meetings, movement-building, Red Pepper, social movements
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Guilty pleasures and mending walls (and gratitude diaries)
Just back from a magical weekend with Mrs Towers. I am one of the luckiest men on t’planet, without the inkling of a penumbra of a shadow of a doubt. From the rice and dahl to the deep-fried mars bar … Continue reading
Posted in a little self-knowledge, book review
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Flourishing
The book, that is, by Margaret Maureen Gaffney Bloody brilliant stuff. Proper review to follow in due course…
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“Authentic” – what a word!!
“Authentic”, eh? I wonder how often, in any given year, NYPD officers point guns at Vietnam vet cannibals who have just nibbled off the forearm of a buxom young lady (leaving her conveniently cover-worthy)? The story itself is well-told, if … Continue reading
Posted in book review, framing
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Twelve books by the bedside table right now
Attention Conservation Notice: No reviews (yet), just apologies for and analysis of my “taste” Whoops! Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay By John Lanchester Straw Dogs: thoughts on humans and other animals by John Gray The Memoirs … Continue reading
Book review: The Good Jihadist
The Good Jihadist by Bob Shepherd with MP Sabga I read Bob Shepherd’s rather good memoir “The Circuit” earlier this year (I think), and so was amenable to reading his stab at the Andy McNab/Chris Ryan style of “ex-Special Forces … Continue reading
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Making a killing in business – (book reviews)
The Axe by Donald Westlake 1997, 339 pages and Killer Instinct</strong by Joseph Finder 2006 466 pages The late Donald Westlake wrote under several pseudonyms (including as Richard Stark, when writing about his clever and charismatic criminal “Parker”). “The Axe” … Continue reading
Book Review: How to change your life in 7 steps
How to change your life in 7 steps John Bird and Lena Semaan Vermilion 84 pages This short book is by John Bird (the founder of the Big Issue) and a barely-credited ghost-writer. It’s quite good (better than it looked … Continue reading
