THURSDAY THIRTEEN #6

A couple of weeks ago my TT consisted of  thirteen fiction books taken completely at random from the shelves in my study.  I received some very kind comments but Euro Posh asked when I was going to feature non-fiction. Well, here they are.  Just like last time, I closed my eyes and grabbed thirteen titles.  I’d be very interested to know if anyone has read any of them.  I have a suspicion that one of them may be familiar to some of you -- I wonder if I’m right.

“Black Bottom Stomp”  by DAVID A. JASEN & GENE JONES.    This is an excellent account of eight  important figures from the first few decades of jazz.  The cover shows Jelly-Roll Morton at the piano, with his Red hot Peppers, and he is the subject of my favourite chapter.

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“Goodbye To All That” by ROBERT GRAVES.   Graves is better known as the author of I Claudius.  This is his account of his days as a Lieutenant in the Welch Fusiliers in the First World War and is regarded as one of the finest memoirs of that war by someone who was in the front line trenches.

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“Eats, Shoots And Leaves” by LYNNE TRUSS.  An intelligent, comprehensive, uncompromising and very amusing book about punctuation, and how to do it right.  A surprising best seller.

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“My Early Life”  by WINSTON CHURCHILL.  The great man’s account of the first twenty-five exciting years of his not uneventful life. He wrote it when he was approaching sixty, when everyone, possibly including him, thought that his political career was over.  Little did they all know!

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“Nicholas And Alexandra” by ROBERT K. MASSIE  A very sympathetic biography of the last Tsar and Tsarina for Russia.  It has been criticised for being too sympathetic, but throughout there is the impression that Nicholas and his people would have functioned so much better had it not been for all the courtiers and hangers-on who were between them.  There is an air of Greek tragedy as you read this because no matter what happens in the pages, you know it will end in very sadly.

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“Crime Inc.” by MARTIN SHORT.  The companion book to a TV series.  I saw it, but I don’t remember it, but I have read this two or three times.  If you are interested in the story of the Mafia, this is a good read.

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“Famous Trials” edited by JOHN MORTIMER.  The only author who was on my fiction list too.  This is an edited collection based on a series of books about famous trials in England. Dr Crippen, William Joyce and several others who eventually had an appointment with the hangman.

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“On Writing” by STEPHEN KING.  Lots of good advice here, with a lot of reminiscences and autobiography thrown in.  A very enjoyable read.

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“Bureaucrats And How To Annoy Them” by R. T. FISHALL.   A slim volume, as the say, with all sorts of ideas how to make life difficult for bureaucrats  of all kinds. The  head of the Inland Revenue staff association wrote a scathing review, which considerably boosted sales of this book . R.T. Fishall turns out to be the astronomer, Patrick Moore.

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“Censored 2007”  by PETER PHILLIPS.  I only bought this a little while ago so I haven’t got round to reading it.  I expect it will be rather depressing.

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“The Devil’s Music” by GILES OAKLEY.  Well written and extensively illustrated history of the blues.

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“Inside The Third Reich” by ALBERT SPEER.  Detailed, and probably rather self-serving, autobiography of Hitler’s architect and Armaments Minister.  He served 20 years for war crimes, then became a rich man from his writing. However, he was one of the few from the Nazi inner circle to survive and we should be glad he was able to leave us this historical record.

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“Redcoats And Rebels” by CHRISTOPHER HIBBERT.  A history of the American Revolution told primarily, it seems, from the point of view of the redcoats.  I’ll be able to tell you how good it is after I have read it.

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Comments

[Flat Cat, Lydia, & Sampan]

I would like more food in my bowl please Lydia has eaten it all!

Flat Cat xxx

[Toni]

I haven't read any of these! I will have to check out a few! Good list!

[Robin]

Nope, not a one. I'm not a big non-fiction reader, though I have to admit that I'm intrigued by the title of the grammar one.

[Miss Understood]

Eats Shoots and Leaves is on my bookcase too.

(I must say, I prefer the title with the punctuation in it!)

[Rashenbo]

Interesting list, certainly. I'm unfamiliar with a few of them.

[BecK]

I have Eat Shoots & Leaves (what writer doesn't?)
and I also have King's "On Writing" by the way another good one is Terry Brooks "Sometimes the Magic Works" (it's mostly for fantasy writing but it's still a good read for authors.

Great TT

[Jennifer]

I've only read the Truss book--it was great!

My 13 this week is bookish quotes.

[she]

Yay for fixed commenting ;)

Oh my, I must be slipping - I only have Eats, Shoots and Leaves (as well as Talk to the Hand). I think this is two lists in a row where I've only one of the books on your list in my library.

[Chairman Mao]

Hiya, Flatcat! Sometimes you can find yummy smidgens of foodies on the counters...

hehehe! and *purr*

[Thomma Lyn]

Oh, MaoMao, stop that. Not everybody allows kitties on the kitchen counters.

*ahem, excuse me!* ;-D

That's a great list of books -- I'd like to read the one about Winston Churchill's early years and the one about Nicholas and Alexandra.

And I agree, On Writing is a very good read!

Happy TT, and thanks for visiting my blog.

[samulli]

From this list I have only read Stephen King's book, haven't even heard of most of the others. But you seem to have a quite eclectic bookcase...

Thanks for stopping by at my site.

[EuroPosh]

I have 'Inside The Third Reich'... not surprisingly, I guess.

[Tink]

I just learned a lot about you at damozel's blog and these books tell me more. I've read 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12 and 13; not a bad score huh?
Thanks for visiting my food TT!

[Di]

I don't know why I didn't read this on Thursday...I guess I'm hopelessly behind on READING blogs now that I am being at least a little big consistent on writing my own.

As a grammaphile, I enjoyed Eats, Shoots and Leaves. And I would like to recommend Woe is I:The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English, by Patricia T. O'Connor. I have bought several copies of both books as gifts for my geeky grammar-loving friends.

Stephen King's On Writing is in my library along with Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. And every few weeks I get an e-mail asking me why I don't write a book or something...but I would rather blog and read books about writing than actually WRITE!

I have expanded my non-fiction reading considerably over the past several years and have many to recommend if you are interested.

[BecK]

Since you enjoy reading, why not play along...“Tag! You’re it!” Click through my blog to see what that means…BecKaDoodles

Have a great day!