Thursday Thirteen #68

.
Just over a year ago I did a TT about books I own with titles that are six words long.  For no other reason than that we all like a bit of variety, this week I am doing a list of books that have five-word titles.  That's about all that they have in common.  I hope you enjoy scrolling through it; comments are always welcome!
.

Notes From A Small Island  by BILL BRYSON   Probably you’re familiar with Bryson’s work.  He is one of the wittiest travel writers around today.  After living in England for 20 years he decided to move back to the US with is family and he wrote this book about a goodbye tour he made of the British Isles.  It’s an affectionate look at the place as he prepares to bid it farewell.  He must have liked it more than he knew because after a few years he was back again.   Buy it here

.

.

.

.

.

.

A Tough One To Lose  by TONY KENRICK   I don’t know much about this author except that I have read two or three enjoyable, light hearted novels by him.  This one is about the disappearance of a Boeing 747 and a full plane-load of passengers.  It doesn’t crash, it isn’t hijacked – it simply disappears.  How?  You’ll have to read it to find out!   Buy it here

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The Book Of Heroic Failures  by STEPHEN PILE  Fed up with the tidal wave of books all about success, excellence etc, Stephen Pile wrote this book, a compilation of failures, as a consolation for the rest of us.  In it he tells us, among other things, of the least successful wedding (the couple broke up during the reception), the least successful battleship (it torpedoed itself), and the least successful TV program (not one single viewer). This is a book you can read right through or just dip into. Great fun.   Buy it here

.

.

.

.

.

.

Backstairs At The White House  by GWEN BAGNY and PAUL DUBOV   I believe there actually were a mother and daughter who worked as domestic servants at the White House for about half a century, and that they wrote an account of their years there, working from Presidents Taft through Eisenhower.  This is a novel about their experiences by the couple who wrote the script for the TV miniseries based on the lives of these two women.  Buy it here

.

.

.

.

.

.

A Fine Night For Dying  by JACK HIGGINS   This is a reissue of one of his older books, first published in 1969.  It features Paul Chavasse who was a character in several of Higgins’s books back then.  In this, Chavasse tries to infiltrate a smuggling organization run by some very powerful gangsters.   Buy it here

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The Lives Of John Lennon  by ALBERT GOLDMAN   The ghostly image of John Lennon’s face on the cover is hard to see. This book was very controversial when it came out because it dared to suggest that John Lennon was not actually the living Buddha but was in fact capable of being very unpleasant, and even downright nasty.  It was none to flattering about Yoko either  My own view is that no matter what sort of person he was, it doesn’t diminish for one second the body of work he left behind.  Buy it here

.

.

.

.

.

.

A Party To Die For  by GRAHAM LORD  I think this came before The Devil Wears Prada and it wasn’t nearly as successful. Written in 1997, it’s about the tyrannical editor of a high-end magazine who decides that she wants to host the world's best party on December 31, 1999 to see in the New Year, Century and Millennium.  Since all the prime spots are already booked she decides the party will be on a cruise ship anchored on the International Date Line.  Treating her staff like dirt she orders them to get it all organized and prepared.  But there are complications…   Buy it here

.

.

.

.

.

.

The Airman And The Carpenter  by LUDOVIC KENNEDY   By the author who wrote about and brought to everyone’s attention the miscarriage of justice when Tim Evans was hanged for a murder committed by John Christie, in his book Ten Rillington Place (featured in a previous TT), this is about the deliberate framing and execution of the innocent Bruno Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh’s baby.  You can’t read this without feeling a sense of anger and outrage.   Buy it here

.

.

.

.

.

.

The Book Of General Ignorance  by JOHN MITCHINSON and JOHN LLOYD   This is really a book of fascinating facts, all of which contradict commonly held beliefs. For example: Washington’s false teeth were  made of hippopotamus ivory, not wood: a healthy person needs six hours of sleep a night and wakes between fifteen and thirty times during the night: the country containing the most tigers is not India or China, but the USA (all in zoos).  Another one you can either read or browse.  Buy it here

.

.

.

.

.

.

The Diary Of A Nobody  by GEORGE and WEEDON GROSSMITH   I never would have thought that a book written in the century before last could make me laugh out loud.  Not just chuckles, but actually full-blown laughs.  This one does.  It’s the diary of Mr Pooter, a middle class nonentity, in London at the end of the nineteenth century, telling about this dealings, and frustrations, with family, friends and neighbours. It’s also a lovely picture of life in that period.  I recommend it.   Buy it here

.

.

.

.

.

.

The Man Who Never Was  by EWEN MONTAGU  The true story of one of the cleverest acts of deception in WW2.  Take the dead body of a young man, dress him as a British army officer and dump it at sea in a place where the Germans are sure to find it.  In his pockets there are bogus secret plans for an Allied invasion of occupied Greece. This in fact took place, and the Germans transferred many army units to Greece to meet the invasion which actually took place in Sicily.  There was far more to it than that , of course – there had to be, in order to make the fake plans seem realistic. The author is the man who thought of and organised the deception.  Buy it here

.

.

.

.

.

The Life Of Noël Coward  by COLE LESLIE   If you have never heard of Noel Coward or of any of his plays or songs, then this won’t really interest you.  I, however, am a Coward enthusiast, and I enjoyed this book, written by his personal assistant, immensely and it prompted me to go back and reread several of The Master’s plays.   Buy it here

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Death Of A Minor Character by ELIZABTH FERRARS   A separated, but not divorced, husband and wife are involved in two separate murders but are convinced that the two killings are somehow liked. So, as amateur sleuths are apt to do, they set out to solve the mystery.  Undemanding fun.   Buy it here
.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Comments

[FickleMinded]

I like that Book Of General Ignorance,I might get a copy of that.
thanks for the post.

[AnthonyNorth]

I'm pleased you've included by favourite action thriller writer. No one beats Higgins in this genre.

[Ann Bruce]

Okay, just added The Book Of Heroic Failures to my TBR. How can I resist that title?

[J]

I LOVE the idea of the Book of Heroic Failure! Too funny.

[On a limb with Claudia]

Great list! Really. Do you have a favorite here? I don't think I've read even one.... a little scary, eh?

Cheers Nicholas!

[Sue]

Now this is a nice mix :) We will be seeing a Noel Coward play being put on by our local theatre group in a couple of months. Blythe Spirit is a great film. :) Happy TTing, and thanks for stopping by!

[Adelle Laudan]

Clever list, but I've never read any of them. Happy T13!

[Hill]

Great choices, Brit!

I'm reading "The Way Of The World" by Ron Suskind.

It's mesmerizing.

[AniqueAnik]

wooh so many books.I'm curious about "A Tough to Lose". Mine is up.13 Ghost Story Books

[Lori]

As some others have already mentioned, THE BOOK OF HERIOCI FAILURES sounds interesting, as does THE BOOK OF GENERAL IGNORANCE. Gotta love those titles too (smile).

[Aimee]

Now that is an interesting idea for TT! A lot of them I hadn't heard of too.

[yasmin]

Wow...how do you find these books...Happy TT and thanks for stoppling by.

[The Gal Herself]

First of all, I love the pink car on the merry-go-round! What a day brightener.

As a Beatle fan, I was very conflicted on the Lennon book. I didn't enjoy it and I wanted it to NOT be true. But then, if I were to be reasonable, I'd have to entertain the notion that Goldman's Elvis book isn't true either, and I'm not giving that up. That's where we got the tales of the horny monkey, the teen girls in their white pants, and so many other Elvis classics.

[Scooper]

Thanks for the list. I've never heard of any of the books. :)

[Lori]

Woohoo...more books that I havent read...lol. Have you read all of these? Great list..Happy TT and thanks for the love.

[Journeywoman]

Backstairs at the Whitehouse sounds great.

[Heather B.]

LOVE IT! Im an avid reader myself! Happy TT to you!

[Trina]

Thank for stopping by!

I love your list and I'm almost embarrassed to say I've never read any of these... and I'm a very avid reader! I gotta check out at least one!

--Trina

[Shoshana's This Book For Free]

Nicholas, which one of these books would you recommend for anyone to try?

I like this neat list. I haven't read a single one of this title. No surprise. I usually read romances with hopefully not TSTL main character.

[Robin]

The Man Who Never Was is based on a true story, isn't it?

That Book of Heroic Failures sounds like a fun read.

[Darla]

The only one I've read was the Jack Higgins book. A clever list. Glancing around my shelves, I'm not sure I can come up with that many longer titles. Seems like most of the books have 2- or 3-word titles. Publishers must think that's easier to remember.

[jeannie]

I want to know do you read all of these book?
Happy T13

Thanks for stopping by......

[Matthew James Didier]

I had the ORIGINAL "Book of Failures" and read it often... it brought me much joy, but fell apart. I must replace with the revised version... despite Pile being forced from the "Not Terribly Good Club" for being a success.

[Alice Audrey]

It's interesting how many of them have humble subjects.

[Janet]

Hear, hear to what you said about john lennon. of course he wasn't perfect, he was human like everyone else.

I recently saw a movie about the making of Cirque du Soleil's show, Love; it was just amazing to see the input Olivia and Yoko had, as well as Paul's and Ringo's!