Here are some books I’ve really been enjoying this month.
Books: Bedlam Boy 1-3 – Ian W Sainsbury
Do you fancy a dark revenge thriller? Then have I got the series for you! Ian Sainsbury, yes that bloke who beat me to win an award last year, has written a series of short read books that are filled to the brim with tautly written action and a refreshing take on the thriller genre that I really enjoyed. Each of the books is written like an episode of a TV show, and I am a big fan of both the story and this way of telling it. ‘Serials’ as a format that has always intrigued me and who knows, I might do that with Bunny at some point. I really enjoyed these, particularly the second book which has one of the cleverest twists I think I’ve read in a thriller in years. Not for the fainthearted, but I find Bedlam Boy a fascinating character and can’t wait to read the next instalments.
To Be Someone – Ian Stone
I’ll hold my hands up and say I didn’t know a great deal about the British band The Jam before reading this book. I was a fan of Paul Weller’s solo material, but I was probably a bit young to appreciate the band that made him famous originally. Honestly though, you don’t have to know anything about them to enjoy this book. Really, it is about growing up in Britain in the 70s and it paints an incredibly vivid picture of what life was like back then. Ian Stone is Jewish and I really felt like I came away with a much fuller appreciation of the crap Jewish people face from the more knuckle-dragging elements of society after reading this. I know Ian from our days together on the comedy circuit, although not that well. At least, I feel like I know him much better now after reading the book. There’s a searing honesty here about a lot of things that makes it a compelling read and Ian has always been one of those guaranteed too-good-too-fail headline comics that has the skills to make any gig a success, and those finely honed comedic skills come through here too, giving a beautiful contrast to the light and the dark. Warning: You will come away wanting to listen to The Jam after reading it as his passion for them is infectious.
A Little Hate – Joe Abercrombie
I’m not a big fan of traditional ‘epic fantasy’ as a rule. I really enjoyed the Game of Thrones books but it isn’t generally my genre. I decided to give this a crack though and boy am I glad I did. Abercrombie is a superb writer who can do it all. This is packed full of intrigue, action and genuinely laugh-out-loud humour. His style is to write in a very contemporary way which means his dialogue really zings. The book is based in a world going through an industrial revolution not unlike the one Britain had. There’s a bit of magic but it is really in the background as the primary focus here is the political machinations of various parties. Great fiction makes us consider the world we live in and this book did that for me. It is a cracking story first-and-foremost but it also makes you think about how we prioritise money over people and who we let run the world. I really highly recommend it and I’ve got the second book in the series on pre-order already.