Unfortunately, both of these books were a little disappointing. Unfortunately, coming after the generally humane and lovely Mark Ellen autobiography, Jools Holland came over as really quite slimy, and I should have broken up the Bookstore book rather than reading it in chunks. Neither was bad as such – I finished both of them and I am quite good at putting down books I’m not enjoying, but they were a little underwhelming. Scroll down to see the first tranche of arrivals after my clicking session (and meet-up with the lovely Sian) in the last few days …

Jools Holland – “Barefaced Lies and Boogie-Woogie Boasts”

(4 October 2016 – The Cook Book shop, St Just, Cornwall)

Finally, the last of my Cornwall purchases! His autobiography, written with Harriet Vyner and sounding like his authentic voice (I feel a bit sorry for the transcriber!). There was interesting stuff about Squeeze and his tours and about his TV shows, but it just read very arch and fake-sounding, lots of pompous stuff about lessons learned and making up for things with this book, and a way of putting things that suggests he’s the type of chap who refers to “My good lady wife” or “A pint of your finest pale nectar” in a pub. There’s also quite a lot of name-dropping and then huge crashes into bathos. It’s all patently him and not the fault of the writer. There’s also a fair bit of vomiting described, so a bit of a struggle, all told!

Ronald Rice (ed.) – “My Bookstore”

(29 October 2016 Brierlow Bar Bookstore, Buxton)

An on to the first of my Buxton purchases, I think. Over 80 writers are featured in this compilation of pieces about favourite indie bookshops around the US, which meant that while it was a lovely paean of praise to the indie, a) I hadn’t heard of most of the writers (I think the bookstores themselves were asked to choose their favourite author customer to write about them), b) not many of the pieces could therefore be very long, and c) they got a little bit samey and repetitive, talking about the horror of big box stores and the Kindle, which is fine, except I don’t have an argument with e-books as i) they let me make my own books available at the lowest price point possible and ii) they are invaluable for people with visual impairment. Anyway, it’s a lovely little book with adorable illustrations, and it’s heart-warming to read of all the great book store owners and employees out there. I should have read it interspersed with more other books, I think.

So the first delivery of brand new books has arrived – thank you Bridget for three of these, and Sian for the Bill Drummond one (I now have the challenge to see if I can get further than her through that one!).

A bit of a variety, but I do like to read a variety of books. It’s interesting to see how cover designs are specificed by genre, though, isn’t it.

I’ve finished Greg Rutherford’s autobiography (not as nice as I thought he’d be – wah!) and a fabulous YA novel called “Running Full Tilt” by Michael Currinder, and I’m currently reading Muhammad Yunus’ “Banker to the Poor” about starting the Grameen microfinance bank and another NetGalley win, “Greatest Hits” by Laura Barnett (the jury’s out on that one at the moment …). What are you reading and what have you just finished? Any naughty purchases to confess?