What are you reading these days? | Page 52 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

My reading year comes to a conclusion with 84 books read (possibly 85 if I get the book I’m currently reading finished). It’s the highest number since I started my Goodreads’ Challenge back in 2015. However, numbers have been skewed a wee bit because I read more ‘lighter’ books, and children’s novels this year than I have any other year. With them averaging about 200 pages it only took me between 1-2 days to read and finish. 

In saying that I had a good reading-year (and I seem to have doomed a lot of people- read a book about Charles Manson and Hugh Hefner this year and…welp). My favourite books were probably:

‘Birdsong‘ by Sebastian Faulks- one of the most gorgeous novels I’ve ever read.

‘Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe’ by Fannie Flagg.

‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks‘ by Rebecca Skloot- one of the saddest stories I’ve ever read, and it really makes me think about websites like Ancestry, and 23AndMe DNA testing and what they could do with your genetic information once they have it.

‘Helter Skelter : The True Stories of the Manson Murders‘ as in-depth a book about the murders that you could get, written by the prosecuting attorney in the Manson case, it makes me shudder to think there were, and are, people as twisted, and manipulating as Manson out there.  

‘Riding So High: The Beatles and Drugs‘ by Joe Goodden- need I say more? Surprisingly, the only Beatles’ book I read this year but it was such an interesting, and insightful book that it more than made up for my lack of Beatley-reads this year.

And I read quite a number of autobiographies as well the best being: Martin Luther King’s, Kenneth Branagh’s, and Peter Davison’s (which was hilarious, must read for any Doctor Who fan).

Currently reading (and loving):

Currently reading John O’Farrell’s An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain or 60 Years of Making the Same Stupid Mistakes as Always. Just reached this bit, which I’m looking forward to…

Next up I have a choice between –

Helter Skelter : The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry;
The Mage Wars: A Valdemar Omnibus by Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon;
or Ack-Ack Macaque: The Complete Trilogy by Gareth L. Powell.

I am more than halfway through this, a very interesting focus on what happened when Conan O’Brien (who as many of you will know, I love) started his run on ‘The Tonight Show’, and how Jay Leno starting at 10pm was one of the factors that f****d up the show for Conan and ultimately led to him being the shortest ever host of TTS (8 months).

It’s a good read but can get dry at times, I’m on the 2nd chapter to do with Dave Letterman and the author just seems to go on, and on, and on, about things that are not particularly relevant to The War For Late Night. 

And I’m also reading

^^Sorry for the terrible photo, my original one from Amazon wouldn’t embed for some reason.

Finally got around to this after it’s been out for years. I’ve momentarily put it on hold while I finish ‘Late Night’. I’m about a 1/3 of the way through and really enjoying it so far. I appreciate how I’m almost at the end of The Beatles’ era now, nothing worse than a 400-page George biog having 300 pages about The Beatles, 70 pages about the mid-to-late 70’s, and then 30 pages to wrap up the 80’s and 90’s.