I realised that people reading my blog may be under the impression that I never read books. That's not true, though I'm certainly not the prolific reader I was when I was much younger. I have a bad habit of devouring books within three days of borrowing/purchasing them which is probably why I try not to read so much; it gets in the way of work and studying these days.

Anyway, over the last few months, I've read a couple of books, mostly detective/mystery novels by Mark Billingham (a stand-up comedian in addition to being a crime fiction writer) and Ian Rankin. I've also read The Apologist by Jay Rayner (restaurant critic for The Observer) and Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett. Mini (and I mean mini) reviews can be found below.

The Apologist
Marc Basset, a restaurant critic who specialises in exceedingly harsh critiques, finds that one of his reviews has resulted in a chef's suicide. Initially unmoved, he begins to feel a little guilty and apologises for the first time in his life to the chef's family, and is surprised at how good it feels to apologise. He begins to apologise to everyone he has ever hurt and becomes so good at it that he becomes appointed the UN Chief Apologist, the "conscience of the world."

Cute and original, though not as good as the hype would have you believe.

Monstrous Regiment
I didn't enjoy this as much as I usually enjoy Pterry's work. It's not in his usual style and focuses on entirely new characters and places. Still, there are some laugh out loud moments, though not as many as in previous books. Nevertheless, I like the message behind the book, that you can indeed go and make a difference in the world, if only you try.

Right now, I'm in the midst of reading Altered States by Matthew Collin, an in-depth account of dance culture during the late '80s and early '90s, the period during which the use of ecstasy became more prevalent in clubbing, its effects on the evolution of dance music and the people in the scene. It starts off very well, but right now, I'm reading about 1990/91 and the book has lost steam just a little. Right after this, I'll be looking to read Disco Biscuits, an anthology of short stories on Acid House culture, and Last Night A DJ Saved My Life, a history of the disc jockey. My interest in dance culture is something that's surprised me given that I'm not really all that into pop culture, but after watching 24 Hour Party People and Maestro, I guess I really want to find out more about the clubbing scene when it was at its peak, when it was all about the music (among other things, heh), when it began.