What are you reading tonight?

[thebish]

Slowly beginning to work my way through Pat W. Hendersen's "Decade", a story set between 1985 and 1995 against the backdrop of the Scottish rave and drug scene - it's alright, but there are substantial parts of it where I come away thinking "I can write as good as if not better than this", it's frustrating but also encouraging!

do us another article for the front page!

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Slowly beginning to work my way through Pat W. Hendersen's "Decade", a story set between 1985 and 1995 against the backdrop of the Scottish rave and drug scene - it's alright, but there are substantial parts of it where I come away thinking "I can write as good as if not better than this", it's frustrating but also encouraging!

do us another article for the front page!

And when you do, Bish will fill in the adverbs!

[thebish]

Slowly beginning to work my way through Pat W. Hendersen's "Decade", a story set between 1985 and 1995 against the backdrop of the Scottish rave and drug scene - it's alright, but there are substantial parts of it where I come away thinking "I can write as good as if not better than this", it's frustrating but also encouraging!

do us another article for the front page!

And when you do, Bish will fill in the adverbs!

No, no, no, no, no - I'll correct the present participles!

[TANGODANCER]

Slowly beginning to work my way through Pat W. Hendersen's "Decade", a story set between 1985 and 1995 against the backdrop of the Scottish rave and drug scene - it's alright, but there are substantial parts of it where I come away thinking "I can write as good as if not better than this", it's frustrating but also encouraging!

do us another article for the front page!

And when you do, Bish will fill in the adverbs!

No, no, no, no, no - I'll correct the present participles!

I am NOT a present participle... Oh, err....

[thebish]

Slowly beginning to work my way through Pat W. Hendersen's "Decade", a story set between 1985 and 1995 against the backdrop of the Scottish rave and drug scene - it's alright, but there are substantial parts of it where I come away thinking "I can write as good as if not better than this", it's frustrating but also encouraging!

do us another article for the front page!

And when you do, Bish will fill in the adverbs!

No, no, no, no, no - I'll correct the present participles!

I am NOT a present participle... Oh, err....

no Tango - you're a past participle!

[William the White]

Native Son by Richard Wright.

Wow, pioneering voice of black america... Enjoying?

I've read some Baldwin recently...

[P.O.S.]

Slowly beginning to work my way through Pat W. Hendersen's "Decade", a story set between 1985 and 1995 against the backdrop of the Scottish rave and drug scene - it's alright, but there are substantial parts of it where I come away thinking "I can write as good as if not better than this", it's frustrating but also encouraging!

do us another article for the front page!

I walked into that one didn't I! I've done quite a lot more work on the story that TW posted up snippets of about a year ago but a lot of it would probably have to be edited to within an inch of its life to be suitable for front page viewing. Ill have a look to see if there's some parts that I could get away with posting - the actual match in Munich rather than the drunken antics in the city beforehand might make it though so I'll see what the moderators say!

[bobby5]

Native Son by Richard Wright.

Wow, pioneering voice of black america... Enjoying?

I've read some Baldwin recently...

Yes, it's excellent. Incredible tension in the book indicative of the time.

[hisroyalgingerness]

Just finished the 3rd book in the Red Riding series, 1980. Absolutely brilliant, such a thrilling last 3rd of a book. Roll on the last un

You're gonna love what the woodcutter finds inside the wolf at the end. Absolutely superb ending - incredible stuff.

Is that from the TV version, have I missed somert or are you winding me up?

Cracking book anyway, really enjoyed it. Proper page turner

[Prufrock]

Just finished the 3rd book in the Red Riding series, 1980. Absolutely brilliant, such a thrilling last 3rd of a book. Roll on the last un

You're gonna love what the woodcutter finds inside the wolf at the end. Absolutely superb ending - incredible stuff.

Is that from the TV version, have I missed somert or are you winding me up?

Cracking book anyway, really enjoyed it. Proper page turner

Think back to when you were a young lad, what did Red Riding (perhaps followed by 'hood') mean to you ?

[Lennon'sEleven]

If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, by Italo Calvinho.

And I've got to say, as of chapter 4, I don't like it much. It's frustrating - although I can't help but feel that's the point.

He's succeeded in making me want to read the book I started (which will make sense if you've read it), but where's the fun in that if I can't?

[Lord Kangana]

After the film, I read the book "The men who stare at goats".

I hope its fiction, or you can add another straw to that camel "Americaisfookinnuts".

[TANGODANCER]

Just finished John Le Carre's A Most Wanted Man. A novel about the inteligence and sometime lack of it in the world of the same name. Excellent.

[Verbal]

Just finished the 3rd book in the Red Riding series, 1980. Absolutely brilliant, such a thrilling last 3rd of a book. Roll on the last un

You're gonna love what the woodcutter finds inside the wolf at the end. Absolutely superb ending - incredible stuff.

Is that from the TV version, have I missed somert or are you winding me up?

Cracking book anyway, really enjoyed it. Proper page turner

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

came away with 'The Prince' by Machiavelli

Started it?

I read half and am yet to return to it... I probably know a bit more Italian politics in the Renaissance than the next man, but found the accounts of contemporary events to be pretty dense.

Some good quotations, and of course it has be seen in the context of what ground it broke, but I have found it slightly disappointing given its supposed importance in European political thought.

Like you though, Machiavelli was a keen classicist, so perhaps you'll enjoy that angle.

[Prufrock]

came away with 'The Prince' by Machiavelli

Started it?

I read half and am yet to return to it... I probably know a bit more Italian politics in the Renaissance than the next man, but found the accounts of contemporary events to be pretty dense.

Some good quotations, and of course it has be seen in the context of what ground it broke, but I have found it slightly disappointing given its supposed importance in European political thought.

Like you though, Machiavelli was a keen classicist, so perhaps you'll enjoy that angle.

Not yet. Maybe the really good bits are in the second half ?

Will report back.

[Lord Kangana]

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. The original, that is.

[ratbert]

came away with 'The Prince' by Machiavelli

Started it?

I read half and am yet to return to it... I probably know a bit more Italian politics in the Renaissance than the next man, but found the accounts of contemporary events to be pretty dense.

Some good quotations, and of course it has be seen in the context of what ground it broke, but I have found it slightly disappointing given its supposed importance in European political thought.

Like you though, Machiavelli was a keen classicist, so perhaps you'll enjoy that angle.

I did it at university. Remember having a distinct 'what's all the fuss about?' feeling at the time.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

came away with 'The Prince' by Machiavelli

Started it?

I read half and am yet to return to it... I probably know a bit more Italian politics in the Renaissance than the next man, but found the accounts of contemporary events to be pretty dense.

Some good quotations, and of course it has be seen in the context of what ground it broke, but I have found it slightly disappointing given its supposed importance in European political thought.

Like you though, Machiavelli was a keen classicist, so perhaps you'll enjoy that angle.

I did it at university. Remember having a distinct 'what's all the fuss about?' feeling at the time.

Definitely. As I say, you could go through it and cut out a few one liners (which, for us, depend a lot on the translator anyway), but apart from that....

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Holidays a-comin', which means more WtW-style fervent bookshop raids, and a return to the library. Libraries gave us power.

Among the captures, three sports books. One which I'll probably have finished by the time the plane takes off: The Meaning of Sport by Simon Barnes, chief sportswriter of The Times. A funny old mix, its short chapters flick between theses on sport's importance or otherwise, interesting explanations of how sportswriting works and a look back over his own career. If that sounds horrifically self-mythologising, it's not, even if Barnes regularly crops up in Pseuds' Corner – often unfairly, the underlying ethos surely being it's impossible to like sport and be even halfway intelligent. For all that, it's a bit of a mishmash, and I wouldn't unreservedly recommend it, but it's worth a read considering you can get it on Amazon for a penny plus postage.

Going in the flight bag will be Barney Ronay's The Manager: The Absurd Ascent of the Most Important Man in Football. Have heard good things about this, and Barney normally makes me chuckle. Will let you know how it goes.

And finally, some required reading which I should've got round to long ago – the excellent Jonathan Wilson's award-winning Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics. If you don't read Wilson, you should, whether it's in The Guardian, FourFourTwo (he's penned a cover feature on playmakers for the new issue out next month) or wherethehellever. Information and entertainment: not a bad combo.