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Advantages: Accurate evocation of 80's student life
Disadvantages: He makes it all seem too easy for his story to be a compelling read

This book is named after a song by The Smiths. I hope Andrew Collins chose it with a sense of irony. If he were honest, the Smiths title that'd sum up his published life to date is 'You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby'. That's because Collins is one of the fortunate few to whom everything seems to come easily. His first book 'Where Did It All Go Right' was subtitled 'Growing Up Normal in the 70s'. It detailed his comfortable middle-class childhood. ...
...student years in the following decade. But nothing's really changed; despite his subtitle ('My Difficult 80s'), Andrew Collins is still getting everything on a plate - including the 'veg laz' in the subsidised hall of residence canteen. We follow his progression from teenage sexual fumbling in his Mini Metro whilst on an art foundation course in his home town of Northampton, through to the end of his three years at Chelsea School of Art. You can't ... Read review

Advantages: Fresh take on the whole nostalgia thing
Disadvantages: Tails off by halfway through

Where did it all go right? - Andrew Collins 'Where did it all go right?' is quirky little book from NME journalist and sometime television presenter Andrew Collins. Part biography, it is a collection of diary entries from 1973, when he was aged eight, to 1983 when he left his home town of Northampton for the bright lights of a London art college. It's one of those books that take your fancy when browsing the book shop shelves looking for something ...
...and the town of Northampton where he grew, in this he tells us about his family and his hometown and covers such things as his parents and siblings and his memories of growing up in Northampton. Apologies if I appear to be repeating myself but having just finished the book I have been unduly affected by Collins writing style. In the first twenty odd pages he goes over the same ground again and again, hammering home the point that he comes from a ... Read review

Advantages: Wiity, clever, great
Disadvantages: some articles not as good as others

...is not a book on the face of it that I would ever have bought myself, it was bought for me as a present, and I am glad it was. The Cricklewood Tapestry is a book full of short humorous articles written by Alan Coren, somebody that I did no realise could write so well or amusingly. The articles range from those on current affairs, (i.e. sellers packs for houses, the right to roam, changes to the driving test and the going on in the Royal Household) ...
...have previously been featured in the Times newspaper, although they are rather nice in just the one volume. So are they good, you may wonder? Yes, some of them are some of the most amusing writing that I have ever read. For instance, pondering the fact that the Queen does not need to wear a rear seatbelt, Coren goes on to say, that there are other special exceptions for the Queen. For instance, when playing football she cannot be sent off for foul ... Read review

Advantages: Hilarious, varied, cheaply available, even has drawings!
Disadvantages: Too short - but there's a second volume!

...Cooper (real name Robert Popper, the man behind some of Look Around you with Simon Pegg and scripter of Series 3 of Peep Show with Radio 4's Mitchell and Webb) is a man of considerable spare time. To help pass the hours he writes letters to member organizations, rotary clubs, airlines and other venerable organs with bizzarre, nonsensical requests, or just to waste their time with crazed inventions he has made and wishes to share with a rightly disinterested ...
...[End of Correspondence] stamp when the organization simply no longer responds to his absurd and increasingly mental missives. Some of the most outstanding letters include a noise reducing machine known as the Imsimil Berati-Lahn (this made me cackle for a good hour), a machine that harvests mustard from wasps (Waspard!) and an offer to supply Beef Scarecrows (later corrected to 'Beel'!) to a Gardening Centre. And wait til you see the drawings that ... Read review

Advantages: VERY fUNNY.
Disadvantages: None.

Rising Damp. Written by Eric Chappell. You will laugh out loud. Eric Chappell. ~~~~~~~~ Originally working for the gas board, Eric quit his job and took to writing. His first play was 'The Banana Box'. This was a moderate success and coincidentally starred Leonard Rossiter, Frances de la Tour and Don Warrington. Points of interest, in the banana box the landlord was actually called Rooksby. Philip was already a tenant with his own flat. Eric ...
...get away?" Rising Damp Episodes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Pilot episode was aired on the 2nd Sept 1974. Pilot episode - The New Tenant. Philip arrives and moves in, eventually, with Alan. This was a huge hit and Rising Damp was commissioned instantly. Series one ran from 13th Dec 1974 till 17th Jan 1975. Series one. ~~~~~~~ Episode 1. - Black Magic. Philip bangs on floor with his spear and Ruth magically appears at the door. Episode 2. - A Night ... Read review