Advantages: Great prose, funny and warm hearted - like your archetypal northerner Disadvantages: A little smug in places
Stuart Maconie is well known these days as a DJ on Radio 2 and a "talking head" on many TV shows which involve lists, such as the 100 best love songs or whatever idea Channel 4 has to fill the schedule cheaply on a Saturday night. He used to write for the ...
Advantages: A veritable page-turner of a travelogue Disadvantages: Nothing major
One does wonder if Stuart Maconie dreams up the titles for his books before he even knows what they'll be about. In his follow up to the my-life-with-music-cum-autobiography "Cider With Roadies" our erstwhile doyen of BBC Radio and music journalism ponder ...
Advantages: Amusing, well researched Disadvantages: Skant on the North East, heavy on musical history
I should open this review by admitting a bias. I love the North of England, and I ordered this book to learn a little more about the history of the settlements and the culture. The writer clearly also loves the North, although I did find myself chuckling ...
Advantages: Highly readable and funny Disadvantages: Not as in depth as some travel books
Not your usual European travelogue Bill Bryson is an American writer and self-confessed Anglophile who has lived in the United Kingdom for several years with the exception of a move back to his homeland for a few years (which he writes about in an ...
Advantages: The funny parts are hilarious, some interesting cultural snippets Disadvantages: much unnecessary political stuff; unlikeable author
Brigid Keenan's "Diplomatic Baggage" is a prime example of one of those books where one does not have to particularly like the narrator in order to gain enjoyment from reading. Perhaps it's hard to believe that I laughed out loud while reading this on an ...
