Books I read in July

... and at the end of June, which I didn't manage to fit into last month's post.

Tom Foxon Number One
Tom Foxon Following the Trade
Bought both of these from the HNBOC stand at Braunston and proceeded to devour them immediately. Readable, informative, but definitely a specialist interest.

Stephen Booth The Dead Place
Booth is a new favourite of mine. Atmospheric settings, possibly slightly overdone characters, but whodunnit plots that actually get you puzzling.

Gerald Box Clinging On: The Moira Cut, Coal, and the Last Days of Carrying
Read for Chertsey research purposes. Slightly mad, but another piece of the jigsaw. Shame the Ashby Canal Association don't seem to have kept their own records...

Frances Fyfield The Art of Drowning
The difference good writing makes! Scary, menacing tale of misplaced love and loyalty.

Stephen Booth Dancing With the Virgins
As above. Subtle villains; no one's black and white.

Lance Price Where Power Lies: Prime Ministers v. The Media
Almost work, this one (if the 'Propaganda and Persuasion' module ever signs up any students) but a rattling good read full of fascinating facts about how PMs from Asquith to Brown have dealt with - and been dealt with by - the media. I learnt lots of incidental history too. That's where I got the snippet about Baldwin's famous phrase having been written by Kipling.

Alex Callinicos Against the Third Way
Yes, this is work, but I did read it from cover to cover, so I'm counting it. Readable and interesting (up to a point) and could certainly reignite an interest in Marxist theory that is rather jaded after so many years spent at Sussex.

Stephen Booth Black Dog
Can't believe this is the third Booth I've read this month - just chanced across it in the charity shop on Wednesday, and was up until two this morning finishing it. It's the first in the series, and quite possibly the best of those I've read so far, which is to say, it's very good. Only a couple more I've not read now.