Started to read: The Name of This Band Is R.E.M. by Peter Ames Carlin. I’ve been looking forward to getting this. I ended up buying the ebook for my Kobo as it hasn’t been easy to find a hard copy in the UK. 📚

Two more to add to the pile…

Two books, "Listen In: How Radio Changed the Home" by Beaty Rubens and "Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Cost of the Perfect Playlist" by Liz Pelly, are lying side by side on a carpeted surface.

Started to read: Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford 📚

Read: 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left by Robyn Hitchcock 📚

Can I count this as my first read of 2025 despite starting it a couple of days ago? Anyway this is a short and sweet memoir of how Robyn Hitchcock became a “groover” at school in 1967. A nice origin story of an original artist.

Currently reading : Syd Barrett by Rob Chapman 📚

It is like democracy is a bottle someone can threaten to smash and do a bit of damage with. It has become a time of people saying stuff to each other and none of it actually ever becoming dialogue. It is the end of dialogue.

From Autumn by Ali Smith.

Started to read: Mayday by Jackie Kay. I don’t read a lot of poetry but the blurb on the back cover struck a few emotional chords. 📚

Read: Nobody’s Empire by Stuart Murdoch. Very enjoyable debut by the Belle and Sebastian singer/songwriter. Obviously very autobiographical. Recommended to any fans of the band. 📚

Reading: Neu Klang - The Definitive History Of Krautrock by Christoph Dallach. I really like the oral history style of books like this. You get a better picture of what happened with all of the different memories and viewpoints. 📚

Back to book shopping this week. It’s funny how Waterstones used to be the big bullies out to destroy all other bookshops back in the 90s. Now buying stuff there feels like rebellion. Anyway I’m looking forward to reading this.

A book titled Postcards from Scotland: Scottish Independent Music 1983-1995 by Grant McPhee is seen, placed atop some papers.

Recently Read: Golden Hill by Francis Spufford. I loved this one even more than Cahokia Jazz. It’s another historical novel but set in mid 18th century New York this time. A young man arrives from London with a large money order and sets off all sorts of suspicion and intrigue. Loved the ending. 📚

Recently Read: Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford. Loved this one. The setting is an alternative 1920s USA where the state of Cahokia is run by a native American/Catholic monarchy. Mix in murder, jazz, politics, and hard boiled detectives and it makes a world I’d like to read more of. 📚