On the bedside table....

Currently reading Wicked Beyond Belief. The story of the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. Or how the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police cocked it up. I'm actually re-reading it for the third consecutive time, there's so much detail in it.

It holds an interest for me because I was growing up in Leeds while this nutter was going around killing women. I know it sounds like a tabloid cliche but, at the time, there was a tangible feeling of fear. Also, one of his victims, Wilma McCann was murdered about fifty yards from my grandmothers house, one of the weapons that he used [not the screwdriver] was found in her garden.

Just finished; Vulcan 607, the biography of Fred Dibnah and Remains of the Day.

I thought Fred was one of the best things since sliced bread. The original BBC series about his steeplejack's life was probably the only thing I've seen on TV that made it worth while having the bloody thing in the house. I bought this to take on holiday but it became "Tube reading" IE what I read while on the way to / from work. The description of him working while dieing from cancer reduced me to floods of tears. Well, it's one way of getting a bit of space on the tube.

I bought this after reading the review in one of the Sunday papers. Although it wasn't a bad read, it could had had a bit more detail. I loved the Vulcan. When I was at school I would see then every day on their way to and from the east coast bombing ranges. An awesome aircraft.

Remains of the day was read [the first time around] as the result of seeing the film. I love the film to bits but the book was the biggest load of old rubbish. I re-read after reading something about the author. I was correct in my initial assessment. This book is crap. Avoid like the plague.

Next on the list is Britain BC. Ive read some of Francis Pryor's work before and it's really well written, not to technical.

Britain BC will be read concurrently with The Complete McAuslan. I've read this before and it is riotously funny. This one will have to be toilet reading [the only place in the world where it is possible to escape the rigors of life and enjoy yourself on two different levels].