The Secret Adversary

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A thrilling romp takes place against the backdrop of World War 1 with our intrepid duo Tommy Beresford and Prudence Cowley, better known as Tuppence, "stony broke". Delightful, quaint language abounds: "Tuppence, old bean!" as Tommy greets Tuppence at the Lyons Corner House (aah, I remember those) and they discuss ways to make some money. The result is the formation of The Young Adventurers Ltd. A conversation overheard, a clandestine approach from Mr Whittington with an offer of employment and our two chums soon find themselves involved in a world of espionage that rattles along at a breathtaking pace and draws them into a diabolical political conspiracy. It's all great fun and a most enjoyable read and soon to appear on BBC TV as "Partners in Crime" with David Walliams and Jessica Raine in the starring roles. Anyway, if you haven't read this I highly recommend that you do!

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Robert Plant: A Life

Robert Plant: A Life: The Biography by Paul Rees
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Robert Plant: A Life

I have been a lifelong fan of the rock band Led Zeppelin and in particular the lead singer, Robert Plant. The Viking rock god as he liked to be known and a magnet to thousands of groupies and wayward women.

The 67 year old Robert Plant is surrounded by mystique and Paul Rees attempts to find a balance between the man, the myth, the music, and the darkness in this unauthorised biography. Perhaps one day Plant will write his own definitive version, although I doubt it.

Rees is the one-time editor of Kerrang! and Q magazines and has in my opinion conducted his research in exemplary fashion from other books and articles, as well as his own previous conversations with Plant and many of Plant's former classmates, band mates, and tour mates, some of whom were not afraid to speak candidly and critically. Nonetheless, for me this is a comprehensive record of Plant’s life from his early school years, through his early bands before being recruited by Jimmy Page to form Led Zeppelin with John Bonham and John Paul Jones. The band’s meteoric rise to stardom and idolization by so many music fans resulted in studio albums that I play to this day. Their seminal studio work: Led Zeppelin IV sold 25 million copies within months of being released in 1971. It contains their finest rock aria, Stairway to Heaven.

Groupies, drugs, and tragedy followed as Zeppelin's legend grew and the band dissolved after drummer John Bonham's death in 1980, choked on his own vomit after another mammoth drinking session. Plant reemerged as an ever-evolving solo artist who kept his distance from Zeppelin, rarely reuniting with his former band mates.

I have enjoyed most of Plant’s solo efforts, in particular his album Raising Sand with Alison Krauss. As Rees reports in detail, Led Zeppelin did finally reunite for one last concert in December 2007 at the O2 Arena. 20,000 fans were overawed with the performance, Plant and Page showing none of their on/off friction. Oh to have been there (I was one of millions of fans chasing down just 20,000 tickets without success).

This book is as good if not better than anything else I have read about Robert Plant. It provides insight into Plant as a man and a musician. I recommend it to any Led Zeppelin fan.

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A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ove’s heroic decency in the face of death and disaster is one of the most uplifting novels I have read this year. (His name rhymes with mover, but you probably know that). His misanthropy is initially very funny. His glass is half empty, people are disappointing, he fights a futile one-man war against traffic offences and he rails against bureaucrats, the "men in white shirts". Ove is fed up. So fed up that he intends to end it all. And how his efforts to exit this mortal coil are scuppered time and again are funny, tragic, heartwarming and related in short chapters, each of which stands alone as a beautifully crafted short story. Ove is a cantankerous, low-key, misunderstood man. I see much of him in me. Stitch these chapters together and you have the most uplifting, life-affirming and often comic tale of how kindness, love and happiness can be found in the most unlikely places.
Highly recommended.


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