"Seen it in yer eyes, read it in books..."

Today's random-cover-generator produces the following.

Good book, that.
Local author, apparently...

Anyway, it occurs to me that some people may have stumbled across this blog having heard me on The Book Club on BBC Radio Newcastle (18:30 GMT, first Monday in each month - be there or ... be somewhere else).

If so, hello, how y'doin'? Hope you're enjoying the show and, please leave a comment.

For those who haven't heard it, basically, each month I review a bunch of recently released books along with regular features like a competition and guest interviews. It's pretty light and fluffy - we cover a bit of everything; books with local interest, pop culture subjects, biographies and autobiographies, some fiction, sporting books ... something for everyone, in fact.

So far, I covered the following:

Show 1 (December)
John Peel - Margraves of the Marshes, Bantam Press.
More Magpie Memories - Malcolm Holt, Breedon Books.
Shirt of Legends - Paul Joannou, Mainstream Books.
Elvis Untold Gold - Ace Collins, Souvenir Books.
Valley of Lights - Steve Gallagher, Telos Publishing.
Really Daft Ideas - DI Saster, Summersdale Books.
The Pedant's Revolt - Andrea Barham, Michael O'Mara Books.
I Hate Christmas - Daniel Blythe, Allison & Busby Books.
TV Classics: Our Friends in the North - Michael Eaton, BFI Books.
Serenity: The Visual Companion - Joss Whedon, Titan Publishing.
The Sky Sports Football Yearbook, Headline Books.
Does Anything Eat Wasps? And 101 Other Questions, Profile Books.

Show 2 (January)
Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman, Review Books.
The Mercy Seat - Martyn Waites, Pocket Books.
Northstars - Chris Phillps, Sid Smith and John Tobler, Zymurgy Books.
Soapy Business - John Solomon, Zymurgy Books.
The Little Book of Tyneside, Zymurgy Books.
The Fashion of Football - Paolo Hewitt and Mark Baxter, Mainstream Books.
My Father & Other Working Class Football Heroes - Gary Imlach, Yellow Jersey Press.

Show 3 (February)
Spectre, Stephen Laws, Telos Publishing.
If I Don't Write it Nobody Else Will, Eric Sykes, 4th Estate Books.
McCartney, Christopher Sanford, Century Books.
The Modfather, David Lines, William Heinemann Publishing.
The Brothers, Ian Lennox, Gordon Liberty Publishing.

Show 4 (March)
Balderdash & Piffle - Alex Grimes, BBC Books.
Fanboys and Overdogs: The Language Report - Susie Dent, Oxford University Press.
The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova, Time Warner Books.
Old Wives Tales: Lipstick, Powder and Paint - Carol Cooke, Business Education Publishers.
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed - Alan Alda, Hutchinson Books.
Alan Shearer: Captain Fantastic - Euan Reedie, John Blake Publishing.
The RaW Quick Reads

Other recent books received include:
Shaun Lyon, Doctor Who: Back to the Vortex, Telos Publishing.
Jim Sangster & Paul Condon, TV Heaven, Harper/Collins Publishing.
Guy De la Bedoyre, Hadrian's Wall, Tempus Books.
Bob Dylan, Chronicles, Simon & Shuster Books.
James Lovelock - The Revenge of Gaia, Penguin.
Dave Gibbons - The Originals, Titan Publishing.
Alistair Moffat & George Ross, Tyenside: A History of Newcastle and Gateshead, Mainstream Publishing.
Ian Mortimer, The Perfect King: The Life of Edward III, Jonathan Cape.
Robert Crais, The Two Minute Rule, Orion Books.
Ashes Victory: The official story of the greatest ever Test Series in the team's own words, Orion Books.
Neil Doyle, Terror Base UK, Mainstream Publishing.
Kathryn Sullivan, Talking to Trees, Amber Quill Press.
Bernard Cornwell, The Pale Horseman, Harper/Collins Publishing.

All of the above are highly recommended.

Each month I'll be putting up a list of both books that I've covered on the show and an "also received" list as I usually get too many review books each month to include 25 minutes of radio time! In the next show, amongst others, I'll be looking at Raymond Khoury's new one (The Last Templar) and both laughing and swearing at everyone who has never read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Buddah of Suburbia and Revolution in the Head.

No, actually, I won't be doing the latter - although I probably SHOULD.

If you're looking for a decent bit of rock journalism and you've never read either the late Ian MacDonald's Revolution in the Head, or Nick Kent's The Dark Stuff, or Charles Shaar Murray's Shots From the Hip then, frankly, you've never lived.

I think, though, if push came to shove, my desert island book would still be either The Woman Who Slept With Demons by Eric Ericson (New English Library, 1980) which I bought in Soho for 20p or Testkill by Clifford Makins and Ted Dexter (Penguin, 1977) which I bought in Scarborough for 10p (!) both of which got me through some pretty horrid family holidays with my sanity just about in tact.

Either that, or Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks by the great Terrance Dicks (Target Books, 1974), purchased (for about 5p) in Ryde, Isle of Wight and which helped me overcome not only an 'orrible family holiday but, also, bronchitis during an 'orrible family holiday. So, double plus points there for Uncle Terrance.