Escaping the Internet

Freddie

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YOU CANNOT ESCAPE!!!

King Tut

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman "Good Omens". or all of Neil Gaiman's books in any order - they're fairy tales for grown ups and perfect for a scandahoovian summer.

"Men who stare at Goats" (no, really, its excellent and not fiction....)

eh

Just finished 'The Age of Wonder' by Richard Holmes on the scientific discoveries and personalities (such as Herschell and Davy) of the Romantic era. Very good as an overview and as a more detailed look. Very readable. Quite large, though, at nearly 500 pages.

ken from glos

Happy holiday and well deserved.!

Short the UK

How Humans Relate: A New Interpersonal Theory by John Birtchnell.

This obscure book will help you understand so much, not only in relating but in how power is woven.

mart

I would recommend The Sixty Minute Father by Rob Parsons.

john

Have a good holiday Fraser. We'll miss you.

Rhuarc

Suggested holiday reading: George R R Martin's "A Game of Thrones". Like a cross between the Twelve Caesars and dinner with the Borgias.

David Duff

Almost anything by Michael Connelly and/or Harlen Coben - pulp fiction but amongst the best

Simpleton

Fraser - sorry only one of three!
It can do internet (web) and therefore it can do e-mail. Enjoy your break.

Tiberius

If I remember rightly, something always breaks when your back is turned, Fraser.

Hope you won't regret swapping your mobile, but I bet Matt's got your new number...

Make the most of your family time - there's too little of it for most of us.

adrian drummond

For reading, try 'Shooting an elephant' by George Orwell.

I wish you a pleasant vacation.

Andy Leeds

Disgraceful ! Taking a holiday indeed.

Dave B

Simon Brett's 'Charles Paris' whodunnits are quite fun.

Colin Thubron's Emperor is superfab.

I've not read it, but The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo looks good, and appears to be set in Sweden.

Ciaran

The Third Policeman - Flann O'Brien

charles

Reading James Weathefields's
History of Genghis
Khan. Eye-opening
How modern & progressive her was

Percy

Happy hols Fraser! A great read is Bonhumil Hrabel's "I served the King of England" a glorious novel which is or has been recently made into a film. Though it's been out for about 20 years I am sure it will belatedly become a cult, reading it will therefore serve two purposes, first it's a corking read and secondly you'll be one step ahead of the rest when it's finally rediscovered.

Super Ville

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.

And congratulations on a good move.

Francis

Have a look at Swedish writer Stieg Larsson's novels - The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire.

Excellent stories that keep you gripped.

Brightonia

How about Alan Clark's Diaries, which will remind you of the story of politics as it used to be, when the House of Commons was full of honourable gentlemen (and women).

James

Fraser, after all you have done exposing NuLab lies in the last few weeks you thoroughly deserve your break. Enjoy. PS. I would recommend Churchills Wizards by Nicholas Rankin. All about how we pulled the wool over the eyes off the dastardly Hun in two world wars.

Thrasymachus

Sorry Fraser, I got one myself with the same purpose a year ago. They're rubbish. I give it about 4 months before the buttons start doing things they're not supposed to.

Tom FD

I hope you've given him a name by now.

Hawkeye

Buy all five volumes of the collected short stories of Philip K Dick. Written in the 50s, 60s and 70s, not all of them are good, but the good ones will scare the pants off you at how accurately he predicted the future and his weird slant on social problems. You can get them here

He once said that "People look out their windows on a bright sunny day and admire their lawns. I look out my window at the grass and I wonder 'What does it really want? And who sent it?'"

If you only want to get one novel then go for "The three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" (1965) in which Dick predicts the coming of Big Brother and and combines it with Barbie & Ken in a world were ordinary people become the contestants through the action of a mind altering fungus. Bad enough you think, until a competitor shows up with a better wheeze. Many of his short stories have been used in film and TV - Bladerunner, Minority Report & Total Recall are examples except that the movies got "Hollywooded" and lost the edge that the stories had, particularly Total Recall.

Warriors of the Dragon Gold by Ray Bryant puts an interesting view on an incident in the Bayeaux tapestry and is set in Saxon just before the Norman invasion. It'll reinforce any desire to keep those Johnny Foreigners well clear of the UK ;-)

Have a nice holiday.

Judy

I'm sure you've already ready it, but WInston Churchill's "My Early Life" is so topical and such a good holiday read: jihadi armies, the difficulties of fighting in the Swat valley, being at odds with your own party, armies inadequately equipped, war reporters embarrassing the government by exposing the inadequacies, military grandees seen as making politicised statements, pulling strings in the Tory hierarchy...

Ric

Enjoy your richly deserved holiday.

Thinking about leaving my iPhone at home when we head for ours, but I know it won't happen.

Barbara

'Black Diamonds' by Catherine Bailey - the rise and fall of a great English dynasty, their house and estate, all built on the fortunes of coal (non-fiction). I kept thinking it was a cross between P.G. Wodehouse and Brideshead Revisited. Everyone's in it - Yorkshire miners, native Americans, Kennedys, Guinnesses, George V, you name it. Gripping and heart-breaking, by turns.

paul holdstock

have a fine holiday fraser, although we'll miss you whilst you're away, you've earnt it!

Verity

"... a Swedish cookbook whose secrets I want to master ...". Did you leave off the punchline?

Good hols!

lawrence greek

Fraser

Mother Night - by Kurt Vonnegut

.. have a good holiday

TGF UKIP

Fraser, enjoy the hol and I note from your Screws column that son no. 2 is due in December. As I recall the name Ronald Reagan Nelson is still available. Alternatively, however, if Mrs N is a Viking Queen, as opposed to a scandinavian pacifist, you might also consider Richard Cheney Nelson.

As far as books go, as I've never noted any Runyonesque traits in your writings, can I recommend "Runyon on Broadway." Written by Damon Runyon, a hack like you and a great mate of Walter Winchell, the short and timeless stories were written in the thirties, in a style and language that is compulsive and some of the best contemporary English ever written.

hadrian

Holiday reading really should avoid topics with which we deal professionally but if you can lay hands on a stray copy of James Billington's Fire in the Minds of Men, I thoroughly recommend it for its insight into the fanatical revolutionary psyche.
For relaxation I can do no better than to direct you to J.D. Davies' new nautical romps featuring young Matthew Quinton of His Majesty King Charles II's navy. Unfortunately not released till mid August but I'm sure Old Stree Publishing will give you a nice proof copy as a journalist if you ask nicely!!
My other recommends would be good old fashioned whodunnits- the first a very quirky 30s period country house murder, The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy by James Anderson and/or the king of police procedurals, Peter Robinson's The Hanging Valley.
Incidentally I just remember Edwin Thomas does a 'Flashman' like series starring young aspiring rake, Lt Martin Jerrold in The Blighted Cliffs, Chains of Albion and Treason's River. Worth seeking out!

Alf Tupper C.R.O.F.

That is not a phone, it's a 'your wife can contact you at all times' machine.

I used to own one but I'm now quite recovered.

Max Kaye

Have a great holiday, Fraser.

Rest well and return to carry on the good work.

Holiday book suggestion: How to be Wild by Simon Barnes.

occasional ranter

If you want an antidote to the shallow and manufactured sentiment of current politics, if you want to escape into other worlds full of genuine pathos, try "Any Human Heart" by William Boyd, or "Skallagrigg" by William Horwood. I found both deeply affecting, and both gave me new perspective.

And a second vote for "Sixty Minute Father". Anything Rob Parsons does is ok by me.

Craig Harris

Try " A Most Wanted Man" by John Le Carré. Like anything by this author, it's exhilarating and heart-stopping in equal measure

Toby

Try: "Dry Store Room No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum" by Richard Fortey.

Brilliant read.

Fraser

Mr American and Black Ajax. Ancillary to the main Flashman series, but in the same vein.

A.F

Reminding you that most of the big events kicked off in August,just relax....

Harry Flashman

All the Alan Furst WWII spy novels.

mcboo

Stick with George MacDonald-Fraser, The General Danced at Dawn......required reading for Scottish Infantry Officers and very timely too.

Mrs B

Fraser, thanks for working so hard in exposing this corrupt government. Hope you have a great holiday, you deserve it.

Jeremy

Try "Crow" by Ted Hughes - it's ever so good.

Have a nice holiday!

Rhoda Klapp

The Mcauslan books, and George McDonald Fraser's memoir of Buram, 'Quartered safe out here'. brilliant.

Peter Drummond

Holiday reading - Vulcan 607 by Rowland White. Everything about it screams 'avoid, avoid' but its a suprosing page turner.

Alex R

Pengiuns Stop Play.

Very very funny book about a cricket touring 11 written by a guy who used to be the gag writer on Have I Got News For You

EC

Have you tried reading him 'Thomas The Tank Engine?'

Minnie Ovens

A Drift towards War 1922-39 by Richard Lamb.

Fascinating and educational to know how immensely stupid politician's were before 1932 and how this made catchup so hard to accept by the same.
Have a most enjoyable vacation abd thank you for so much intelligent copy.

Roy Lewis

How's about "The Great Game" by Peter Hopkirk. Brilliant.

hadrian

Oh dear, I seem to have forgotten to include the title of the novel on the nautical adventurs of young Capt. Quinton by historian turned novelist, J.D. Davies. It's Gentleman Captain and has a superb cover!! Old Street Publishing do it in proof for reviewers.
I am now off to the paradise of Penzanze...no lovier spot on earth!

Daniel

Fraser,

For a great read try Bernard Cornwell's trilogy "Warlord Chronicles" In order: The Winter King; Enemy of God and Excalibur.

It's an excellent reworking of the Arthur saga and very good. A great range of political shenanigans, big battles and personal struggles.

Enjoy your holidays.

Maria Eksedler

Dear Fraser!
Of course You should read something Swedish! Why donīt You try something exciting with Stieg Larsson ( heīs translated to English) or Henning Mankell.
But if You would like to pratice Your Swedish read anyting by Hjalmar Söderberg or August Strindberg!
All the best
/Maria and Jonas Bjorck-Eksedler