Just for general wonderings…
‘Mudlarking’ by Lara Maiklem
Not really my find of book – but it was recommended and was actually physically given to me – so I gave it a go.
The author likes to go up and down the River Thames foreshore finding stuff, or Mudlarking, as it has come to be called.
The book was ok.
It follows her experience of mudlarking, interspersed with lots of historical stuff.
There’s also a ‘Mudlarking 2’ – I’m not going to bother.
‘And So I Run’ by Jamie Doward.
A running book – first one of the year.
I wasn’t really enjoying this book too much at the start, it was a bit depressing and a bit repetitive. The simplified summary is the author is trying to run a sub-3 hour marathon. Although it is much more than that, it follows his journey as he uses running as an escape from life, his guilt, his grief, his despair, finding a way through a life that is unravelling.
He talks a lot about his life and about life and ‘shameless posturing of our global leaders when everything is going to shit’ and how they have a ‘complete lack of empathy for normal people, a collective failure to act in an era of existential crisis’. Which, of course, I couldn’t agree more.
But about running, he also says:
These days I run to feel powerful in an era when it is all too easy to feel powerless. I run because I believe running is a supreme of of defiance, a refusal to obey norms and conventions. To run is to fight.
‘Reds & Rams’ by David Marples
Now, this is not a book I would normally read, and to be completely transparent, I know the author. Dave, a lovely fella, despite the fact he supports Nottingham Forest. When I say he supports Forest, he really does support Forest.
So, the book. I liked it. Unexpectedly so. Over the years I’ve had my fill of Brian Clough and the European Cup. This book is different: it’s about the rivalry between two teams. In fact, it could be any two teams.
Of course it’s full of Forest versus Derby stats and facts, but also societal, political and cultural references that have made this rivalry very interesting to read about. I never really realised the amount, of players and managers that went to and fro between the clubs.
Also, when you squeeze 150 years of history into 426 pages it makes you understand what a ridiculous merry-go-around of managers and owners these football clubs experienced.
Having said all that, it is a book about rivalry, every team has their rivals.
Regardless of class, race, gender, sexuality or any other identity marker, willing your team to win and the other to lose transcends everything. If your team can’t win, then the next best thing is for the other lot to lose.
David Marples, ‘Reds & Rams’
Lengthorn's Blog 