My review of this CD was posted here on All About Jazz.

My review of this was posted here at Ink19.

It’s hard to imagine readers who are unfamiliar with Mark Kermode taking a shine to this bitty, slightly esoteric, ramshackle memoir lite. And yet these are the same anecdotes, opinions, pet peeves, and war stories Kermode has been sharing for years to any and all of those who count themselves among his radio listeners (or Simon Mayo’s radio listeners, and hence his by association), so what use will it be to them?

All the same, speaking as one of those devotees (via the podcast), this book, despite its horribly clichéd title, was a pleasurably diverting read, if only because it fleshed out some of the more nebulous details of Kermode’s yarns, such as the day when Werner Herzog’s was shot by “not a significant bullet” and the disastrous Dark Water press junket. Kermode recounts key moments of his life with the same honesty with which he approaches reviewing, but disappointingly, cinema is almost a tangential side-story throughout, and the critic-cum-autobiographer’s prose style starts to grate when read in long stretches. Which is another thing that won’t come as a surprise to any of his listeners.

A half-baked script run through Hollywood’s schmalzifier. Found it painful to watch.

This is, yes, a book, one that, if I recall, was it, ah, yes, one that everyone ought to read as it traces, spaces, the flow of thoughts that comes in moments of reminiscence, and I enjoyed it, did enjoy it, a great deal, particularly its absence, deliberate lack, of chronological chapters, though what does it matter, did it matter, no, it does not.

My take in a nutshell? A strong album, but still a bit of a mixed bag. My long(er) review can be found here for Ink 19.

I blogged a review of this novel here.

To describe I Hate New Music as it should be described — in a word, pointless; in another, execrable — could easily be spun as having missed the point. The book is tongue-in-cheek. It’s intended to ruffle feathers. It’s written by a lover of classic rock for other lovers of classic rock; those who would demur aren’t its target readership…

Full review here on Ink19.

I blogged my thoughts on why Crime and Punishment didn’t quite work as a novel.

My review of this ran on All About Jazz alongside Mark Murphy’s Once to Every Heart.