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Long Road to Deep North. I didn’t read it when it won the Booker probably cos it won the Booker. Well that’s my own idiot fault cos it’s a pretty brutal but compelling story of the Japanese attempt to build a railway in Thailand using POWs. Told from an Australian perspective mainly. Flanagan...

I don't know about that but i remember reading that some birds will form a mob and shit on a predator - i think it might affect the big birds ability to fly or something - i think it was on an Attenborough programme - field fairs maybe? Craner would know.

i really must grab a copy

Thanks - haven't heard Riot in Lagos in an age - this playlist is certainly taking away the pain of marking mock exam papers

i fried my brain on a lot of Carlos back in the 80s when he was a constant on any head's bookcase, along with the I Ching, Colin Dexter's The Occult and The Stand by Stephen King.

“Faraway the Southern Sky,” Joseph Andras a novel about the early life of Ho Chi Minh in Paris only using factual details- the kind of thing the French seem to excel at - small novels using mainly historical sources to dwell on a real person/event - thinking Binet's Hhhh, Guez's Mengele book...

He's changed a bit

Just been to recording of Backlisted podcast on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with Martin Shaw, among others. Got to chat to him afterwards about myth for a bit

I remember that I really enjoyed 1922: Scenes from a Turbulent Year by Nick Rennison which was almost a weekly account of what a weird year it was. Top and tailed by two of the great works of modernist literature.

James by Percival Everett - a retelling of Huck Finn from the slave companion, Jim. Very good, very clever. Like a lot of his stuff he doesn’t give the reader an easy ride. I saw American Fiction, the film based upon his novel, Erasure. I would recommend (with reservations) Noreen Masud’s memoir...

Building up public anticipation. I see what you’re up to.

I was impressed at @luka banging out a poem sans typos on the theme of plumbers in under three minutes for a fiver. Like a tiger on Vaseline.

When’s the new one coming?

They are great bikes - design on them is impressive. Very convenient and hold their value of you ever look to resell. One downside to consider: they are very desirable items meaning that thieves love them. Unfortunately i found this out when my son had his bikejacked from him on the way to work...

Summer’s over.

Living by the estuary, meaning that nearly all rides start/finish with a five mile stretch of headwind/tailwind, I do understand this. The trick is not to fight it. drop the gear, pick up the cadence and just accept you're not going fast. This race became comical - skinny blokes, light bikes...

I love that Fournel book.

I spend far too much time watching ridiculous downhill MTB videos that scare me silly. I think like many sports/pastimes there is a potential to become obsessive. Always a new piece of kit, something that will make you go faster or look better. I think it’s also about doing something for...

As the resident cycling obsessive I can only concur. Many things I could live without but I would find it very hard to live without my bike(s)

I went to the early renaissance galleries in the National the other day and although they’ve been buried away in a dingy basement area (rehanging/ refurb reasons apparently) they were just magnificent- Cimabue, Masaccio, Lippi, Piero - I think it helped it was so quiet. It meant that I could...