Lounging around...

In a previous post I mentioned that the combination of a friendly impromptu book exchange and my liking of decent stand-up comedy resulted in me reading (unlikely though I would have thought) a crime thriller. Well now I have become completely addicted to Mark Billingham's Tom Thorn thrillers and am on the last one (oh no!), "Death Message". Well who cares?

By the way I really don't understand these boaters who spend a fortune on a bespoke boat and then have these two very upright-looking, individual pair of chairs in the saloon. Surely the saloon (or 'lounge' for land lubbers) is for lounging. I can't remember who said it but I try to live by the maxim "Never stand up when you can sit down and never sit down when you can lie down".

Has canal culture has turned me into a literary chav?

One of the nice things about boating on the canals is the camaraderie found towards other boaters. An example of this is the completely unofficial "book exchange" which appeared (I imagine spontaneously) at the BW services at Red Bull.

Recently when I was there I looked through the usual array of thrillers and romantic Mills & Boon fodder which (along with so called "chick-lit") I have always snobbishly assumed to be, well frankly crap.

Well I've never read a thriller before but I was attracted to it by the Name - "Mark Billingham". I am familiar with the author from his stand-up comedy so I thought "a good comedian has written a crime thriller - why not give it a try?". It was in no way breaking new ground, staying very much within the sort of formula familiar on some T.V. dramas. But it was very cleverly written and absolutely gripping and, er...thrilling.

A bit like listening to a really good blues band. You've heard it all before but it doesn't stop it being excellent.

The author writes about the similarities and differences between crime writing and stand-up on his website here.