Broken Spine #13

Guess what this week’s recommended reading is all about? I picked four books in the end. And they’re all fab!

Recommended Reading #13: Books about…The Beatles

Two main reasons caused this week’s Broken Spine to appear today, on Wednesday (it’s actually usually meant to be here on a Tuesda). The first was that today (09.09.09) is Beatles day, as you may well know. If you went into HMV today, you would’ve seen Beatles balloons, (remastered) Beatles albums, Beatles posters, Beatles t-shirts, Beatles mugs, and even a zebra crossing and pole in HMV on Henry Street! The second reason is that thre is just too many Beatles books, and I found it extremely difficult to select the right ones. (Oh, HMV also had tonnes of Beatles books too!)

Paul McCartney - High in the Clouds

Did you know that Sir Paul McCartney wrote children’s books? If you didn’t, you do now. In 2005, he released his first, the excellent High in the Clouds. The book is astoundingly charming, and has the most beautiful illustrations. It’s the Squirrel version of Watership Down, and if it’s ever made into a movie, it’s bound to have a Garfunkel-less soundtrack.

Ringo Starr - Postcards from the Boys

It’s well known that Ringo no longer signs autographs (he’s a bit like Neil Armstrong in that way), but back in the day, he did put his signature to a hell of a lot of mail. In return, he received hundreds of postcards, many of which were from his (former) bandmates. The best of which are collected here. It’s interesting to see how they actually corresponded to each other, and while not a true history of the band, provides a great insight into the relationships of the Fab Four. Plus, Ringo’s narration is fabulous. (I heard someone say that about Thomas the Tank Engine once…)

The Beatles Anthology

You can’t really have a list of essential Beatles books without mentioning the gigantic tome that is The Beatles Anthology. Released to coincide with the last major Beatles event in the 1990s, this one is a complete chronicle of the Beatles from the birth of the musicians to the break-up of the band. The text alone is fantastic, and provides a hugely extensive history of the band. But the real selling point of this is the photographs. Before its publication, many of these photos were unseen, and they really provide an excellent behind-the-scenes view of the band.

The Beatles Complete Chord Songbook

Different from the other three selected, it doesn’t provide any sort of history, biography, or opinion of any sort. What this does provide, however, is guitar chords and tablature for every single Beatles album song. Unlike many musical notation books, this one has more than just scales. This is really handy for people who can’t actually read music (i.e. those of you who download tabs from the internet). The book is so much better than most tabs I found online, and each song is note perfect. Although your actual playing may vary!

Oh, and sorry, but most of these are hardback writers. (I couldn’t resist!)

Book News

Booker Prize Shortlist announced

Looking back at my earlier post on who’s who in the longlist, it seems my batting average was fairly decent. In case you haven’t heard which 6 books made the cut, here’s the shortlist:

A S Byatt - The Children’s Book (Random House, Chatto and Windus)
J M Coetzee - Summertime (Random House, Harvill Secker)
Adam Foulds - The Quickening Maze (Random House, Jonathan Cape)
Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate)
Simon Mawer - The Glass Room (Little, Brown)
Sarah Waters - The Little Stranger (Little, Brown, Virago)

I’m still holding out for Foulds to win! Find out the winner on October 6th.

Oh, and an apple (gettit?) to the person who tells me what that tab is.