Claimed to be the definitive biography of the band Queen’s front man Freddie Mercury by Lesley-Ann Jones, the front cover simply features the man in his typical stage pose.  The back cover has a tribute from Pattaya’s own rock authority Simon Napier-Bell, and it was that which prompted me to pick up the book from the Bookazine shelves at Big C Extra.

“Stuff” is something our household has in copious amounts.  “Where is the stuff we use to clean the fridge,” is a familiar call.  The location is given as, “In with the other stuff, where you left it last time.”  That’s the beauty of the English language.  It is so precise!

Another collection of essays this week from prolific author Christopher G Moore, called Faking It in Bangkok (ISBN 978-616-7503-13-4, Heaven Lake Press, 2012).  Moore is probably better known for his Vincent Calvino Private Eye series with 12 books published plus 11 other novels on the shelves such as Waiting for the Lady, and the Wisdom of Beer.

With Blue Sky Development company advertising heavily that they have ‘found’ Atlantis, to see a book on the subject on the Big C Extra Bookazine shelves was too great a temptation to pass up.  The Lost Empire of Atlantis has been written by Gavin Menzies (ISBN 987-0-857-82006-8, Orion Books 2011).  Despite the fact that the book’s Atlantis and that of the developers are obviously not the same, I am quite willing to accept a spotter’s fee following their next sale. ;-))

Another of the Jack Reacher series from author Lee Child.  The Affair (ISBN 978-0-553-82551-0, Bantam Books, 2012) is the 16th of the series, and hero Jack Reacher has an army of fans.  To make the persona even more understandable, Lee Childs includes Jack Reacher’s CV at the front of the book, and he is a 6’5" giant, explaining his ability to look after himself in the combat situation.

I will own up right at the start.  I have been a fan of the Rolling Stones since the early 60’s.  I have been to a Stones live concert.  “Jumping Jack Flash” has been one of my favorite numbers since the mid-60’s.  As regards a book written by Stones guitarist Keith Richards, you could expect that I would be biased.  Let me assure you, I did not need to be kind in this review.  Life is one of the best books outlining the era of rock music (ISBN 987-0-316-03441-8, Back Bay Books, 2010).

One of the most eye catching covers, Deadly Animals by Gordon Grice (ISBN 978-0-241-95129-3, Penguin, 2012) just had to be taken home to read all about “savage encounters between man and beast”.

Many years ago I had a Maiden Aunt who had been a member of the WAF (Women’s Air Force), who gave me a wonderful book on aviation, and she inscribed it with the words, “Hoping you enjoy planes as much as I have done.”

We have been going through a nostalgic wave of Titanic proportions with the 100 year anniversary this month of the sinking of the “unsinkable” ship.  That being the case, I felt the Book Review column may as well follow on, and Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember (ISBN 978-0-141-39969-0, 1956 but reprinted 2012, Penguin Books) the classic best selling account of the sinking of the Titanic beckoned from the local Bookazine shelves.

The latest Jack Shepherd crime novel is entitled A World of Trouble (ISBN 978-981-4361-51-4, Marshall Cavendish, 2012), written by well-known author Jake Needham and is the third in the series after Laundry Man and Killing Plato.