Brian.

One of the good things about Calibre is that you can take books off your Kindle that you have purchased from Amazon. This means that if you ever lose your Amazon account (and this has happened to people before) you don’t lose access to all the ebooks you’ve purchased.

I just want to add something to the above. I have not been paid to promote Calibre, I'm just a very happy user of the program.

I always recommend the Wallander books by Henning Mankell and anything written by Val McDermid. Fantastic crime books which don't rely on over the top characters.

I'm not particularly well read when it comes to UK politics but a few books come to mind. The first is Posh Boys by Rober Verkaik. In Posh Boys Verkaik looks at why so many British politicians all come from the same group of private, fee paying schools. It explores the fact that they are all given a helping hand into politics and how very few of them have much in the way of experiencing life as a typical citizen of the UK. There isn't much in the way of political analysis but it is a decent look at the education/class divide which still exists in the UK. This book was written before Boris Johnson became Prime Minister and have very accurate predictions about how his leadership would be if he ever made it to the top job. Another book which I have heard good things about but haven't read yet is Why We Get the Wrong Politicians by Isabel Hardman. This book looks more at how our politics and politicians work and how is bascially isn't fit for the world we live in now. The main crux of the book is about how so many of the politicians we have do things to benefit their own careers instead of what is best for the country. There are also a few books about Brexit out there and one of them would definitely be worth a read as it's been the move divisive issue in modern UK politics.

The Lord of the Rings movies are generally well respected and do a pretty good job of living up to the books. My personal favourite adaptation which comes to mind is The Godfather. The book is great but the movie(s) manage to be even better in my opinion.

From time to time questions pop up about the Kindle so I thought it would be good to have a topic where we can collect any tips and tricks together in one place. For those who want to source ebooks from somewhere other than Amazon file format is often a confusing issue. Ebooks purchased from the Kindle store use Amazon's own file format known as AZW. The main reason for using this format seems to be that it is marginally smaller than the .mobi format and that it allows DRM to be used. The other main file format that can be used directly on a Kindle is .mobi and that is widely available across the internet. There are a few other file formats that can be used directly such PDF, RTF, and word files. However, in my experience these can be displayed in an unsatisfactory way on the screen and are best avoided if possible. The other common file format found is EPUB but Kindle devices won't play these All is not lost though and this is my first tip. Use Calibre. Calibre is a free to use program which acts as an ebook manager. It can be used to manage your ebook library on your computer and your chosen device. Instead of using Amazon's janky system for emailing files to myself I use Calibre. It's as simple as plugging in my Kindle and chosing what files I want on it. The best part? Calibre automatically converts any files incompatible with Kindle to .mobi files before sending them to my device. So that's my first tip. Feel free to add your own or ask any questions.

Alone in Berlin is an all time favourite of mine. I hope you enjoy it when you get a chance to read it.

The transport links to it are pretty good to be fair, it’s just where my train arrives in London which isn’t ideal. I have to travel into London from the north and my train arrives at St Pancras. To get to Ally Pally I then have to get a Tube heading back the way I’ve just come for at least half an hour. It’s not so bad going to a gig but heading home afterwards turns into a bit of a chore.

I never realised there was a TV series made. I now want to watch them all but know that I can't until I've read all the books as I don't want to spoil it for myself. 😄

I'm still working my way through the mammoth Churchill by Andrew Roberts so I have only finished a few books since my last update. The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid (4/5) I've read all of the books in the Karen Pirie series and one standalone title by Val McDermid and enjoyed them all. I think it's fair to say that the Tony Hill & Carol Jordan series is her best known work and thats what I decided to read next. The main focus of this book, and I believe the series is serial killer investigation. Four men have been killed and tortured in the city of Bradfield causing panic amongst the public. Pressure is mounting on the police to solve the murders so they bring in clinical psychologist Tony Hill to work alongside detective Carol Jordan. I won't go into the plot too much as I want to avoid any potential spoliers. We have all the usual stuff in a crime novel here with the addition of sexual tension between the main characters. A refreshing change with Hill and Jordan is that they aren't rogues who get things done at any cost. They do things largely by the book while having to manage the senior officer(s) above them. They also have to try and steer the investigation in the correct direction against the prejudices of some of their colleagues. I enjoyed this a lot but at the moment I think I still prefer the character of Karen Pirie to either Hill or Jordan. I'm sure that will change as I read more books in the series though. I would raise a point of warning for prospective readers of this book. It is pretty graphic. This doesn't bother me but it's definitely one of the most graphic crime novels i've read so far. A Prayer Before Dawn by Billy Moore (2/5) I've had this sitting on my kindle for a few years after buying it for 99p in one of the many sales Amazon have on kindle books. It is the true story of Billy Moore's fight for survival inside Klong Prem prison in Thailand. I've read a few 'banged up abroad' books in the past and found them quite entertaining and thought this would be more of the same. In the end the book is fine but doesn't bring anything new to the genre. Moore was a criminal and drug addict before going to Thailand and throughout the book says he regrets being sent to Klong Prem. He plays the victim a bit but it's clear that he deserved to be found guilty as he was dealing drugs in Thailand. At the end of the book he makes out as if he will never do anything illegal again and that he has learned his lesson. After his release, a movie was made of his story but he missed the premier as he was in prison for burglary. So much for learning his lesson. The rating is purely for the book and not related to how I feel about Moore. It's was ok but it's no where near as good as books like Marching Powder by Rusty Young or Hotel Kerobokan by Kathryn Bonella.

It was the first time I've been to Alexandra Palace and I was really impressed wih it as a venue. It would have been helpful if it was closer to the centre of London but we can't have everything. I've just secured tickets to see Iron Maiden again next summer, this time in Amsterdam.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

I just got an email from Folio Society. 16 new editions in the run up to Christmas including the next in the Bond series and one of my favourite books so it looks like I will have to place an order soon.

Taking on two huge History books at the same time wasn't the wisest move. I've put aside the book about the Jacobites and have stuck with Churchill by Andrew Roberts and I'm halfway through The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid.

If you click the year in the calendar it populates a drop down box which allows you to choose the year.

The IP address from your post resolves back to Italy.

Maybe an IP issue? I know sometimes when I browse websites at work it thinks I’m in the USA due to the network routing.

Although classic over the board chess is still where the biggest prestige is, online is chess is where it's at these days. I play 99% online and the resources available are almost endless. There are many GM's who stream online games on Twitch and YouTube and do educational videos. One thing that has definitely helped boost the game online is the faster forms of the game. Bullet (1 min), Blitz (3 min), and Rapid (10 min) games are hugely popular although I prefer the much slower Daily version where you have up to 24 hours to make each move. Most players play much faster than this but it does allow you to think things over without time pressure.

I was at a bit of a loss of where to put this topic as I'm not sure it really fits the description of a sport but here seemed the best fit. Anyone else play or have an interest in Chess? I find it pretty fascinating and follow the professional game in a very loose way. I do play but very badly. There has been a cheating scandal hitting a lot of the mainstream press recently which has brought unwanted attention to the game, a lot of the reporting has been pretty inaccurate as well.

I’ve seen a few bands over the last two weekends. Last week I went to my local venue to see Blaze Bayley who was supported by Absolva. Last night I went to Alexandra Palace to see Parkway Drive. Parkway didn’t disappoint with a performance packed with energy and crowd engagement.

It's a tricky one as you are kind of reliant on the description stating if it is unabridged or not. Most unabridged versions will say so but the same cannot be said of abridged versions of books. Sometimes it's in the description, sometimes not. The 'product details' section on a book's page usually states the 'print length' in pages which may give you a better indication if you compare it to the details of a print book you know to be unabridged. ISBN used to be the best well to tell but I never trust Amazon to have the correct ISBN for a book as they rely heavily on their own ASIN which is annoying.

I’m yet to read any of her work but reading the news reports today it’s clear to see how well respected she was and how this has come out of the blue.

The Amazon purchase price for audiobooks if you don't subscribe to Audible are always crazy. I subscribe on and off to Audible but would never pay the full, non-member price for any of their titles.

I treated myself to some throw away horror this monring by watching Wrong Turn from 2003 staring Eliza Dushku.

I've currently got two very volumous history books on the go, Churchill by Andrew Roberts, and The Jacobites by Jacqueline Riding. I think I will have to pick up some easy reading fiction book to go alongside these as I really need to concentrate with the history books. I also slowly re-reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky for the 3rd time but I am purposefully taking my time with it.