I confess – June was not a great month for reading. Life in all its complexities (and work in the shape of my bid to escape my then-current employment) got in the way.
I read one novel Dodger (ISBN 978-0552563147, and 416 pages) which was my first ever Terry Pratchet book. It was recommended by a friend and we agreed to read it (along with Dicken’s Hard Times – not yet finished) for our book club. I romped through Dodger, later observing that it was a children’s title which made no difference. An imaginative recasting of a bunch of Victorian-era characters in a fast-paced farcical yarn. Fun but not challenging.
The second title that I read was 100 Great Street Photographs by David Gibson (ISBN 978-3791383132, and 208 pages). I picked this recent publication in Waterstones on a whim – partly on the basis of the author’s previous title which I read last year.
Regular readers will know that I am a sucker for photo books, having swallowed the advice that if you want to be a better photographer don’t buy technique books – buy books of photos by others. And of all photo genres I favour street photography.
This collection didn’t disappoint. Gibson has made some great choices. The format of the book also works very well – a photograph on one page and a supporting page of text analysing the image, interviewing the photographer, giving links to their Flickr, Instagram and other accounts. There is even a picture by an Aberdeen photographer, taken in her granny’s back garden!
I’d quibble with a few of the choices (e.g. two trees hugging is hardly street photography – although it wold be a cool native American Indian name) but I would not hesitate to recommend this title. Some very inspiring and original creative picture-makers.
Pages read this month: 624
Pages read in 2017 to date: 7,280
Titles read for the first 6 months of the year: 29