Need good books to read? Look no further.
Now where was I? Oh yes it's time to tell you about my books, a subject for which I've made frequent reference to in recent blogs but I thought you'd need some good books to read. So here goes. This is your book promoter calling and here are some notes about the three books that made me both laugh and cry with laughter, moved me to floods of poignant tears and took me on the kind of journey I'd never forget.
My second book No Joe Bloggs is available at Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Waterstones online market place and Books A-Million online. No Joe Bloggs is my funny, moving, nostalgic and lyrical memoir which covers among a whole load of other things Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Junior, Dean Martin, Woody Allen, Johnny Carson, the wonderful United States of America, my parents, grandparents and mum as Holocaust survivors, my favourite movies, music, singers, bands, radio stations, an abundance of pop culture from the 1960s and 70s, amusing descriptions and pen portraits of football teams such as Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Ipswich Town, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Spurs and Wolves.
Throughout No Joe Bloggs there is a constant theme of triumph over adversity, a sense that there is a sliver lining and setbacks and tragedies can be conquered. I write about Ilford, Essex where I grew up with some vividly affectionate accounts of Valentines Park in Ilford and this is followed by some more picturesque prose about London, the capital city my late and wonderful dad had such a soft spot for. There are references about Piccadilly Circus, the West End of London, the great touristy landmarks of London and my take on everything that makes London tick.
In one chapter I describe, fictitiously, my dad's Las Vegas paradise where both he, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Junior and Dean Martin converge on the Las Vegas gambling casinos the pool tables.
In another chapter I give another imaginary account of what happened on the day of the 1966 World Cup Final between England and West Germany as a father and son set out for Wembley Stadium. Then I move on to discuss the many showbiz celebrities who have been a guiding light for both TV, film and theatre. I also talk about those legendary TV programmes during the 1960s and 70s in both the USA and Britain over the years.
Above all though No Joe Bloggs is not only a social commentary book but a book about real feelings, real vulnerabilities, real emotions, my adolescent struggles, those extremely difficult teenage years when it all went so sadly wrong for me. I talk about the inevitable loneliness, the shy awkwardness, the failure to connect with kids of my age, my complete lack of any social skills, the lack of social interaction, perhaps a private yearning to be like the rest of my generation and not knowing how to communicate for fear that the kids of my age at the time would laugh at and mock me.
No Joe Bloggs is a huge illustration of my helplessness, my solitary solitude that left me totally ill equipped to face both the world, the future and what must have seemed like the rest of my life. I do hope that you won't get the impression that this is some sob story about a painfully shy kid from Essex. I want no sympathy but what I hope you get from No Joe Bloggs is a story about the subjects that animate me, fascinate me and enthrall me.
So I said at the top of my blog here. If you need a good book and books to read then my book No Joe Bloggs is definitely the book for you. It's heartwarming, uplifting and uplifting, a story about a kid who grew up in a warm hearted, brilliant and closely knit suburb of Essex and just wanted to be accepted for who he was rather than what he might have been.
I would never dream of asking you to understand why I was so shy and reserved because this is one subject that can never be properly explained. For those who didn't know me as a 11 year old I'd just like to re-assure you that it wasn't personal and I wasn't being deliberately snobbish. Let me tell you right away that of course I should have played football with the lads, table tennis into the late hours of the evening and generally doing the kind of things that came naturally to kids of my age. But now I know that it wasn't my fault because I now realise that I had none of the motivations and ambitions that the other kids had.
For me the image of my dad lovingly coaxing me to go into Barkingside Youth Club in Essex as an 11 year old is an image that I'd rather forget. Of course I wanted to be like the other kids of 1974, of course I should have learnt to drive when I was 17 or 18 and of course I should have been ambitious. If only I could have hung out with my Jewish friends rather than hiding away in my bedroom and pretending that the outside world wasn't really for me. I can still remember the overwhelming fear and terror that being 11 years old had brought to me at the time.
Hindsight though is a wonderful thing and when we look back on our lives we all make mistakes, we all get it wrong when we're young or maybe we get it right but don't know how or why. I suppose what I'm really trying to say that although the kids who went to Barkingside Youth Club on that fateful evening in September have no recollection of me then I apologise. My life and mindset at 11 bore no relation to your mindset. Call it immaturity or somebody who just didn't want to join with teenagers of my age, the truth was that I was different, I was socially uncomfortable, terrified and scared and it's only now that I can reconcile myself to the fact that some things were somehow fated to happen.
Anyway the fact is that No Joe Bloggs will give you broad brush strokes of the kind of man I am today. It is a book of observation, humour, clear insights into my character and my love of English grammar as well as language. So if you fancy a good old fashioned laugh, chuckle and giggle then I would heartily recommend No Joe Bloggs. It's a foot stomping, finger clicking, happy go lucky read.
Meanwhile my latest book Joe's Jolly Japes will take you on a different kind of journey but still waxes lyrical about my personal take on the English middle classes, England, the Chelsea Flower Show, the Henley Regatta, England's football World Cup triumphs and disasters, the victories and defeats, the trials and tribulations, the players and managers, British seaside resorts from my perspective, West End department stores, more about wonderful Ilford and a large summary of everything that brings a smile to my face.
Like No Joe Bloggs, Joe's Jolly Japes is available at Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Waterstones online market place and Books- A-Million online. It's another descriptive book about my personal take on the ordinary and the extraordinary. I also talk about my favourite sports personalities from the 1970s and more of the TV shows that took the world by storm. So Joe Jolly's Japes is definitely the book I'd recommend for a festive read. You'll like what you read.
My first book Victorian Madness Lyrics, which by the way is still available at FeedaRead.com, is I think a hilarious totally bonkers book that is both in turns crazy, zany and outrageously incomprehensible. But hold on it may be incomprehensible but for all its ludicrously over the top language you might just find it enjoyable.
In Victorian Madness Lyrics, an affectionate homage to the great British ska band, I've transformed most of Suggs and the lads back catalogue of hits into a grammatical festival of words that may sound excessively posh and ridiculously silly but might tickle your funny bone on the train to work. Here are examples from Victorian Madness Lyrics. The House of Fun - Establishment of Amusement, Our House - One's Abode and Baggy Trousers- Ill fitting Pantaloons. So if you're in the mood for some good, honest fun in your book Victorian Madness Lyrics will make you laugh and laugh and laugh.
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