Pies and Prejudice [suggested by Zarka Khan]
[Originally suggested in June 2011 – this entry copied from there]
A Northerner in exile, Stuart Maconie goes on a journey in search of the North, attempting to discover where the clichés end and the truth begins. He travels from Wigan Pier to Blackpool Tower and Newcastle’s Bigg Market to the Lake District to find his own Northern Soul, encountering along the way an exotic cast of chippy Scousers, pie-eating woollybacks, topless Geordies, mad-for-it Mancs, Yorkshire nationalists and brothers in southern exile.
The book is heavily reviewed on Amazon and also has its own page on the author’s website.
About the Author
Stuart Maconie is a TV and radio presenter, journalist, columnist and author.
He is the UK’s best-selling travel writer of non-TV tie-in books and his Pies and Prejudice was one of 2008’s top selling paperbacks. His work has been compared with Bill Bryson, Alan Bennett and John Peel and described by The Times as a ‘National Treasure’.
He co-hosts the Radcliffe and Maconie Show on BBC Radio 2 every Monday-Thursday evening, as well as [several other shows].
[Stuart has appeared on] Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights, and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and his other books include the acclaimed official biographies of both Blur and James.
His music memoir Cider with Roadies was published in 2004.
He lives in Birmingham and Cumbria, and is happiest when fell-walking with his dog, Muffin.
The above abridged from the “about Stuart” pages on his website and there’s the usual Wikipedia entry.
Shortlisted for this month
Book selectors can bring one, two or three books for selection, although it’s usual to bring three. This month Zarka’s other selections were:
Black Man
Carl Marsalis is a traitor, a bringer of death, a genetic freak and an unwelcome reminder of all that is dark in the human psyche – he in every sense of the word a Black Man. And right at the moment he’s beyond the UN’s juristiction, banged up in a Florida jail for financing an illegal abortion. So when the US police call, Carl cuts a deal.
The 13s are genetically engineered alpha males, designed to fight the century’s last conflicts. But men bred and designed to fight are dangerous to have aroundin peacetime. Many of them have left for Mars, but one has returned. Somehow he survived the journey to Earth, and now a series of brutal slayings has erupted across America. Only Carl can stop him.
And so begins a frenetic man hunt and a battle for survival. And a search for the truth about what was really done with the world’s last soldiers. [synopsis from the author’s website, linked below]
Wikipedia page.
About the Author
Wikipedia page.
Author’s website.
Bel Canto
Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country’s vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera’s most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening — until a band of gun-wielding terrorists breaks in through the air-conditioning vents and takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different countries and continents become compatriots. Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion and cannot be stopped. [from the book page on the author’s website]
Wikipedia page.