William Leith

I’m still going with my reading of the Penguin Lines series. The short size and story length make these books great to carry around in a handbag in hope of extra reading time or as a short read between longer books. A Northern Line Minute falls into the latter category for me, as I read it in one sitting after finishing another novel. (I was also a little too lazy to get off the couch for another book).

This short story is a great one to read in one setting. It’s tense and well written, but with enough meanders into lighter subjects to stop the story from becoming particularly creepy. (A Northern Line Minute is not a book you would actually want to read on the Tube or Underground, particularly if there’s a whiff of smoke about). It’s told in the first person and grabs you from the moment the narrator tells you that they think they can smell smoke deep in the Underground. Should he get off the train at the next station or is it all a figment of his imagination? As the narrator ruminates on what may or may not be happening, he imparts a lot of information about the Northern Line and how it differs from some of the other Tube lines, being deeper. I found that part rather interesting.

Overall, I enjoyed this story and I’m eager to check out other works by William Leith.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com… (more)

I loved this book ! I enjoyed his writing so much that I went out and bought his two other books.

I can understand how this would not be a 5 star book to some, but to me it was as it is was so relatable to my own life and horror stories of having binge eating disorder for 33 years, self loathing, clothes that fit one week but not the next, the shame, the self-disgust, the endless attempts and failures of trying to lose weight but getting nowhere fast for decades.

This is a warts and all book, it is not prettified so as not to disgust others. It is a book written by a drug taken, alcoholic, binge eating man in England.

I enjoyed it and nearly every page I found myself smiling saying, ' yep, been there done that William, it is not only you '.

A… (more)

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2567164.html

A short, somewhat grim account of being a middle aged man and feeling that life has completely passed you by. I'm classifying it as non-fiction because it's presented as a memoir. Some of the observations were uncomfortably close to home, but in general I felt I'd had a better life than the writer and wasn't learning much from this. It's well written, though, the account of the circumstances around his son's conception being especially gripping.… (more)