insidetime issue July 2010
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insidetime Book List
Books which are crime/prison related or written by current or former prisoners.
Soljas
By Graham JohnsonPrice: £9.99 - ISBN: 978-1-84596-602-7
Availability: Mainstream PublishingReview from ‘Macnutty’ - HMP Peterhead. Despite the violence, Soljas does raise the odd chuckle, while providing an insight into the gangland culture that exists in Britain today. Well researched and entertaining, despite the difficult subject matter, it is a worthy title to borrow from the library if available.
Scarred
By Sophie AndrewsPrice: £5.99 - ISBN: 978-0-340-93737-2
Availability: Hodder PriceInside Time’s Lucy Forde views a highly emotive subject with fresh eyes after reading the graphic and harrowing life story of a self harmer. Sophie has written her story in a factual and honest way; it is emotional – but given the subject how could it not be? Most importantly, particularly for Samaritans and Listeners, it explains self harming and is a subject that needs to be explained, not spoken of in hushed tones with knowing looks. Too many people jump to conclusions about self harming; now is not the time to condemn or condone Sophie’s or any other self harmer’s actions - rather than label them as ‘attention seekers’, reading Scarred will give an insight into the effect that self harming has on not just the self harmer but on other people in their lives.
Recollections of a Racketeer
By Patrick LanePrice: £7.99 - ISBN: 978-1-84596-578-5
Availability: all good bookshops and through AmazonReview from ‘MacNutty’ - HMP Peterhead. If this book becomes available through the library or club then get together and buy a copy to share. Perfect for that weekend lock-up and if you become interested, the paperback contains a list of other perspectives from the other parts of the gang and family members. The title that caught my eye was ‘Redemption of a Racketeer’, which leads on from the end of ‘Recollections of a Racketeer’. A knock out read, try it, you won’t be disappointed.
Operation Mincemeat
By Ben MacintyrePrice: £8.48 - ISBN: 978 -07475-98688
Availability: all good bookshopsGerard McGrath is of the opinion that a book should never be judged by its cover or title. It is self-evident that Ben has done diligent research in the writing of this book. In the manner of a gifted author he melds together: documents, letters, photographs, diaries and intelligence material recently released from the files of Naval Intelligence and MI5 to tell the compelling story of Operation Mincemeat. The photographs of various characters are an astute inclusion which enhanced my enjoyment. Ben has accomplished what any author worthy of the name should in drawing the reader into the story he is telling. At no point in the book did I experience boredom and the ensuing urge to put it down as lacking interest and feasibility. As aforementioned a page-turner of its genre; I recommend it and compliment Ben Macintyre.
Eat, Pray, Love … one woman’s search for everything
By Elizabeth GilbertPrice: 0 - ISBN: unknown
Availability: all good bookshopsThis book is a true account of the author’s search to find happiness. It contains three books outlining her journey through Italy, India and Indonesia, with thirty-six short tales in each. Elizabeth Gilbert describes this as ‘Japa Mala’, which is a string of beads, not unlike a Rosary, used for praying in India. The numbers are quite significant and she explains this at the beginning of the book. Elizabeth Gilbert begins her journey after a bitter divorce; a divorce from her husband that she didn’t embark on before praying for the very first time. The book is written with light hearted humour and the ups and downs of her life are quite comparable to many of our own; almost like a ‘gospel’ for women, with some great advice. Highly recommended ... particularly for women at any milestone in their life.
The Soloist … a lost dream, an unlikely friendship and the redemptive power of music
By Steve LopezPrice: £7.99 - ISBN: 978-0-552-77526-7
Availability: all good bookshopsReview from ‘MacNutty’ - HMP Peterhead. The Soloist is a wonderful story of hope; one that proves the difference between success and failure is having someone who cares and never gives up - no matter what. If you only read one book this year then I would certainly recommend that you make it this one.
Monkey House Blues
By Dominic StevensonPrice: £7.50 - ISBN: 978-184596-566-2
Availability: AmazonGerard McGrath is disappointed at a book he considers is comparable to many prisoner’s tales of self-inflicted woe
The Criminal Cases Review Commission Hope for the Innocent?
By Michael NaughtonPrice: 0 - ISBN: 978-0230219380
Availability: Palgrave MacmillanThe case of Simon Hall, convicted in 2003
of murder, has recently been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC); the first time an alleged miscarriage of justice has found its way to the court because of the investigatory efforts of law students.
Wolf Hall
By Hilary MantelPrice: £4.49 - ISBN: 978-0007230181
Availability: All good bookshopsGerard McGrath agrees with all the superlatives bestowed upon ‘a truly great novel from the pen of a mistress of her trade’
The Lateo Directive
By Hunter-Mann-PurdyPrice: £8.99 - ISBN: 9781905513215
Availability: all good bookshopsLucy Forde is less than impressed with a book she considers lacking in substance
Inside
By J R JarmanPrice: £5.99 - ISBN: 978-1-84270-977-1
Availability: all good bookshopsGerard McGrath finds himself experiencing a burgeoning and profoundly disturbing sense of retrospective dejá vu, yet commending and recommending the book without reservation
Wesley - The Remarkable Story of an Owl
By Stacey O'BrienPrice: £5.99 - ISBN: 978 1849010580
Availability: all good bookshopsJane Andrews is deeply moved by the story of a woman’s close bond with her feathered friend
The Lost Symbol
By Dan BrownPrice: £5.99 - ISBN: 978-0-593- 05427-7
Availability: all good bookshopsGerard McGrath isn’t entirely convinced that the author’s commercial success with previous novels
is justified with his latest thriller
Michael Mansfield: Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer
By Michael MansfieldPrice: 12.00 - ISBN: 978 0747576549
Availability: published by BloomsburyInvestigative journalist Bob Woffinden is enthused by the memoirs of a legendary legal figure that are consistently fascinating and illuminating
Overstanding Rastafari: Jamaica's Gift to the World
By Yasus AfariPrice: ? - ISBN: 978-976-610-778-9
Availability: published by Senya-CumGerard McGrath maintains that although enlightening and compelling reading, this book does contain certain inherent contradictions in the ethics which belie the forbearance Rastafari claims to espouse
Banks on Sentence
By Robert BanksPrice: 46.00 - ISBN: 978 0955038624
Availability: Robert BanksJohn Hirst, author of the Jailhouse Lawyer’s blog, is suitably impressed by the definitive book for determining the type and length of sentence for almost all prosecuted offences
Ronnie Biggs: The Inside Story
By Mike Gray and Tel CurriePrice: £9.99 - ISBN: ISBN 1-906358-59-1
Availability: Apex PublishingWritten by two of Ronnie Biggs’s closest friends and most ardent supporters, the book delivers exactly what it says on the label; giving a very personal, unique and yet disturbing insight into the mind and subsequent treatment by the judicial and penal system of the man who became a legendary
household name for his role in one of Britain’s
most notorious crimes, the Great Train Robbery of 1963, and his subsequent life on the run upon his escape from Wandsworth prison in 1965.
Urban Smuggler
By Andrew Pritchard with Norman ParkerPrice: 9.99 - ISBN: 1-84596-310-1
Availability: www.urbansmuggler.comAndrew Pritchard is notorious for having been
held responsible by HM Customs and Excise
for being the mastermind behind Britain's
largest cocaine smuggling operation. This
book would have you believe differently!
Urban Smuggler sets out to tell Pritchard's life
story, culminating in an alleged drug heist. It is
clear from the beginning that he has always
sailed very close to the wind and one is left
wondering which of Her Majesty's establishments
he would now be languishing in if he had been
picked up at the start of his somewhat shady
existence. Whatever you feel about his wheeling
and dealing and lets face it, as readers of
Inside Time we may not be the best people to
cast an opinion you cannot help but admire
the hard work he put in; seeing an opening in
the market, so to speak, and going for it.
Lies and Loyalties
By Rachel BillingtonPrice: 18.99 - ISBN: N/A
Availability: All good bookstores.As well as being a powerful human drama, Lies
& Loyalties deals with gritty contemporary issues
in today's Britain. It moves from parliament to
prison, from church to mental hospital and from
those who conduct the law to the outcasts of
society. But at the heart of the novel is one
family - divided by rivalry and frustrated love
and forced, at last, to learn the truth about
themselves.
Warrior Kings
By Noel Razor SmithPrice: 7.99 - ISBN: 1-904444-95-4
Availability: APEX PUBLISHING LTD: 01255 428500It was the long hot summer of 1976, and a 15-year-old Noel Smith, testosterone jangling, was among many south London
kids keen to stamp their mark on the world and find an identity and a sense of belonging. Rock n roll music of the 50s had
gripped his imagination and, adopting the dress, hairstyle and dance moves, a Teddy boy was born. Many of his peers
followed suit and soon the Balham Wildkatz were born - mob-handed, arrogant and spoiling for a ruck at every opportunity.
Loonyology
By Charles BronsonPrice: 18.99 - ISBN: 1-906358-11-7
Availability: APEX PUBLISHING LTD: 01255 428500Lifer Charlie Bronsons reputation precedes him - Britains most violent prisoner - or does it? Do we really know the true Charlie,
or are our impressions the result of media hype? Well, what is in no doubt is that Loonyology is 200% Bronson and will transport
the reader on the dizziest no-holds-barred roller-coaster ride of their lives, from suspense and shock to laughter and tears, and from
Bronson the Solitary King to Bronson the Philosopher, the Poet, the Artist, the Author, the Joker, the Walking Scar and the Freedom
Fighter.
The British Crime and Prison Quiz Book
By Jim Dawkins and Dave CourtneyPrice: 7.99 - ISBN: 1-906358-01-X
Availability: APEX PUBLISHING LTD: 01255 428500Will you be held at gunpoint and find yourself reaching for the panic button or will you be laughing all the way to
the bank as you try to answer this quiz books 450 testing questions cunningly prepared by former London
gangster and nowadays best-selling celebrity author and film-maker Dave Courtney and ex-prison officer Jim
Dawkins?
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