The Right Nation: Why America is Different by John Micklethwait and Adrian Woolridge.

Slightly disappointed by this one, which was the only book I actually asked for this year. I was hoping for an incisive look at why the United States is more conservative than other western societies, which I thought would take in factors such as its founding values and the pioneer spirit as well as its political history. Instead, this book is basically a potted history of modern (late C20th) American conservatism with particular emphasis on the neocons.

This is all well and good but I've read a lot on the neocons before, and it isn't what the book claims to be. If you did this in a degree-level dissertation you'd be pulled up on it, and I'm puzzled as to why such a thoroughly researched, well-written history of modern American conservatism should be sold as something else.

This is definitely worth reading if you want to know about US conservatism; but if you want to know WHY America is like it is, you'll have to go elsewhere.

The London Compendium: A Street by Street Exploration of the Hidden Metropolis by Ed Glinert.

I saw this whilst doing my Christmas shopping, and after a quick flick through in Waterstones knew it was the book for me. It's a fascinating, street-by-street trawl through London's nooks and crannies, uncovering such gems as the ancient pagan centre stone of London in the City, the still standing giant Whitechapel lodging house where Lenin, Stalin and George Orwell stayed, the sites of plague pits around Aldwych, and a street-by-street, hour-by-hour history of the Brixton riots. I spent a great morning just before Christmas walking from a friends in Bethnal Green to my bus stop on Moorgate with this book.

My only gripe is that there isn't enough about London's suburbs, which have a much less well known but equally interesting history. But hell, I might just write that myself.

How to be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson.

I was a bit disappointed to receive this, as I find other Idler publications such as Crap Towns and Crap Jobs a bit pointless and tiresome, but this is actually a surprisingly serious and decent book.

It basically implores you to chill out and enjoy life more, giving you hints on how to do so. I was pleased to find that I've taken a lot of these up already over the years - cutting coffee out of my diet completely and replacing it with the slow-burn high of tea; travelling on the top deck of the bus ("a travelling balcony") rather than getting the tube or train; walking to work even if it takes loads longer; not feeling guilty about taking as many sick days off work as possible without getting into trouble; sleeping loads and not feeling bad about it.

And his justification for all this is true as well: yes, I do feel more creative for sleeping more. I am happier for taking the time to walk to work. Cutting out coffee has made my life loads better. "How to be Idle" is definitely worth reading - an unusual lifestyle book, but one full of decent advice.

Other books -

I also got Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder - looking forward to reading this, Berlin is one of my favourite places in the world and I don't know enough of its history; and The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl - I love short stories (a lost art in my opinion), and though I've probably read most of these in the past, I don't own them and it'll be a joy to read them again.

Telly

Anyone see Yasmin on Channel 4 last night? A bit over egged I thought, but some of the scenes were good, especially the arrest scene. Spent most of the programme location spotting - it wasn't set in any particular place, hopping between Bradford, Leeds, Colne and Keighley (one part shot a couple of streets away from my mum's).

Celebrity Big Brother

Flatmate is engrossed but I just find it too annoying. Watching Bez trying to explain what he did to Sly Styallone's mum last night was excrutiating ("I was in a band" "You skipped your bond? Well I kinda don't like people who do that..." "No, a band" "You shouldn't skip your bond"). Still might put a tenner on Bez to win though.