I'm Currently Reading: Margrave of the Marshes (John Peel Autobiography)

For the first time that I can remember, I've left one book I really enjoyed and dived right into another.

Usually when I finish a book, in spite of just how much I enjoyed reading it I never use the momentum and read another, which is daft as I really love reading a good book.

So I've gone from less than trodden ground for me with a story of entrepreneurial success (The Google Story) to safe ground in the form of a music orientated book.

I've only read the introduction and the first 3 chapters, but it looks like it's going to be a really good read. Usually the intro is a chore for me, something that needs to be read but at such an early stage I have no real interest in what it has to say. On this occasion the intro was an enjoyable read. John Peel's children take after their father where they are able to make even the dullest of things enjoyable.

And that sums up the 3 chapters as well (they are written by the man himself). I find the problem with biographies is you have to read through the initial childhood chapters that you don't really care about before you can get into the good stuff where the person you are reading about hits the trials and tribulations of attempting to gain success and then finally gaining success. But this book is different. John Peel has a knack of making even the dullest of subjects interesting. What he writes oozes the dry wit he had on the radio and on TV.

He writes his childhood chapters from a child’s point of view, but with the intelligence of a 60 year old. He tells of the first time he saw a girls 'lady garden', his failures at masturbating at an early age and the fact that a local gardener in his late teens once showed him his penis. He explains how impressed he was by both the size of it and how clever it was that this chap could make it larger at will. John Peel is in the minority in being someone who can write about this stuff and not only get away with it but make it funny in the process.

Being the Peel fan that I am, I can't believe I've held off this long before reading it. That said, I don't think it matters whether you are a fan of John Peel, his taste in music or even music in general. I think you'd really enjoy it.