Albert's Bookshelf

Stephen Clarke - A Year In The Merde
Stephen Clarke - Merde Actually
Both books are about a British expat, Paul West, trying to adapt to a new life in France, and all the funny things that he encountered in his work and social life. A Year In The Merde is the first book in this series and it's one of the very few books that made me laugh out loud while reading it.

Cyril Collard - Les Nuits Fauves [French]
Cyril Collard - L'Ange Sauvage [French]
Cyril Collard died in 1993, four days before his debut film, Les Nuits Fauves, won the French Cesar film award. This book was his semi-autobiography.

Douglas Coupland - JPod
I am still reading this book (it's thick) but very readable. Kind of a mix of The Office and Dilbert in the IT World.

Imogen Edward-Jones - Hotel Babylon
Imogen Edward-Jones - Air Babylon
Hotel Babylon has been made into an 8-part BBC TV drama, though this book is only loosely connected to the TV show. The book is a 24-hour concentrated account of many of the bizarre things that happen in a hotel. Air Babylon follows the same idea but is based on the airline industry.

Mark Hadden - Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Rohan Candappa - Curious Incident of the WMD in Iraq
The Mark Hadden book is about the quest of a boy with Aspergers Syndrome trying to find out the death of a dog. The Rohan Candappa book is written in a similar style, but about Tony Blair and his quest to find Weapons of Mass Destructions in Iraq. Both books are highly entertaining, though for different reasons.

Nick Middleton - Extremes Along The Silk Road
Nick Middleton is a lecturer in Geography at University Of Oxford, and he has written several books on life in extreme conditions or environments that other people have to endure. This one is about the the Silk Road and his experience in Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia and Kazakhstan - I really enjoy this book as I have been to some of the places that he visited.