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The Beautiful Game by Rabinder Bhachu
"David Conn's The Beautiful Game: Searching for the Soul of Football is an investigative look at football's finances and power over the years and is clearly written by someone who is first and foremost a football fan.
What is impressive about this book is that Conn examines football clubs that are less well-off than the big boys. Bradford City is one of the club under Conn's microscope. His chapter Six Weeks of Madness documents City's financial strife from the fire in May 1985 in which 52 died through to Geoffrey Richmond's handling of transfers when they were in the Premiership in 2000/01 which led to his famous quote that gives the chapter its title. Conn's research is extensive throughout the book. He talks to directors, fans and people in football who are not usually vocal and he manages to acquire some startling information from people in the know. One example is when Conn delves into the club's administration figures for July 2002 which point out ex-Bantam Benito Carbone was paid the incredible sum of £40,000 per week and given a house with seven bedrooms and five bathrooms. His account of the rise and fall of Bradford is a powerful one and he raises some interesting points about the fire of 1985 at Valley Parde that certainly prove to be eye-opening. For instance why safety was neglected at the stadium and why the Government's safety recommendations were ignored. Conn explores football from its birth as a handful of clubs and brings the reader right up to today's Premiership as he looks at money and power in the English game. His book is part commentary, part investigation, but it's always fascinating. It shows the football fan a different side of the game, one of greed and corruption, a side that he/she may not have been exposed to before. Even somebody who doesn't like football is likely to find the book accessible and an excellent research tool. To be supercritical of Conn, he stops short of answering some of his own questions. He could have perhaps explained how football clubs, and in particular the Premier League clubs, could become more financially equal so smaller teams don't have to continue to struggle to compete and indeed exist. Despite a glaring factual inaccuracy (Patrick Vieira was signed for Arsenal from AC Milan and not Inter Milan, page 59), it's well researched and well-written. This is an excellent read for the studious football fan."
Sickened by Julie Gregory
"Before I started this book, Iwasn't too clued up on exactly what Fred and Rose West were like - this book totally put me in the picture. Julie fell into their clutches when they gave her a lift when she was hitchhiking, gradually they won her trust by offering her a nannying job, then began her nightmare. One night they assaulted, raped and tortured her, luckily she escaped to tell her story, this is it. The book is well written, at times in diary form, it clutches at your heart strings and lets you see into the mind of the sick and perverted from the victims point. A very good read."
Karen McCrudden, Bradford
The White Stuff
The White Stuff takes the reader on a journey that one-woman takes after the decision to have children is taken from her.
Join Me
Following Danny Wallace's quest to find 1000 joinees for a pointless collective. Out of boredom he places an advert in a paper asking people to 'join him' and before he knows it photos are landing on his doormat. The Ripple Effect
Dominic Holland's book about knock-on effects beginning with one man who has a bad day leading to others having a bad day.
True Crime
This is the last in Jake Arnott's trilogy of novels which focus on the London gangland from the 1960s to the present day. However Jake is no stranger to West Yorkshire - he has worked for both Red Ladder Theatre and Leeds Social Services.
The Cryptographer
Tobias Hill's third novel, The Cryptographer, draws the reader into the year 2012 where money is no longer hard currency, but electronic units called Soft Gold. On Dangerous Ground
Once a teacher in a Bradford inner-city school Lesley Horton now writes crime novels which take an honest look at some of today's problems. The Red Riding Quartet
The hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, and much more, examined in a series of novels by David Peace. Battlefield Walks in West Yorkshire
Yorkshire contains more important battlefields than any other county in the UK. David Clark brings history to life with 23 circular walks, some of which are in West Yorkshire. A Wish For Wings
Jenna, the heroine of this novel by well-known Bradford author Robert Swindells, has only one ambition in life - she wants to fly.
Ian Rankin in Bradford: Interview
Sue Rann David Peace Man of Letters: Robert Craig So, who were the Brontes anyway? The Brontes on film The Bronte Parsonage Museum Lost City: J.B. Priestley returns to Bradford
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