It seems that it has been over two weeks since I last posted.  Sorry about that.  I've been sick, so you haven't missed much.  Any posts I might have written would have come out as COUGH SNOT BLURGH so I think we can all agree that the hiatus was for the best.

But I'm trying to get back into the swing of things here, and first things first, I need to write about Bit of a Blur by Alex James, because I read it back in January and frankly my memories of it are true to the title.

What I can say is, it's a great read!  For those who may not be familiar with Alex James, he is the bassist for the band Blur, and this memoir recounts the band's rise to fame in the 90s.  My husband asked for the book for Christmas and after he flew through it in record time and spoke its praises, he recommended it to me.

Before reading the book, I didn't know very much about Blur.  I know their big hits - Country House and Park Life and the like - and I enjoy them.  I have seen Alex James on a few British panel shows and thought him to be quite smart and funny and, let's just say it, rather cute.  Well, smart, funny, cute, British and guitarist happen to be the five top things I look for in a man, so the book was not a hard sell.

It turns out, he can write too (here be swooning).  Bit of a Blur is a really excellent read, a very interesting and intimate telling of the story of Blur and specifically James' experience with creating music and enjoying the celebrity lifestyle the band's success afforded him.  I love trivia and learning "little known" facts, particularly about pop culture, and the book offered a lot of interesting tidbits, such as this:

"Our most popular song was written in fifteen minutes while we were waiting for a piece of gear to turn up.  We just thrashed it out.  I hadn't been to bed.  None of us took it very seriously; it wasn't long enough to be a single and the only words you could hear were 'Woo-hoo'."

I love learning stuff like that.  But you do not have to know anything about Blur or Britpop to enjoy the book.  While James' humour and insights, and his no-holds-barred approach, make his personal story fascinating, what is on offer in the larger picture is a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of popular music and what it is like to be a rock star.  I think everyone has wondered what that would be like.  And his personal striving to learn and better himself is, I think, something we can all relate to as well. 

Beyond that, Alex James is simply a great writer.  There's no in-depth literary analysis needed here:  he's just funny and insightful and curious, and he comes across as being a really nice guy who is at once both proud and humble, self-aware enough to see the absurdity in celebrity while at the same time making no apologies for enjoying it.  He seems like someone who it would be great to have a conversation with in a pub.  On a date perhaps.  In my next life perhaps.

A most excellent and highly recommended read!