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Read a book recently that’s brought you out in goosepimples? Seen a film that’s tickled your fancy? Let’s be having your finest recommendations for CDs, DVDs, web sites, magazines, exhibitions, stage plays, TV programmes, adverts or anything else that hits the spot.
To share your impeccable taste with fellow 26ers, just send in your plugs to newsletter@26.org.uk. Keep them short, sweet and light. Around 100 words should do the trick.
26 is now an official Amazon affiliate. That means if you order a recommended book or CD by following the links to Amazon, 10% of what you pay will end up in 26’s coffers, helping us to put on more events and recommend more books. A virtuous circle, if you like.
A MAN ON THE MOON: THE VOYAGES OF THE APOLLO ASTRONAUTS
Andrew Chaikin Penguin, £10.99 list, or £7.66 on Amazon
Sure, we know the story. And sure, it’s just all nostalgia now, 40 years on. But whatever angle you look at the whole enterprise from: a heroic extending of man’s capabilities, a tragic waste of money, a scientific springboard or full-stop, one thing can’t be gainsaid: the sheer bloody unlikeliness of it all. That anything that bold, that brave, that impossible, could happen. You pinch yourself when Chaikin reminds you of some of the stats – the billions, the manpower – involved. And you worry that, as a species, our dreams have become more beige. Rishi Dastidar
A real life Spinal Tap, full of unintentionally hilarious moments you just couldn't make up. Oddly the result is somehow wonderfully life affirming. You don't need to like heavy metal to appreciate this brilliant DVD about the trails and tribulations of Canada's least successful rockers - it's all about the humanity, man. Get the beers in and enjoy. Roger Horberry
I can heartily recommend www.futilitycloset.comwww.futilitycloset.com. It’s a marvellous case of curiosities, a cornucopia of trivia, a source of temporary inspiration, and most importantly a daily distraction from the wordface of work. Martin Lee
GHOSTS OF SPAIN
Giles Tremlett Faber & Faber, £9.99 list, or £5.96 on Amazon
Just back from Christmas in Barcelona where I devoured gallons of white Riocha, acres of black chocolate, and this marvellous book. Giles is the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent and brings inspired investigative journalism, a love of listening, and dazzling writing which all adds up to riveting storytelling. He travels on a series of physical and metaphysical journeys to exhume the ghosts that make Spain such an evocative experience. How come Franco still exerts such a subliminal influence? How did the bikini save Spain? What do the Spanish think of sex? How do the Spanish have babies? Why is flamenco so visceral? How has corruption + entrepreneurialism proved such a feisty economic mix? Why did Islamic terrorists bomb Madrid? Why do the Spanish love chancers and rule breakers? Giles is incredibly good on language, and reflects on how dialects feed identities and shape cultures. He writes about the mysteries of Basque (which Susannah Hart explored so eloquently in our book on translation – 26 Exchanges), Basque separatism and the rise and demise of ETA. He struggles with the differences between Catalan and castellano, and discovers how Galego confuses everyone but is alive and well in Galicia. The book concludes with a revealing chapter on Pedro Almodóvar who epitomises Spain’s Transición (from suffocating dictatorship to idiosyncratic democracy) and a national characteristic –not to moralise – but to understand. Tom Lynham
Some of the most beautiful writing I have read from America since William Faulkner.
Two takes on an interconnected story - somewhat reminiscent of Faulkner's 'The Sound and the Fury'. Stuart Delves
I haven't been to a meeting yet, but I hear good things about this club, and I see one or two 26ers are members already. Here's the club's self-description: A monthly meet up in a central London venue to swap, give away, recommend and talk about business books. The kind of books that have taught you, motivated you, inspired you, improved your understanding of psychology, sociology or other ologys. Is your hero Seth Godin or Richard Templar? Freakonomics or Wikinomics? Richard Branson or Felix Dennis? Discuss this, and other things (with beer). At every event we have an active conversation with a great author speaker, book swap with other members and network our socks off.' Tim Rich
John Logan Donmar Warehouse, Earlham Street, until 6 February
I love Mark Rothko's work as a painter, it seems spiritual to me. The works I've seen at the Tate Gallery have an emotional effect that I find hard to explain, particularly as they're abstract paintings. I went to see John Logan's play at the Donmar because I love Rothko and it didn't disappoint. I went to see it a second time, and I thought it even better the second time.
There's a repeated refrain as actors and audience stare at a painting on stage: "What do you see?" You might answer "Red". What do you see? What else? There are other colours, particularly if you keep looking. And there are thoughts. There are emotions. And these are powerful.
There are just two people on stage throughout. Alfred Molina as Rothko, Eddie Redmayne as his assistant. You come out closer to Rothko (not necessarily a comfortable place), closer to understanding the depth of his art. It's only on until 6 February - see it if you can. And see some Rothko too. John Simmons
REDEMPTION SONG: THE DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHY OF JOE STRUMMER
Chris Salewicz Harper, £10.99 list or £7.66 on Amazon
Unless you are a dedicated Clash/Strummer fan, 672 pages probably represents more time than you’d care to spend in their company. But if you’re fully sold on the man and the mythology, this book is satisfyingly exhaustive. Chris Salewicz (the rock journalist and biographer who Strummer insisted on calling ‘Sandwich’) is a fair and generous chronicler, giving us a warts-and-all account of his friend, easily the most articulate voice to emerge from the Punk movement. 'Redemption Song' is nicely balanced and written in an easy-going style, a portrait of the age as well as the main protagonist. Strummer comes across as a complex man battling coming to terms with many contradictions – infuriating, pig-headed and selfish, yet driven, inspired and generous. In 2002, soon after his 50th birthday, Joe died of a heart attack doing nothing more taxing than sitting on the sofa reading the Guardian. Jim Davies
Charlie Brooker Faber & Faber, list £12.99, or £5.35 on Amazon
If you're a Guardian reader or you've watched any of his TV series then you'll already have the measure of misanthrope Brooker's musings, but that doesn't stop them being any less entertaining. Someone make him king, please. Roger Horberry
Edward Gorey Bloomsbury, £5.99 list, or £4.14 on Amazon
There’s something about this poignant tale of writer’s block from 1953 that seems particularly appropriate for a January. Written and illustrated by the gorgeously bonkers Edward Gorey, this is the tale of Mr Earbrass, and the struggle to write his new novel, ‘The Unstrung Harp’. Mr Earbrass is described as a ‘straying’ rather than a ‘sedentary’ type of author, and – like every writer - is endlessly distracted from his work by biscuits, cups of tea and the desire for forced greengages. If you’re suffering from January, withered verbs or adjectives that are proliferating past control, this book is a tonic. Fiona Thompson
Eric is design director for The O Group and a professor at The School of Visual Arts, New York. He's also a prolific and imaginative collector of books and graphic ephemera. Every week or so he publishes an eclectic sample of images via the Design Observer blog. His mini-collections – or recollections – invite your mind to hopscotch across history. You might see an achingly beautiful modernist book jacket, a bizarre family photo, portraits of cheese, a circus poster, a business card, a fragment of poem, a government warning... Each montage opens new windows on yesterday, and every so often you find yourself leaping through a window in pursuit of an intriguing typeface, a forgotten trade show, the ghost of an author, a frightening piece of footwear... Tim Rich
