Brian Bollen's Blog

Lost Symbol: Last Langdon?

I did wonder why, after all the hype leading up to its publication in 2009, little more was heard of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, follow-up to The Da Vinci Code. Having finished reading it earlier today, I can quite understand why.

I read the first 300 pages on the journey back to the UK from Switzerland on Saturday (January 28). I felt it was the usual poorly written rot, but a page-turner nonetheless, and great fun.

But I came to realise over the next few days that it has several problems, and I think that the world might have heard the last from Professor Robert Langdon. One could almost see Tom Hanks faxing in his performance for the film that was probably on the cards before publication but surely won't be now.

Looking For Sex And Violence? Read Le Morte D'Arthur

Have you ever read Le Morte D'Arthur? Sir Thomas Mallory makes Quentin Tarantino look like the Tooth Fairy.

Fighting Financial Fires: An IMF Insider Account

When I trailed this book three days ago I promised to let you know what I thought of it, once I had had a chance to look at it for myself (the publishers, palgrave macmillan, small letters throughout, describe it as 'riveting' you will recall).

Well, it thudded on to my door mat yesterday morning and such is my devotion to duty that here I am posting my initial reactions on a Sunday afternoon (just before the long dark tea-time of the soul).

This is a page-skipper rather than a page-turner, I'm afraid, 191 pages from Prologue to Epilogue. But, it is a veritable treasure trove of background information on everything that has gone wrong in the international financial world over the past 40-odd years, and what the authorities have done, or tried to do, to try and put things right.

For someone old enough to remember the collapse of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange regime in 1971 and the first oil shock in 1973, it's like walking down Memory Lane. For younger readers, it could prove to be a useful history lesson.

One mild personal criticism is that while it gives a quick thumbnail sketch of the Brady Plan, which helped the world recover from the Latin American and other debt crises of the 1980s, it makes not even a fleeting reference to my own small but crucial role in the change of thinking that led to the creation of the Brady Bond.

The title of the book, and some of the individual chapter titles (Indonesia With Nukes and The Korean Christmas Crisis) do their job effectively, persuading readers who might otherwise pass on by to take a look inside. But in my proofs-style copy the content is too dense, physically, as well as in terms of content for all but the most determined reader.

Everyone with an interest in international finance should have a copy on their bookshelf, even if it is only ever taken down, dusted and consulted in times of uncertainty.

A worthy contribution to the industry from Dr Onno de Beaufort Wijnholds, a former executive director of the International Monetary Fund, Fighting Financial Fires is available in hardback from September 2011 at a price of £26.00. Its ISBN is ISBN-978-0-230-29267-3.

S.O.S.

If you haven't already read S.O.S. by Joseph Connolly, treat yourself soon.

S.O.S. serves as a welcome introduction to the fiction of Joseph Connolly, also a noted biographer. As the New York-bound SS Transylvania proceeds serenely across the Atlantic, those on board find themselves thrown from pillar to post, battered physically and emotionally. Only the most pig-headed disembark unscathed.

Literate and witty, displaying a common touch while eschewing gratuitous vulgarity, this La Ronde for the 21st century beguiles and surprises, often both at once. A sense of pervading doom grows as the unlikely but inter-related couplings accumulate and multiply.

The myriad surprises are revealed deftly. That protagonist David has a problem saying no in the pub is clear from the first line; that his wife Nicole has a problem in the casino is not. David's discovery that Nicole's new close friend Patty is his own older, even closer friend Trish is enhanced by the brevity with which it is described.

One Day: Beautiful But Painful

One Day, by David Nicholls, is a beautiful but painful read. So painful, I'm not sure that I can actually carry on reading it (I finished chapter eight yesterday, in which one of the central characters made an ass of himself by being very drunk in charge of a live television show).

Nicholls first came to wide public attention with Starter For Ten, a comic novel with University Challenge at the heart of it. That was amusing, but with One Day he has stepped up a level. It's not often that I take my hat off to another writer, but all credit to David Nicholls. He is maturing into an excellent example of the species.

The Autobiography Of Frank Richards

Published in 1952 by Charles Skilton Ltd, this is a fascinating self-portrait by the man best known for his creation of Greyfriars School and in particular Billy Bunter. He led a fascinating life, starting his long writing career when he was just 17, in 1890. His first sale of a story netted him five guineas (that's five pounds 25 pence for younger readers, a fantastic sum of money in those days).

When he accepted an invitation to visit the publisher, the publisher was appalled at his youth, and promptly cut his rate! He toured Europe from side to side, playing the tables at Monte Carlo and writing thousands of words a day as he went, constantly drawing on events and people around him for ideas. When he's writing about events leading up to the war, which start to make him feel uneasy in Austria, it comes as a shock to realise he is referring to World War 1. A must for all fans of Billy Bunter and other school stories of the time.

If You Haven't Already Read Going Gently, Read It Now

If you haven't already read Going Gently by David Nobbs, creator of the Reginald Perrin and the Henry Pratt series, read it soon. It's bitter sweet, thought-provoking, laugh out loud and heartbreaking. In my opinion, as a Reggie Perrin fan almost from day one, it's his best novel ever (closely followed by each and every one of the Henry Pratt novels).

Hammer Of The Gods

I recently read Hammer Of The Gods, a biography of Led Zeppelin. It was a struggle to get through it as it was so badly written and lazily edited, and is often just a tedious list of what they played in their various concerts, but I continued in appalled fascination.

I've never been a fan, though I do own two or three of their most iconic albums as I received a slew of record tokens for my 21st birthday in 1978 and had to buy SOMETHING with them. I have since occasionally listened to Stairway to Heaven (an organist pal played a gentle version at our wedding back in June that year) and The Battle of Nevermore.

The contents of the book have put me off ever listening to them again. If the author is painting the group and its entourage accurately, they are/were a revolting collection of individuals and socio-philosophical values.

I'd be interested to hear other opinions.

Passport To Profits: A Guide To Global Investing

Originally published in the winter 1999 issue of Global Custody Review magazine

Passport To Profits: A Guide To Global Investing
by Mark Mobius (with Stephen Fenichell)
Orion Business books
Wellington House 125 Strand, London WC2R OBB
Tel: +44 20 7420 5555. Fax: +44 20 7836 3422
Pp422; £20.00 (in UK only)
ISBN 0-75281-016-2

Launched in London in the autumn with a personal appearance by investment guru Mark Mobius, Passport To Profits is an excellent read. Informative and entertaining both, it just about lives about to the writer's billing by the book's publicists as the Indiana Jones of the investment world.

Mobius, oft described as one of the most successful corporate investors, shares at least some of the secrets of his success in international investing in this unique insight into emerging markets. (Mobius has managed the high performance Templeton Emerging Markets Growth Fund since 1987; his returns have averaged 20% annually).

The Butchers' Ball

Originally published in the winter 1999 issue of Global Custody Review magazine

The Butchers' Ball
by Mark B Cohen
Hodder & Stoughton
Pp 375; £16.99

ISBN --340-71298-8

www.brassmonkeys.com

We don't normally review fiction but will make an exception where the action or the author is connected to the financial world. Both are in this case, the author being one of the many Marks who while away the working day at Baring Asset Management in Bishopsgate, the main action taking place in an organisation which sounds very familiar.

Readers of his previous novel, Brass Monkeys, will recognise the style and elcome the return of characters such as Will Cloud, the pot-smoking Irish detective, and populist television presenter Candida Blitz. Workmates are no doubt having great fun working out who's based on whom. New readers will enjoy The Butchers' Ball on its own merits, and for its fond evocations of City life, past and present.