Best Top gear presenter novel

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pattyt

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I'm looking to buy a book and im just wondering if anyone can recommend a book written by one of the Top gear presenters. I've never read a book by any of them, and basically im just looking for an interesting read about cars or their lives. Can anyone help me out?
 
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But for a real response, Clarkson's "I know you got soul" is a great little compilation of his thoughts on certain machines, and Hammond has two autobiographies out. May and Clarkson also have compilations of their newspaper columns; not sure where they are sold, but amazon.co.uk probably does.
 
I quite enjoy the article collections... especially James.'
 
Jeremy's collections of articles are a good read. Each article is 3-4 pages, so you can choose to read for a few minutes or as long as you like. And if you get one of the older collections (from the late nineties), some of his foresight is quite remarkable.
 
Or if you (or anyone else) want to save your cash in these less than certain economic times there is a comprehensive archive of Jeremy's rants at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/jeremy_clarkson/ - when I first discovered these were available I went back over 12 months. It made for a very pleasant lazy Sunday morning and I was then able to spend the money I saved on petrol and crisps.

I also got "As You Do" by Hammond for my birthday from Mrs Herworksfinetoo. It's never going to be considered great literature but at the same time you can tell it is actually Hammond writing it and not some ghost written bollocks like so many other celebrity books and you hear his voice in your head as you read it. For a behind the scenes insight into Top Gear it's probably the best from that point of view and there are some truly funny as well as heartwarming moments. I have most of their books and on reflection that would be my recommendation of you were going to buy one.
 
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The collections of Jeremy's Sunday Times columns are always a good read - full of humous rants

"On the Edge" was a very interesting read though I wouldn't say it was 'enjoyable' given the subject matter. It was quite intense in places.

"As You Do" was good too - lots of little insights into filming and behind the scenes of TG

I've only read one of James' books - "May on Motors". Like Jeremy's its a collection of his newspaper columns. I really like his style of writing - his drunken bombay mix delivery system had me in stitches.
 
Mineworksfine said:
I was then able to spend the money I saved on petrol and crisps.
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As you should. :lol:

I've read most of Clarkson's books and they are just collections of articles, so they are very funny. Don't know which one is best though, I Know You Got Sould was good, but I might just be saying that because someone else did.
 
Mineworksfine said:
I also got "As You Do" by Hammond for my birthday from Mrs Herworksfinetoo. It's never going to be considered great literature but at the same time you can tell it is actually Hammond writing it and not some ghost written bollocks like so many other celebrity books and you hear his voice in your head as you read it. For a behind the scenes insight into Top Gear it's probably the best from that point of view and there are some truly funny as well as heartwarming moments. I have most of their books and on reflection that would be my recommendation of you were going to buy one.
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I'm pretty sure that a professional author was involved somewhere. Some of the scenes described in the book are a little hard to swallow. The imagery is a little too descriptive at times and the writing style changes ever so subtly during those periods. Nothing major, but certainly noticeable over the course of the book, and enough to detract from the organic-ness of it. I could be wrong though, but thats how it seemed to me. Plus he spends a lot of time pissing around describing little events that really dont need to be described, or certainly not in the amount of excessive detail which he does. It slows the story and I found myself skimming through the pages more than once.

I have a couple of Jeremy Clarkson's books (or rather, the collections of the columns he's written over the years). Most of his pieces are relevent to the period it was written and dont stand up well to the test of time. Still, they're good if you fancy passing the time away for a bit with nothing else to do. My copy of Motorworld sits beside the toilet...
 
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I just finished up Clarkson on Cars, which I thought was a great read. I read most of it during my down time at work over the last few weeks. I liked the fact that it was a collection of short articles, since it meant that I could read a few pages here and there between work duties.

Motorworld was also a fun read. At the time I read it, I had little idea that it accompanied a TV series. Clarkson has a great way with words.
 
Red_Bull said:
I'm pretty sure that a professional author was involved somewhere. Some of the scenes described in the book are a little hard to swallow. The imagery is a little too descriptive at times and the writing style changes ever so subtly during those periods. Nothing major, but certainly noticeable over the course of the book, and enough to detract from the organic-ness of it. I could be wrong though, but thats how it seemed to me. Plus he spends a lot of time pissing around describing little events that really dont need to be described, or certainly not in the amount of excessive detail which he does. It slows the story and I found myself skimming through the pages more than once.
I put your first point down to a professional editor as much as the involvement of another author but you could be right. I did English Lit O-level 22 years ago and have avoided analysing books too much since. He does ramble on occasion too I agree, although the 5-6 pages devoted to the honey badger culminated in my laughing so much I couldn't read for tears. It's all subjective of course.
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Mineworksfine said:
I put your first point down to a professional editor as much as the involvement of another author but you could be right. I did English Lit O-level 22 years ago and have avoided analysing books too much since. He does ramble on occasion too I agree, although the 5-6 pages devoted to the honey badger culminated in my laughing so much I couldn't read for tears. It's all subjective of course.
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A professional editor is much more likely, but it comes to the same thing. I also did English literature in school, but that wasn't long enough ago for me to be able to ignore the writing styles employed by various authors. Sadly.

It also struck me that this book may have been written as part of his ongoing recovery process...at the request of W&N of course ;)

And yes, the Honey badger part was awesome :D
 
I'm currently reading Hammond's new book as well. He tends to go on about things that you wouldn't think about and leaves out bits I'd've liked to have heard more about - for example he doesn't even mention the bit where the special forces guy pushes Jezza in the freezing cold water. He does touch on the lecture they received about the dude with the frostbitten willie.

I've also read one of James's and one of Jezza's. They are amusing reads.

Do a search on amazon.co.uk.

And just to be a bit pedantic, none of them has written a "novel" to my knowledge.
 
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