My books of the week!

Give me a good film, or TV series and I am fine.

But one genre of books I am prone to is a cricketing book.

A Lot of Hard Yakka: Triumph and Torment - A County Cricketer’s Life by Simon Hughes is by far my favourite cricket book.

But I got sent a couple of books recently by local authors about the greatest game in the world.

Cricket Wonderful Cricket, by Henfield author John Duncan (Metro, £9.99), is a mix of annecdotes and interviews from people as diverse as The Duke of Edinburgh, chef Ainsley Harriott, actress Lorraine Chase and comedian Alan Davies.

There are also your staple celebrity cricket fans in Sir Tim Rice, Nicholas Parsons OBE, Sir Michael Parkinson CBE and Bill Wyman.

The subjects of the interviews clearly have a passion for the game and talk about their achievements, favourites in the games - and their failures.

Humourous, absorbing and interesting.

The second book is When Cricket Was Cricket - A Nostalgic Look at a Century of the Greatest Game (Haynes, £18.99).

This is mainly an illustrated book with some pictures from over the years.

Highlights include a military-style training sesssion by Somerset in the 1950s, snaps of the infamous Bodyline and the Regent’s Ladies Games Club playing their matches in Regent’s Park in 1909.

Great pictures which bring back a lot of memories.

You always forget how big Merv Hughes’ moustache actually was!

It’s nice to see pictures of a time before millionaire players paraded around a field in colourful pyjamas.