This weekend miscellany malarkey seems to have settled into a blog, a book, and a link. Sorry that ‘link’ doesn’t begin with ‘b’, that would have been pleasingly alliterative… any b-synonyms for ‘link’, let me know… Also, I’ve been using this weekend frivolity to try out all the fancy colours which Blogger offers me. I do hope this doesn’t offend any more delicate senses…
Anyway, here goes.
1) This week there are two blog posts I want to point out, as I couldn’t narrow it down to just one. Elaine at Random Jottings writes about Light Relief in the form of PG Wodehouse and Betty Macdonald’s The Egg and I. Like Elaine, I’ve bypassed The Egg and I dozens of times in bookshops, but I know that next time I’ll snap it up. To quote Elaine: And then I turned to The Egg and I another title to join the distinguished list of Books I used to Shelve Regularly when I was a Librarian and turned my nose up at (sorry for the appalling grammar) and recently given to me to read by a friend who said ‘ Cannot believe you have not read these Elaine’. She also was staggered I had not read Mapp and Lucia. I do like to keep my friends on their toes. Oo, I’ve never noticed that ‘quotation’ function before. That’ll come in handy.
The second blog post is this one from Simon at Savidge Reads – mostly I just like the fact that it has pictures of bookshelves. (The one above is actually one of my own, taken last year.) But he also asks from where we inherit our love of books – parents? grandparents? teachers? nowhere? The comments make for fun and interesting reading.
And whilst I’m posting blog links, I happened upon one of my own sketch-based posts which I’d forgotten about, and which made me chuckle… narcissistic, much? It’s from the days when most of my sketches involved my Stuck-in-a-Book self-portrait.
2) Icon Books emailed me a little while ago, wondering if
I wanted to review any of their books. Not my usual sort of publisher (they’re non-fiction publishers, for a start) but I looked through their Literature section, and they sent me a couple. I’ve got Shakespeare on Toast: Getting a Taste for the Bard by Ben Crystal (any relation of David?) and Nobel Lectures: 20 Years of the Nobel Prize for Literature Lectures edited by John “Did Cruella de Ville Dye Her Hair?” Sutherland. I’ll be interested in the former, though it’s preaching to the converted – but I’m really looking forward to the latter. Just a shame it was published too early for Doris Lessing’s speech.
3) Graduating from university, or simply seeking a new job? I was sent a link to the 50 Books You Should Read Before Entering The Real World – click here – though it has little in common with my own 50 Books You Must Read But May Not Have Heard About. (Speaking of which, it’s ongoing, and in no order, but hasn’t been updated for a while… I’m always open to ideas about obscure books which should make the list). The list has lots of books related to jobs and finances etc, but also a section on Fiction and Memoirs. The only one of those I’ve read is the much-overrated The Catcher in the Rye… but that shouldn’t put me off the rest.
That 50 books you should read before entering the real world list is awful. In my humble opinion the best preparation for real life othet than experience is to read fiction. Gives you much more insight into what you face in life than any career or self-help books. And the few "fiction and memoir" books they mention…sheesh, not very enlightening or enlightened for that matter. I would say the fact that you have only read one book on that list should be considered a badge of honor. And I have worked in big business, big government, non-profits, retail…and with the possible exception of a book on how to improve a resume (CV), all of the business management type books are invariably flashes in the pan that are antiquated by the time you finish reading them.
I've started to look forward to your weekend miscellany, it's so wonderfully random!
By the way, I hope I haven't missed a post on the recipe for the chocolate orange cake you blogged about last weekend?
I love your weekend miscellany.
Oh, the Places You Will Go is on the motivational reading list and that amuses me – I give it out as gifts to new babies so I'm giving them a good start!
Where is the 'quotation' function that you've noticed?
That Shakespeare book is a lot of fun, and yes Ben Crystal is David Crystal's son. They wrote another book on the bard together which I'd also recommend (Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion).
Thank you for the mention Simon am glad that you liked the post and my mothers country cabin book alley ha. I have to say am most most jealous of your lovely shelves where did you get them… do let me know.
Hello everyone! Thanks for your comments.
Green Road – no, you didn't miss it, the recipe will go up soon!
Thomas – I must say, I probably wouldn't have read businessy books anyway… *definitely* won't now
PR – the quotation function is when you compose blog posts, looks like quotation marks in the toolbar, and centres everything.
Sarah – noted, thanks!
Simon – the shelves come from Argos, I think, years ago… I wanted to get matching ones but they stopped stocking them a while back, unfortunately.