I see that President Obama's holiday reading list consisted of the following: President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime by Lou Cannon, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell, and Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carré. Well, all I can say is that he must have had a long holiday. Perhaps he's still on holiday?
My own holiday reading has included Under the Dome by Stephen King, Fall of Giants by Ken Follett, Indignation by Philip Roth, People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks and Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King again. But then life is one long holiday, isn 't it?
Do the books one reads tell others about the sort of person one is? I hope not but I suppose so!
I've thought for a very long time that these holiday book lists as compiled by the good and the just are a load of Thoughts by Agent. The only person I ever thought might be being honest, and even that was doubted by many, was our Leaderene of yore, M. Thatcher. She used to have a rotating list of Jeff Archer, Dick Francis and Fred Forsyth.
ReplyDeleteIf you speak truth, Mr. Dunn, I shall expect your reviews in due course.
Oh, and Happy New Year.
Although I wouldn't trust George Bush's reading list an inch, I happen to think Obama was probably telling the truth, Smoc, as his list is not likely to endear him to the average American voter. In my view, he is at heart an intellectual.
ReplyDeleteMy own list is 100% true, I would have you know! And what about you? I would be really very interested to know what you and others have been reading recently.
I'll let you know what I think of the various books I'm reading in due course.
Happy New Year!
But it's the time element, isn't it. I think you mentioned this yourself. I've posted elsethread that even a President has to be a Daddy while on holiday and surely he'd be busy with parental fun and games with no time for the life and times of Prez. Reagan.
ReplyDeleteMy holiday reading list: well, I will need a bit of time to talk to my agent before I come back to you on this! But lying apart, I usually took toosh with me on holiday, books that can be abandoned with pleasure. If I've enjoyed them I'll want to bring them home again, thus taking up precious weight allowance that might be more usefully kept free for some vintage liquid delight from the country visited.
Dear Barnaby Capel-Dunn
ReplyDeleteI tried to email you a week or so ago, but something must have gone awry. I see from one of your profiles that you went to school at St Richard's, Little Malvern. I was there from 1936-42 when John R Keble, the founder, was Headmaster. Do you know what happened to the school - when it closed, for example? I passed by some six or seven years ago and was surprised to see it now called St Richard's Farm. I still have a complete set of the annual school photos from the years I was there but imagine you went there later on in its history.
Jeremy Mitchell
jeremy.m@which.net
http://www.shrapnelandwhizzbangs.wordpress.com
Hello Jeremy,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for writing to me. I never got your e-mail but I've long since ceased to be surprised by the vagaries of the Internet!
I was at St Richard's in the mid 'fifties when Caspar Tremlett was headmaster. I have very fond memories of my time there, and was happier than at my public school (Beaumont).
I do happen to know that St Richard's moved after I left (no connection I hope!) and is still going strong.
Here is a link which will tell you more about the school:
http://www.st-richards.org.uk/history.html
Best regards
Barnaby
Dear Barnaby
ReplyDeleteThank you for responding to my email. It's good to know that St Richard's continues, albeit in a different guise, not least because it means that all that effort that the Kebles and their staff put into the school wasn't wasted in the long run.
I have looked up the website. It does start with an egregious mistake, in confusing the John Keble of St Richard's with the mid-Victorian inspirer of the Oxford Movement. I remember from my time there that they were supposed to be vaguely related, but the earlier John Keble, though married, had no offspring.
Looking back on my time at St Richard's, I was not happy there. This was not due to the staff. By comparison with most other prep schools of the time, it was a relatively benign place. Going there just after my seventh birthday, I missed my parents and home terribly and had few defences. Unlike you, I was much happier at my next school (Ampleforth).
Best wishes
http://www.shrapnelandwhizzbangs.wordpress.com