Reading - March 2013

Thelwell Country by Norman Thelwell (1959)

Also funny. It is a shame that such beautifully detailed pictures are printed in a small paperback, though.

Angels On Horseback by Norman Thelwell (1957)

I loved Thelwell's cartoons as a child and I learned to draw by copying them. Still classic, even though it now only takes ten minutes to read, and it gives me immense pleasure to watch B laughing over them too.

The Pleasures And Sorrows Of Work by Alain de Botton (2009)

Ostensibly a rumination on the meaning of work in the modern era of micro-specialisation, this is really a series of entertaining vignettes on widely different occupations. Always highly readable, amusing (and occasionally laugh out loud funny), thoughtful and thought-inspiring, it nevertheless feels like a compendium of repurposed magazine articles, even though I don't believe this is the case. Still, I enjoyed it immensely.

Chase The Morning by Michael Scott Rohan (1990)

An old favourite that I seem to remember discovering in the library when I lived with my parents, which means it must have been pretty new at the time. It's an enjoyable fantasy of an average man somehow caught up in a parallel world. The writing could be better but the overall story appeals to me. I've only recently discovered that there are two sequels - now ordered for the princely sum of 1 penny each (plus P&P). Isn't the internet wonderful?

Moondust by Andrew Smith (2005)

Notionally an investigation into how the nine (at the time) remaining men who have walked on the moon are faring, but more a rumination into how the author feels about the Apollo mission and the astronauts who flew in it. A bit too much "me me me" at times but never less than very readable.