I remember walking into a central London office for my first day as a civil servant in the late 2000s and seeing one of my new colleagues reading one of the Dance books. Then I spotted another in the series on someone else's desk, and then another elsewhere. I'd not come across them before and the pencil-drawn covers were so striking.
A colleague lent me A Question of Upbringing and I was hooked.
I don’t think I’ve read any Keiler but for reasons unknown* have always meant to, and this may be the nudge to make it soon and for it to be that book, thank you
I think you'd love him. Gentle but clever humour, not intimidating at all, very much about the human condition. The early Lake Wobegon Day books are the best, the later ones fall off a bit (except the most recent, Boom Town). But if you are an audiobooks fan, I'd strongly recommend getting a copy of LWD with him reading it. He has a marvellous voice and they were originally written to be spoken aloud.
Absolutely with you on this. Powell's sequence has given me hours and hours and hours of pleasure, and Books... is definitely one of my favourites, perhaps funnier than most. Mind you, in a certain mood I'm a sucker for the three wartime books too. And just generally dipping in and out of them.
Also, can I just say what a pleasure it is to see all these different cover designs. Thank you.
Thank you. Yes, the wartime 'trilogy' is excellent. And rereading at different periods in life is very rewarding - I'm going to set aside time next year for what will be my third go (one in my 20s, one in my 40s) and might well do a newsletter on each one. I should have included Osbert Lancaster's illustrations for the Penguin paperbacks which don't get much of an airing but which I think are excellent.
Lovely post - thanks for the read!
I remember walking into a central London office for my first day as a civil servant in the late 2000s and seeing one of my new colleagues reading one of the Dance books. Then I spotted another in the series on someone else's desk, and then another elsewhere. I'd not come across them before and the pencil-drawn covers were so striking.
A colleague lent me A Question of Upbringing and I was hooked.
Thank you!
I don’t think I’ve read any Keiler but for reasons unknown* have always meant to, and this may be the nudge to make it soon and for it to be that book, thank you
*he seems intimidating and I’m a terrible reader
I think you'd love him. Gentle but clever humour, not intimidating at all, very much about the human condition. The early Lake Wobegon Day books are the best, the later ones fall off a bit (except the most recent, Boom Town). But if you are an audiobooks fan, I'd strongly recommend getting a copy of LWD with him reading it. He has a marvellous voice and they were originally written to be spoken aloud.
That sounds very up my street, thank you. I can't find LWD with him reading yet but I shall keep searching, otherwise I'll dive into the book
Absolutely with you on this. Powell's sequence has given me hours and hours and hours of pleasure, and Books... is definitely one of my favourites, perhaps funnier than most. Mind you, in a certain mood I'm a sucker for the three wartime books too. And just generally dipping in and out of them.
Also, can I just say what a pleasure it is to see all these different cover designs. Thank you.
Thank you. Yes, the wartime 'trilogy' is excellent. And rereading at different periods in life is very rewarding - I'm going to set aside time next year for what will be my third go (one in my 20s, one in my 40s) and might well do a newsletter on each one. I should have included Osbert Lancaster's illustrations for the Penguin paperbacks which don't get much of an airing but which I think are excellent.