1.) The link - if you happen to be in the Oxfordshire area at the end of June, why not go and see AA Milne's brilliant play The Dover Road (PG Wodehouse's favourite play, donchaknow) in Dorchester-upon-Thames? More info here. I'm hoping to go, if I can persuade some others.2.) The blog post - if you're not doing so already, you should follow Thomas on his tour around the UK. He's back in the US now, but is putting up glorious photo posts of his travels - he basically seems to have had the perfect trip (give or take potentially fatal car journeys) and has gone to many places I dream of visiting.
I don't think I've mentioned on here that Thomas and I had cream tea at the Randolph whilst he was in Oxford - I daresay it will appear on his blog at some point, although we didn't actually have a photo taken. I met Thomas on his last visit, along with lots of other bloggers, but it was a real delight to have him to myself for a couple of hours. I always get a bit nervous about these things, which either makes me very quiet or very voluble - well, just call me Garrulous Gary, because I chatted away animatedly all the way through, and Thomas did too. It was so easy, and such fun. We spoke surprisingly little about books (although we agreed to continue reading each other's blogs, despite my dislike of Hotel du Lac and Thomas's of Rebecca) - but we seemed to speak of many other topics under the sun.
3.) The book - I passed on my copy of Julie Myerson's Then to my housemate Mel, who read it instantly (remember those days, of never having unread books on your shelf?) and tells me it is brilliant - and baffling. Dystopia, amnesia, and hallucination were the words I grasped from the conversation - which sounds as though it could be enthralling, or could be a huge mess - sounds as though it's the former. Maybe one day I'll have time to read it... thank you to Jonathan Cape for sending me a copy. I'll try to persuade Mel to write about it for me...
Oh the Randolph - when I visited Oxford as a poor student over from The Other Place, I used to peep in the windows for a glimpse of something I might one day be able to afford! I love the Miscellany btw - keep it going!
ReplyDeleteThanks v much!
DeleteAnd, yes, Randolph is certainly not for every day - I've been twice, and it is a lovely treat.
How exciting about The Dover Road! Sadly, that's a bit too far for me to travel, even eager as I am to see Milne's plays performed live. I do hope you'll be able to go and will give us a full report back!
ReplyDeleteI am trying to persuade friends that they want to go... if only you were here!
DeleteI too, love a roundup. Unless it is merely a recap of what the blogger has already posted for the week or month. I always find that a bit odd. If I am reading a blog, why do they need to tell me what I had just read. Kind of like at an academic conference when the moderator of a panel discussion feels compelled to summarize what just transpired.
ReplyDeleteI was a little disappointed when I realized that we hadn't taken a photo of our tea together. But who had the time for a photo with all the chatter anyway.
It was a pity not to get a snap... oh well.
DeleteAnd I agree about *those* sort of round-ups, most of the time.
"What are you up to?" Apart from taking a few moments off to see what Stuck-in-a-book is up to I am reading "Harriet" one of the most recent Persephone reprints and I'm wondering why they have left t until now - imho it is SO Perspehone it should have been in the canon much earlier. Happy Weekend, Barbara
ReplyDeleteI have it on my shelves, I must read it soon! (But that is true of so very many books...)
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