Well. This didn’t really go according to plan. As things turned out, I read five books in November but I only managed to complete one in December – hence the decision to combine the two months. And I’m also late posting about them. Not good.
Anyway, here goes…
Wodehouse at the Wicket by PG Wodehouse. Bit of an odd one, this. As you can probably guess, it’s an anthology of Wodehouse’s writings on cricket, which I picked up at Hestercombe Gardens’ excellent secondhand book shop (which I may have mentioned before). To be honest, it’s a bit sloppy. There’s a rather unnecessarily long introduction, followed by a bunch of somewhat below par pieces without any indication of where they were originally published (unless I missed this). So much as I love Wodehouse’s work (“The Code of the Woosters” is one of the greatest books ever written in the English language), I was just a tad disappointed by this one.
Nomad by Alan Partridge. OK, it’s actually by Rob and Neil Gibbons and Steve Coogan, but we can pretend, right? This is a lot funnier than it has every right to be, and I’d love to know more about how the Gibbons brothers came to be involved – almost twenty years after he first appeared – with the Partridge project, because they seem to have got the character spot on. I’d never really bothered with any of these, but I think I’ll have to get the other books now.
Serious Concerns by Wendy Cope. I bought this because I loved Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis and it’s the one with the Orange poem in it, which is wonderful. The other poems are pretty good, too, and I wish there were more poets with her sense of humour that I could read and enjoy. But we wouldn’t want too much of that sort of thing to get published by the likes of Faber, would we?
Open Heart University by Spike Milligan. I think this was another Hestercombe Gardens purchase. I used to read Milligan obsessively, but for some reason I’ve never had a copy of this poetry collection until now. It’s a little bit hit and miss, to be honest, and oddly a lot more serious than, say, Wendy Cope’s work. It completes the set, though.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley. This follows roughly the same formula as her previous book, The Hunting Party – basically a bunch of horrible people spend a weekend together at an isolated place and Bad Things Happen. Great fun, and I’ll certainly read more of her stuff.
Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes. I bought this one after hearing it featured on the Backlisted podcast, and after the slightly disappointing first book in the trilogy, City of Spades, I’m pleased to report that this was every bit as good as the Backlisted team made it out to be. I was particularly pleased with the ending, because this kind of book often runs out of steam by that point, but this was rather unexpected and lovely. I have – for completeness’ sake – got the final book in the trilogy, Mr Love and Justice, on my shelf, although – also thanks to Backlisted – I have lowered my expectations for that one. We’ll see.