READING LIST
June 17th, 2008 adminOne of the interesting dilemmas before starting a journey, especially one of this length, is what reading material to pack. Space is at a premium in a motorhome so you have to choose carefully.
I’ve finally finished reading H.V.Morton’s In Search of England and debating what to start next. Although, to be honest, I’m not getting much downtime to read, hence the length of time it took me to get through Morton! It’s amazing what little opportunity I have after a daily routine of photographing, traveling, finding places to camp for the night, servicing the motorhome (filling with water, emptying sewage, putting up/taking down beds etc), checking posts on the website, researching future destinations and events, updating the blog, loading and unloading film (in a portable dark bag), eating, helping to entertain Jemima and finally Sarah and I trying to get some personal time together!
So here’s a list of what I have to choose from on our cupboard shelf-
A Dream of England, John Taylor
A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway (Sarah’s recommendation)
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh (Sarah’s recommendation)
Catch 22, Jospeh Heller
Ed Ruscha and Photography, Sylvia Wolf
Landscape and Power, Edited by W.J.T.Mitchell
Larry’s Party, Carol Shields (Sarah’s)
Lonely Planet Guide to Britain
Notes From A Small Island, Bill Bryson
On Photography, Susan Sontag
Persuasion, Jane Austen (Sarah’s)
Sugar and Other Stories, A.S.Byatt (Sarah’s)
The Art Book, Phaidon
The English Year, Steve Roud
The Fifth Child, Doris Lessing (Sarah’s)
The Granta Book of Reportage
The Paris Review Interviews, Volume 2 (Sarah’s)
The Photo Book, Phaidon
The Story of England, Christopher Hibbert
The World of Robert Fisk
If you have any recommendations on good books for a journey around England, please post them below.
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June 17th, 2008 at 4:52 am
I would highly recomment getting off the Bill Bryson on your little shelf there, that book will have you bent over in stitches, especially when he visits the Lake District, really dry and sarcastic view of Brtish people as well as being a rather ecclectic little travel guide.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I’ve had an email from Andy Greaves who suggested I might find an essay contained in “The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 3” (1943-1945) entitled the ‘The English People’ particularly interesting.
June 17th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Two other suggestions have just been emailed to me-
Waterlog: A Swimmer’s Journey Through Britain by Roger Deakin
Real England by Paul Kingsnorth.