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you can find some more book reviews that once sported the meBooks page. JEREMY PAXMAN, The English <below> ALISTAIR MOFFAT, The Sea Kingdoms <below> Back to top |
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The
English First published 11/04/2008
Archived 16/07/2008 JEREMY PAXMAN, The English. A Portrait of a People; Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1998 Why do the Irish, Scottish or Welsh have no problem whatsoever in defining their respective identities, while the English, who used to be so confident about their Englishness, have no clue about it anymore? That is the question Paxman is going to answer. He does it with wit and irony, as an Englishman should. And surprisingly in the end I surely had a pretty good idea about the strengths and weaknesses of being English. I even started to understand why a lot of Scottish people tend to have a major problem with Englishness, while many English people will not even notice that. My favourite quotes: "The people of England are never so happy as when you tell them they are ruined" (Arthur Murray, 1758), and "I like a man to be a clean, strong, upstanding Englishman who can look his gnu in the face and put an ounce of lead in it" (P.G. Wodehouse, 1929). How could Paxman find the right balance between observing the English from some distance and at the same time being fully English himself? Well, it turned out that his granny actually came from the Gorbals, downtown Glasgow... Reading tip: memorise the quotes at the start of each chapter for appropriate use south of the border. Back to top |
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Lords
of the Isles First published 11/04/2008
Archived 16/07/2008 ALISTAIR MOFFAT, The Sea Kingdoms. The Story of Celtic Britain and Ireland; Hammersmith: HarperCollins, 2001 (reprint: Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2008) There are heaps of publications with 'Celtic' in their (sub)titles. Much of that should go straight to the compost heap (after filtering out the ink, of course). Moffat manages to preserve something of the mystery and magic of thousands of years of history by telling a thoroughly researched and rational story. I have learned to understand the history of the West of Scotland and the Isles from the perspective of seafarers. I also learned how Vikings adapted and deeply influenced the culture in this part of the world and how important it is to keep Celtic languages alive in our days. Reading tip: never visit Scotland, Wales or Ireland without this book in your bag and, of course, reading it first. Back to top |
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