Cricket
As evidence of eccentricity I submit to you that Whistlestop Bookshop’s website has a page dedicated to cricket, a worldwide bat-and-ball sport that is generally and comprehensively NOT understood in the United States. As with most interests, I came upon it in literature, which is why I include fiction titles here. I also became intrigued by the excellent cricket reporting in The Times and the Sunday Times of London. To a comical extent I can be mystified by the details, but the writing is superb — imagine being able to appreciate poetry while having only a brush of understanding of the language. Cricket, no surprise, is also a manifestation of history, both English and the British Empire, and of culture (the spinning creativity of countries affected by such history). It is rich and powerful in metaphors, which lends itself to literature — and thus we have returned to my continuing education. And I hope, perhaps, to yours. I am always on the alert for more good books on cricket — a bit challenging in the US but worth the effort.
England, Their England
England, Their England
A special edition of England, Their England by A. G. Macdonell reissued with a bright retro design to celebrate Pan’s 70th anniversary.
Banished from his native Scotland by a curious clause in his father’s will, Donald Cameron moves to London and decides to conduct a study of the English people; a strange race who, he is told, have built an entire national identity around a reverence for team spirit and the memory of Lord Nelson . . .
What follows is one of the funniest social satires ever written. Whether Cameron is haplessly participating in a village cricket match, being shown around an exclusive golf course, or trying to watch a rugby match in the thick London fog, his affectionately bemused portrait of his new countrymen is a joy to read.
Reminiscent of the gentle wit of P. G. Wodehouse and Jerome K. Jerome, England, Their England offers a delightful portrait of Britain in the 1920s.
[England, Their England] is a joy to read . . . a book which must certainly not be missed
Ralph Straus - Sunday Times
Mr Macdonell has hit off the particular foibles of the educated Englishman . . . The book is so amusing, so sly and so good-humoured that it would need no further justification
Manchester Guardian
As fun it is immense.
Gerald Gould - Observer