Don’t be a Silly Billy! Take the pledge!



Share 20 books!! You know it makes sense!!!



Hello, dear readers…Are you sitting comfortably?


Shall I tell you a story?...Yes?...Then we’ll begin…


Well now…According to family folklore, many years ago in a faraway time, my Granddad Billy “took the pledge” and foreswore never to touch intoxicating liquor during his lifetime… (I think he became obsessed by fishing instead, much to my Grandma Bertha’s quiet indignation) …






Anyway, if only he’d been around today, he could have taken an altogether different, more rewarding, and life-affirming decision: he could have taken the Bookstart Bear’s 20th birthday book pledge instead.


And if he’d had a computer, he could have clicked here to learn all about it:


And then, he could have taken the simple step of promising to share just 20 books in 2012…


And then he needn’t have spent his entire life just aimlessly dangling a bit of wet string with a worm on the end of a hook in those cold, dark , stinky, murky canals…Urgghhh!


And he would have discovered a whole new world of books, and words, and stories…Hooray!


And he might even have enjoyed the occasional small glass of milk-stout, or cream sherry…


And the dangling worm would have remained warm, and dry, and snug, and undisturbed and altogether comfy…Aaahhh.


And Grandma Bertha and all the family would have lived happily ever after.






So, dear Blog-followers…


Take a lesson from the Blogbrarian’s tragic family tree – don’t be a Silly Billy…


Read books, share books, love books…and take the pledge NOW!


Will you?


Could you?


What’s stopping you?...


Go on…You know it makes sense…And tell us all about it, too; just use the comments thingummy at the end here…


TTFN

DANGER - READING GROUPS

WHEN BOOK CLUBS GO BAD!

Greetings, Blog-followers.

Well now…According to a recent article in the Daily Mail - (hence its veracity is beyond all doubt, surely) – some Reading Groups are seething hotbeds of rage, frustration and thwarted ambition…


“For many” the article begins “book clubs are the perfect way to relax with like-minded individuals and discuss that best-selling novel…”


However, it warns - (for life is never rosy, apparently, for readers of this particular newspaper) - that for reading group members, dangers lurk just around the corner and in between the covers, and it urges those involved to take a few, essential precautions:


DON’T drink – discussions affected by that light, crisp chardonnay may just spill over into red-blooded bile…


DON’T have `over-opinionated` readers in the group – for if you do, then sweetness and harmony can never ensue…


DON’T CHEAT and just watch the film instead – “the book club that drifts away from its subject towards discussing the merits of Sean Bean is destined for failure”…


And, above all – DON’T try reading anything written before 1900, or your book club will surely shrivel up and die…Middlemarch, so they say, is the worst offender, and – apparently – after reading George Eliot, even some of the most respectable of literary soirees have ended up with overturned chairs, blood on the carpets, and bite marks everywhere!


Nasty. Very.


Well, luckily, dear readers – as you’d come to expect from your good old Library Service – help is at hand. Here!


We’ve got a splendid range of reading groups here, close to home and within our midst: no booze-sodden rage, no cheating, no show-offs, not a whiff of Sean Bean, and – thus far – no Middlemarch riots…
Just good fun, good company, good discussions, and good books.


(And – you never know - maybe you'll get a nice xxx xx xxx xxx x xxxxxxx too)…


Enjoy (responsibly, of course)…






TTFN

“Welcome, booklings, to the bibliographic lair of the Blogbrarian!…

Behold, the Behemoth of books!...

Tremble at his terrible typing…”

Oh dear, oh dear!…I crave your indulgence, Blog-followers, for that was me trying to write in the style of a fantasy novelist – Hmmm: didn’t really cut the mustard, did it?...

Never mind, dear readers, for here’s a novelist who really knows his fantasy onions:

http://www.georgerrmartin.com/

The famous and hugely successful writer George RR Martin is doing the rounds at the moment, and has been in London recently promoting his books: he seems an admirable cove, never seen without a hat, he’s a great proponent of books and reading in all their forms, and is the owner of a rather grandly unkempt beard…

So, dear readers, “why oh why oh why” do I not immediately swoon before him, eh?

Shall I tell you?

It’s because of all those flipping initials, that’s why! What’s with the ‘RR’ bit, eh?

I know very well that lots of great writers and thinkers are best known by their initials…

We’ve HE Bates, DH Lawrence and JR Hartley, of course…

JG Ballard, HG Wells and LL Cool J…

PG Wodehouse, AS Byatt and WG Grace…

There’s DBC Pierre, PD James, EM Forster and Mel B…

All fine, regular and upstanding, chaps, I`m sure…

And not forgetting my own particular favourite, the world’s coolest glove-wearing dude, Mr Will I Am - (although, as a trained cataloguing practitioner, I confess that I`m having the devil of a job devising how to correctly file him alphabetically…”AM, Will I”?...”I am, Will”?...WILL, Am I”?...Oh dear, I think I need a little lie down).

And, obviously, some of our finest fantasy writer chappies have their initials at the beginning, which is eminently sensible – JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and JK Rowling and so forth…

But why oh why oh why do other SF authors also bung initials in the blooming middle? Frankly, dear readers, as my old pal J Lo would have said “It does my crust in!”

There’s Philip K Dick (that’s “kindred”, since you ask), Laurell K Hamilton, Stephen R Donaldson, Iain M Banks, Sheri S Tepper, Robert A Heinlein, Arthur C Clarke..
Why? (Or ‘Y’?)… What is the XXXX point?

Does anyone know?

Grrrrrr!

Apologies, dear readers, but this type of thing drives me into a terrible and fearsome rage… I might need another lie down, simply to calm my nerves...

“And, thus spoke the weary Blogbrarian - for he had toiled much, and raged mightily against the upsurge of middle initials, but to no avail…and hence he slunk away, back into a dark, quiet corner of the library, to ponder, to brood, and to plan his ultimate vengeance against the dark forces of the middle initial”…

BFN

INTO THE HAPPY VALLEY…

An impartial investigation…

With Roy, Harry, Sam and Mary…

Ah, nostalgic times, as we approach the end of the Association Football season; the Blogbrarian is reluctantly preparing to fold away his crisply starched knee-length shorts, reinforce the whale-bone in his shin pads, and rub some extra thick dubbin into his soccer-boots…

`Tis the time to take stock, and my word! – what a season it has been, eh dear readers?










Now, as you will all doubtless be aware – the Blogbrary and its Research Time are always scrupulously – for these are always their constant watchwords – neutral, impartial and non-judgemental…


(You will have noted, doubtless, that this organ – alone among the `big beasts` of the broadcasting world – chose not to pontificate upon the merits or otherwise of Messrs Hodgson or Redknapp regarding the England managership, recently vacated by my old pal Fabio…although, as a literary chappie, dear old Roy did seem the outstanding candidate when I interviewed him for the post, but there we are…)






No…The Blogbrary tries not to nail its colours to any London mast.


In footballing terms; it holds Arsenal and Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United*, even those adorably cuddly lions of Millwall to be equally fine teams and noble institutions. (Not Crystal Palace, though, obviously…that would be simply absurd!)…






And yet, and yet….


After having spent a delightful afternoon last Saturday upon the hallowed terraces of the beloved Valley, from whence I heartily cheered and applauded the awarding of the gleaming silver champion’s cup, to what – as you will all agree, dear readers, I am sure – is one of the finest, noblest, most gifted and upstanding teams ever to tread the turf, my sense of impartiality is becoming strained to breaking point: no!


I am unable to restrain myself…


Inasmuch as Mr Justice Caulfield was bound to describe Lady Archer - (“Has she not elegance?...Is she not fragrant” etc) - I feel compelled to break the bonds of neutrality and to sing the praises of London’s finest association football team…
CHARLTON ATHLETIC!
Rah, rah, rah! Are they not fragrant, too?










I confess, yes, and I`m not too proud to admit it…I shed a tear of nostalgic joy…


It would’ve undoubtedly made dear, dear old Sam Bartam proud….


A noble fellow, and the precursor of a noble team. (Oh, and by the by…Any Big Sam fans should remember that Bexley are indeed blessed by being the owners of a unique `Sam Bartram Archive`, kept at our Local Studies and Archives Centre…why not take a look?)






Well, that’s me finished once again.






As ever – your thoughts, comments or witty rejoinders will always be welcome – just use the comments box below.






* And one last parting thought, which gave me much amusement when it was pointed out by one of my Research Team…Has anyone tried reversing the spelling of West Ham United’s stadium?...(Well, it made me chuckle, anyway!)...








TTFN!