The Scream : Screaming Abdabs

The Scream

On Wednesday 2nd May 2012 Sky News reported that one of the most famous works of art in the world was about to go on sale in New York.  The Scream by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch was to go under the hammer at Sotheby's auction house in New York that evening and was due to fetch at least $80 million (£49.4 million). At the time, some experts believed it may sell for even more, which would make it amongst the most expensive works of art ever sold at auction.

Following a bidding war between no less than seven prospective buyers, the piece became the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction after being bought for $119.9m (£74m). The price of the painting which dates from 1895, rose past $100m (£61.8m) and the 800 - strong crowd inside the auction burst into applause.

One bidder who was taking instructions from a client on the phone hesitated as the painting got more expensive. The response by Tobias Meyer (head of Modern Art at the world acclaimed auction house) was to joke "Don't worry, for $99m, I've got all the time in the world!"

When the final bid was made, by an unnamed buyer over the telephone, the crowd gasped before the cheering and applauding as the gavel came down.

Until this sale the two most expensive pieces of art were Pablo Picasso's Nude "Green Leaves and Bust" which went for $106.5m (£65.6m) in May 2010 and Alberto Giacometti's "L'Homme Qui Marche I Bronze" which sold for $104.3m (£64.3m) in February 2010.

At Stort Books we have in excess of 900 books on art, ranging from biographies to a set of "Life and Works of ...", series of books which looks at genres of art as well as works of specific artsits such as Klimt, Manet, Goya and Renoir.

Contact us at val@stortbooks.com  or give us a call on 07979 450871 for more details.

Yes Prime MInister Joins The 21st Century

Yes Prime Minister Joins The 21^st Century

Famed for its masterful lampooning of the inner workings of British government, Yes, Prime Minister captured the obfuscation of Whitehall mandarins to a tee.

Now, nearly a quarter of a century on, the much-lauded satirical sitcom is set to return to our screens for a new series seemingly based on the current Coalition government.

This time around the Rt. Hon Jim Hacker, previously played by the late Paul Eddington, will be confronting “the greatest economic crisis in a generation”.

And to give the new series a further contemporary twist, Number 10 will also face issues over MP’s expenses, a Scottish referendum on independence and the European Union.

Antony Jay, 81, who co-wrote the original series with Jonathan Lynn, revealed the pair had come together again to pen the new series.

He described a plot which included “fiddles at high level” as well as insights into the “realities of politics”.

The television shows came in two series, the first Yes Minister  was transmitted by BBC between 1980 and 1984 with the sequel Yes Prime Minister running from 1986 to 1988. Several episodes were adapted for radio and a stage play was produced in 2010.

Essentially the sit com takes place in the private office of a British Government Cabinet Minister in the Department for Administrative Affairs ( fictional department ) with the sequel set in the PM’s offices at 10 Downing Street. The series follows the senior ministerial career of the Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP. Hacker was played by Paul Eddington. It centres on his various struggles to formulate or enact legislation and the way in which is efforts to effect departmental changes are opposed bu the will of the British Home Civil Service, most specifically his Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby ( played by Nigel Hawthorne ) with his Principle Private Secretary Bernard Woolley  ( played by Derek Fowlds ) usually ending up being caught between Hacker and Appleby.

The TV show won a plethra of awards and was said to be a favourite of the then Prime Minister of the UK Margaret Thatcher.  At Stort Books we have copies of both books from the original series :-

YES PRIME MINISTER : THE DIARIES OF THE RIGHT HON JAMES HACKER VOLUME I

YES PRIME MINISTER : THE DIARIES OF THE RIGHT HON JAMES HACKER VOL II

Email us for full details on stortbooks@sky.com. We also have a newly revamped politics section contact us for full listings .

SCOTT

Captain Robert Falcon Scott

Born on 6^th June 1868 in Devonport , Robert Falcon Scott became a Naval Cadet at the age thirteen and during the 1880’s and 1890’s he served on a number of Royal Navy ships.

He was appointed to command the National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904. The expedition - which included Ernest Shackleton - reached further south than anyone before them and Scott returned to Britain a national hero. He had caught the exploring bug and began to plan an expedition to be the first to reach the South Pole and he spent years raising funds for the trip.

In June 1910 the whaling ship Terra Nova left Cardiff with the expedition setting off from base in October1910, with mechanical sledges, ponies and dogs. It quickly became apparent that sledges and ponies were unable to cope with the conditions and the expedition carried on without them and by the middle of December the dog teams turned back, leaving the rest to face the ascent of the Beardmore Glacier and the polar plateau.

By January of 1912, only Scott, Wilson, Oates, Bowers and Evans remained. On 17 January, they reached the pole, only to discover Roald Amundsen and a Norwegian party had beaten them to it. They began the long return journey, some 1500 km journey back. By then the men were shattered, Evans died in mid-February. By March, Oates was suffering from severe frostbite and it is widely suggested that knowing that he was slowing down his companions, he uttered the famous words  that "I am just going outside and may be some time". ... and walked out into the freezing conditions never to be seen again.   The remaining three men died of starvation and exposure in their tent on 29 March 1912, their camp and bodies were discovered in November of the same year.

Ironically the trio were in fact only 20 km from a pre-arranged supply depot. Eight months later, a search party found the tent, the bodies and Scott's diary.  Only this month a moving farewell letter written by polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott in the last few days of his life was sold at auction for £163,250 , it was amongst the items found with his camp and the bodies of Scott , Bowers and Wilson ( to read an article on the auctioned items click on this link http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16199892 ).

We have a number of books relating to Captain Scott , his expedition and the race for the Antarctic including:-

SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC

For this biography of Scott, author Reginald Pound has drawn on wholly fresh material. He has researched important collections and archives in New Zealand and London and has been granted access to the private papers and letters of Scott's family

EDWARD WILSON OF THE ANTARCTIC

This is the biography of a member of Scott's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole who, even in the company of heroic men, stood out because of his quiet courage and stalwart faith.

SOUTH WITH SCOTT

The book tells the story of the 1910 British Antarctic Expedition

Contact us at stortbooks@ky.com or call on 07979 450871 for more details.

Titanic - 100 Years On

Victor Habbick/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Titanic was the second of three Olympic-Class ocean liners which were by far the largest vessels in the White Star Line’s fleet.  It was constructed by Belfast shipbuilders Harland and Wolff, who had a long established relationship with the White Star which dated back to 1867.

However, The White Star Line faced a growing challenge from its main rivals Cunard, which had just launched Lusitania and Mauretania which were the fastest passenger ships in service. Harland and Wolff were given a good deal of leeway in designing ships for White Star and they were authorised to spend what it needed to on the shop plus a profit margin of 5%. In the case of the Olympic vessels a cost of £3 million for the first two ships plus “extras to contract “ and the 5% fee.

On 10th April 1912 the Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York with some 2200 people on board ( 1316 passengers and just short of 900 crew members ). Her passengers included some of the wealthiest people in the world, including millionaires Benjamin Guggenheim, Isidor Strauss as well as over a thousand emigrants from countries including Ireland and  Scandinavia seeking a new life in America. Her voyage took her across to France where she called in at Cherbourg and Queenstown in Ireland before heading west towards New York.

The ship was the ultimate in comfort and luxury with a gym, swimming pool , libraries as well as high class restaurants. There were many advance safety features such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, but one fundamental mistake was the fact that she lacked sufficient lifeboats to accommodate all those on board, the total number of lifeboats on board would carry 1178 passengers, which was just a third of her total number on board.

At approximately 11.40pm on 14^th April about 375 miles south of Newfoundland she hit an iceberg. The collision caused the Titanic’s hull plate to buckle inwards in several places on her starboard side and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments to the sea. The ship gradually filled with water and the ship began to sink. Passengers and some crew were evacuated in lifeboats , many of the lifeboats were launched only partially full of passengers. A Women and children first policy prevailed and as a result a high number of men were left on board.

At just before 2.20am on 15^th April the Titanic broke up and sank bow first with more than a thousand people still on board. Those in the water died within minutes from hyperthermia cause by immersion into the freezing ocean. A few hours later the survivors were taken aboard from the lifeboats by the RMS Carpathia, only 710 people survived.

The disaster shocked the world public inquiries in both the UK and The USA led to major improvements in maritime safety. One of the most important legacies was the establishment of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea in 1914, which still covers maritime safety almost a century later.

The wreck of the Titanic remains on the seabed, gradually disintegrating at a depth of more than 12000 feet (3,770 m). Since its rediscovery in 1985, thousands of artefacts have been recovered from the sea bed and put on display at museums around the world. Titanic has become one of the most famous ships in history, her memory kept alive by numerous books, films, video's and TV documentaries.

To commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the Titanic tragedy there will be a number of special memorial services. Belfast will house the Titanic Belfast Festival , local theatre companies are taking part in plays and there will be specially commissioned television dramas shown, one being Titanic ( a four part drama ) and the other being Titanic : Blood and Steel.

Over the years a number of books have been written about the Titanic, at Stort Books you can find and purchase a number of these titles including :-

THETITANIC : THE FULL STORY OF A TRAGEDY

Myth, speculation and guess work surrounds the sinking of the unsinkable Titanic in April 1912

EVERY MAN FORHIMSELF

On Wednesday April 10th 1912 ,R M S Titanic left Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York . Four days later , she struck an iceberg. By 2 a m the last lifeboat had rowed frantically away .Then , within only twenty minutes, the great ship had sunk and 1500 people had lost their lives.Every Man for himself recaptures those four crucial days lost with the ship.

THE DISCOVERY OF THE TITANIC

This is the compelling, firsthand account of Dr. Ballard’s 12 year quest to find the sunken Titanic. The book contains many never-before-seen photographs and rare archival pictures bringing to life the drama of the expeditions that found her.

THE TITANIC : THEEXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE 'UNSINKABLE' SHIP

No other peacetime nautical tragedy is as heart rendering and tragic as that of the "Titanic", in 1912 more than 1500 of its passengers drowned in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic. The book tells the full tale of the ship, detailing all the events leading up to and during that horrifyng night, exploding the myths and exploring the superstitions.  

TITANIC VOICES :MEMORIES FROM THE FATEFUL VOYAGE

This is a recreation of the sinking of the great ship using many previously unpublished photographs, letters and oral histories.

THE RIDDLE OF THE TITANIC

Ten years after the Titanic was discovered, eighty years after she sank, the world's most famous disaster seems all the ore mysterious. Even the recovery of the relics has not solved any of the outstanding issues.Why did Captain Smith accelerate in uniquely treacherous weather towards an exceptionally dangerous ice field of which he had been warned many times? What caused the hole in the bow? Why is the position of the wreckk pinpointed by latest technology irreconcilable with the ships SOS calls? The authors conclude that the apparently ruthless American disaster hearings covered up the role of the ship's true owner, the arch capitalist Pierpont Morgan, that the apparently dispassionate British inquiry dominated by an insider-dealing Attorney General whitewashed a complacent government and that White Star covered up its own gross negligence by bribing key witnesses. What of the wreck itself, here the plot deepens further for there have been claims that the wreck is in fact that of the Titanic's Sister Ship, the Olympic.The results of this book are tantalising.

Guest Review of 'This is the Best Trip : Chasing the Tangerine Dream' by Ian Chisnall

                                        Guest Reviewer : Craig Chisnall

FOR something that started as a personal note of an event that he, and every other Blackpool fan, never ever dreamed would happen The Best Trip hits the spot for those looking to see if footballing fairytales do still happen.

OK the Seasiders were relegated on the final day of their season, at champions Manchester United, despite daring to take the lead in the second-half against the big boys, but they didn’t half do themselves and other clubs with meagre resources proud. It was a fairytale in itself to get into the top division without spending anywhere near astronomical money - a plan they stuck to rigorously.

In the days of £200,000-a-week wages being splashed out, more than the entire Blackpool squad earned put together, it’s a refreshing tale of well-run clubs overcoming the odds to scare the hell out of the nation’s elite.

Ian Chisnall, a BBC Radio Lancashire commentator, and a Blackpool fan was able to live out a dream himself by covering the majority of the campaign.

From covering the club for more than two decades he’s as recognisable at Bloomfield Road as their famous Tangerine kit.

Well respected within the dressing room and with fans alike, he’s able to convey how the players, many of them journeymen from the lower leagues, as well as those on the terraces, felt throughout the season.

And his close relationship with boss Ian Holloway – the Bristolian who loves a soundbite in the days of boring clichés – comes across from the first page. His post-match rant at referee Phil Dowd after a heart-breaking home defeat to mega-bucks Manchester City had to be seen to be believed by all accounts!

Having covered Blackpool in the dark days of the basement division Chisnall’s sense of enjoyment is felt throughout.

From topping the table at 1645 on the opening day to a thumping at Arsenal a week later the season becomes as up and down as one of the town’s famous rollercoasters.

There’s even a chance meeting with a future king, in the area on a stag do – you couldn’t make that up could you? – with a goal from Luke Varney that was later rightly given Royal approval.

Even star man Charlie Adam gives him the inside track on a tortuous January transfer deadline day that saw the Scot see a move to Liverpool fall through before Tottenham also came calling.

He gives his own take on where Blackpool went right, and wrong, and you can’t help feel as gutted as he was as the inevitable ending finally ticks by.

Yes he’s my old man, and a fellow Seasider, but a lot of friends and colleagues have read the book and even those with Tangerine tinted glasses feel the same.

I’ve encouraged, edited and read the book over and over – and the final chapter puts a lump in my throat every time.

For those old cynics who don’t think players care about anything other than their pay cheques – this is one for you.

Craig Chisnall

Footnote from Stortbooks : Yes, we know that Craig is author Ian's son, but we also knew that Craig would be professional and that he would be the last person to give his father Ian's book a rave review unless it merited it. We too have read this book and we thoroughly enjoyed it. A very easy read.

This is the Best Trip : Chasing the Tangerine Dream is a "feel good" book and will appeal to all sports fans, not just to Blackpool supporters. Craig Chisnall is a journalist and Deputy Editor of The Football League Paper.

This is The Best Trip ; Chasing the Tangerine Dream is published by Scratching Shed Publishing Ltd and and is available directly from the publisher priced £12.99. Click Here To Buy

The Falklands 30 Years On

The Falklands 30 Years On

 ITV has “Return to The Falklands” showing this month in which War Veteran Simon Weston, war correspondent Mike Nicholson and ex-marine Nick Taylor travel back to the  islands 30 years after the Flaklands War to see what has changed.

At Stort Books we are currently revamping our whole stock of books and re cataloguing them in a way that will make it much easier for clients to find what they are looking for . One of the first sections to have been re vamped is the War section.

You can now get listings of War , War biography , WWI , WWII , European Wars , American Wars , Vietnam War , Korean War , Gulf War , Falklands War , Warfare , Military , Military Biography , Battles , Weaponry , Air Force , Army , Naval , Special Operations and Warfare.

Email us for more details or if you want a listing sending.

Queens Jubilee Celebrations Start

This year The Queen celebrates her Golden Jubilee.

She became Monarch upon the death of her Father King George VI when she was 25 years old and has reigned through more than five decades of enormous social change and development. The Queen is married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and has four children and eight grandchildren.

 At Stort Books we are currently revamping our whole stock of books and re cataloguing them in a way that will make it much easier for clients to find what they are looking for . One of the first sections to have been re vamped is our Royalty section.

 Listings now include Royalty, Royal Biography , British Royalty , European Royalty , Norman , Saxon , Plantagenets , Stuarts , Tudor , Hanover , Saxe Coburg , Windsor , Mountbatten and Royal Miscellany.

We have over 350 books in this section , why not take a look or email us for more details or if you want a listing sending.

Dancing on Ice 2012

It seems only a few weeks ago that series 7 of  Dancing on Ice started on ITV. Next Sunday ( Mothers Day ) will see the semi final which we now know will feature Jorgie , Matthew , Chico and Jennifer. The four wannabe skaters will be vying for a place in the coveted final the following week with the finalists having an opportunity to choreograph and skate their own version of the now legendary Bolero first performed by the inimitable Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean at the Winter Olympics in 1984.

The performance saw them become the highest scoring figure skaters ( for a single performance ) of all time. They scored TWELVE perfect sixes and six 5.9’s which included a 6.0 from each and every judge for the artistic impression.

Having toured with their own shows they retired until they started Dancing On Ice seven years ago.

We have a number of books in stock about both ice skating but more notably about this talented duo and co judge Robin Cousins and his close rival the late John Curry.

TORVILL AND DEAN

The author has been a personal firned of the couple since 1978 and it well equipped to tell the remarkable tale of two ordinary people from Nottingham, who achieved world status ad carved themselves a special niche in the British public's esteem. Winning many British,world and European championship and best of all for their portrayal of Bolero.

TORVILL AND DEAN : FIRE ON ICE

An attractive photo album of the famous  Ice Skating dancers, which includes many favourites such as Let's face The Music and Dance,Barnumand of course the hanuting Bolero,which scored them a line of perfect 6's!

SKATING FOR GOLD

A charming autobiography by British Olympic gold medallist, ice skater Robin Cousins. This is a disarmingly frank account of how a young boy who loved cartwheels and handstands became the most brilliantly daring performer ever seen on skates.

JOHN CURRY

Biography of Mens Olympic , European and World Ice Skating champion.

Charles Dickens Would Have Been 200 Years Old

Charles turns a double century 

Yesterday , 7^th February saw the 200^th anniversary of the birth of English author Charles Dickens, author of such classics as” Nicholas Nickleby” ,” A Tale of Two Cities”,” Martin Chuzzlewit” ,” Oliver Twist”, “Bleak House” and “A Christmas Carol”.  There were a number of celebrations throughout the UK.

He was born in Postsea and spent his early years at Bloomsbury and Chatham in Kent. As a child he read voraciously, his near photographic memory of people and events of his childhood were used extensively in his writings. Part of his education was spent at the Private William Giles School in Chatham.

 When his father was imprisoned Charles, then 12 , was boarded with a family friend Elizabeth Roylance , ( she was later immortalised with a few alterations as Mrs Pipchin in “Dombey and Son” ). Some time late he lived in a back attic in a house belonging to an insolvent-court agent, who , along with his wife were the inspiration for the Garland family in “The Old Curiosity Shop”. Even the prison his father was incarcerated in the Marshalsea debtor's prison in Southwark became the setting in “Little Dorritt”.

To pay his board and help the family out Dickens was forced to leave school and he took a job, working ten hours a day at Warrens Blacking Warehouse, where he earned six shillings a week,the strenuous working conditions made a deep impression on him and had a significant influence on his fiction and essays. “David Copperfield” is known to be the most autobiographical novel, arising from his own situation  and also the conditions under which working class people were forced to live.

In 1827 Dickens worked at the law offices of Ellis and Blackmore , attorneys of Holborn Court Grays Inn. Having learned Gurneys system of shorthand in his spare time, he left to become a freelance reporter. Thomas Charlton ( a distant relative ) who was a freelance reporter at Doctor’s Commons and he allowed Dickens to share his box there to report the legal proceedings for almost four years. This part of his life is mirrored in novels including “Nicholas Nicklelby , Dombey and Son and Bleak House.

We have a number of novels by Charles Dickens on sale as well as other related material such as “Dickens of London “(a work based on Yorkshire Television's Dickens of London, Wolf Mankowitz, who scripted the series. Mankowitz  helps to explain the apparent complexities and contradictions of Dickens's character and to show that behind the moods and messages in his works were concern, strife, energy, compassion and determination)and “The Mutual Friend” (an exciting novel about the life and times of the inimitable Charles Dickens. It brings the well-known nineteenth-century author roaring to life). We also have a number of books relating to the times that Dickens lived including “Dickens in His Time” Biographies include Peter Ackroyd’s  “Dickens” and Christopher HIbberts , “The Making of Charles Dickens”  

We also have some books by Monica Dickens, the great grand daughter of Charles.

Am I About To Become a Kindle Fan?

Stortbooks sells used, rare and second - hand books, right? We sell books to people who still like to hold a book - not a gadget, but a book. "Book people" like to smell books, to enjoy the feel of  books and to be able to house their collection of books on something called a bookcase or a bookshelf.

It may not be long before we have to add explanations such as these, certainly to the younger generation, My children still chuckle when I talk about putting a "record" on the "record player" - yes, we still have one although it is rarely used, I have to admit.

If the Kindle and other E Book readers really take off, and they will, history says that my children's children will be scoffing at my sons talking about books, in the same way that they, my sons, treat my comments about records.

As a second hand bookseller, ought I to be worried? I don't think so. The dead tree book will not die. There are plenty of vinyl records still bought and sold and plenty of record players too, but I believe that books will have a far greater shelf life (pun intended) than  records in any event. A book has soul, a rare book has something more than that. I always feel when holding say, one of our first edition Thomas Hardy books (Val has a few of these as she is a huge Hardy fan), that I am transported back to 1896 and I feel close to the author. I feel even closer when I am holding one of our large collection of signed by author books - holding a signed copy of John Le Carre's "The Constant Gardener" makes me feel that I know Mr Le Carre, personally. You can flick through books, leave them lying handily around on the sofa (without worrying whether you sit on them - not advisable with a Kindle or I-Pad!) and what about the joys of spending hours browsing round an old bookshop - the equivalent with EBooks would be sitting in front of the PC or IPad and browsing through the Amazon store - hardly the same is it?

I don't have a Kindle, nor an I Pad, although my youngest has the latter. However I have found out that you don't need to own a Kindle or I Pad to be able to read E Books on your PC - you just download the appropriate application from the Amazon website (but you knew that didn't you? Just me being a dinosaur). Last night it happened - I was browsing away on the Amazon website at new books. I saw one that I really fancied the look of called "Get Out While You Can - Escape The Rat Race" by George Marshall. Now, I don't know about you, but sometimes I see a book and I want it now, and for some reason, last night at 10.30pm, I wanted to start reading George Marshall's book, right then, up in bed. So I found myself downloading the Kindle for PC application from Amazon. In an instant it was done and in another instant I had downloaded George Marshall's book and was getting stuck into it for about an hour before I turned the lights out and got my head down. The Kindle version of the book was £4.27 instead of £14.99 as a paperback, and for a book that I had not thought of buying until yesterday evening, that seemed a good price to pay (it actually looks as though it will be a very good book).

I think E Books have a place - for me it will be "horses for courses." I would not want to read a novel on my PC, a Kindle or an IPad - just a personal thing. I do see that I could make more "whim" buys of non fiction stuff.

As a bookseller, do I worry about E Books? No, I do not. Ebooks will become the standard, of that there is no doubt - before 7 more years are out they will be the way that children read books in schools as standard and university students will reach that probably in no more than 5 years. However, people will still want the real thing - and if as I suspect it will be the case that less and less dead tree books are published, that makes our stocks at Stortbooks  and those at other rare and second hand  booksellers, ever more a haven for real book lovers and we'll keep adding to that stock by hook or crook of that you can be sure!

What Is Your Favourite Book Of All Time?

If you were put on the proverbial desert island and could only take one book with you - just one - what would it be? That really focuses the mind, doesn't it? I know that my short-list would include, in no particular order;

1. Cry, The Beloved Country - Alan Paton
2. Amsterdam - Ian McEwan
3. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
4. A Handful of Dust - Evelyn Waugh
5. The Rainbow - D.H. Lawrence
6. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

I could go on ad nauseum, so actually choosing one - well I will do it, but I'm going to pass the buck for the time being and ask you, what one book would you choose?

Please let us know what your one book would be and why. Email me at carl@stortbooks.com and we'll post your thoughts on the blog here at Stortbooks.

By the way, the image of "The Grapes of Wrath" doesn't mean that it WOULD be my one book - but certainly it wouldn't be far off!!

Would You Like To Have Your Latest Book Reviewed?

If you have recently written a book and you would like us to review it, we will be happy to do so. Please contact us here at Stortbooks by emailing either Val on stortbooks@sky.com or carl@stortbooks.com

Although our Blog, Twitter and Facebook pages are only a matter of days old, we have been selling used, secondhand and in some cases, rare books, both fiction and non-fiction, since 2004. Here at Stortbooks  we are book lovers and our new Social Media sites are to champion the cause of books, authors and fellow avid readers. We are sure that with the help of the millions of others that feel the way that we do about books, these sites will grow and we will enjoy sharing the journey with you all.

We have lots of other plans for the forthcoming year so why not join us?

Stortbooks: Classic books

Stortbooks: Classic books: When I was at Grammar school from what is now year 7 ( ie., when we were 11 ) we were forced to read classic books in English. Despite the f...

Classic books

When I was at Grammar school from what is now year 7 ( ie., when we were 11 ) we were forced to read classic books in English. Despite the fact that I fell in love with Tholmas Hardy and remain so, I am ashamed to say, that for the greater part I was put off classic books forever !

My personal view is that many kids are simply too young at that age to truly appreciate what fine works these books are. That said I did study ( and pass ) English Literature at both "O" and "A" level.

A few years ago I went with two friends to the cinema to see "Pride and Prejudice" starring Matthew Macfadyen,(only I have to confess, because one of the friends I went with happens to be a cousin of Matthew). I really enjoyed it - but alas, had no desire to read the book for myself as my grammar school mental block on classic books was still well and truly with me !

In March of 2011, whilst travelling to Yorkshire on business I took with me a box full of classic tales on CD. One of them was "Pride and Prejudice". Surprisingly, I became so absorbed in the story that I actually had to stop at a petrol station on the A1 to inquire if in fact I had missed my turn off.

Last October, my eldest son who is studying A Level English Literature had to read "The Great Gatsby". Recognising that in all honesty it is not all that appealing a story on the face of it for a 16 year old lad, I vowed to read it and in fact I read it to him, just as years before I had read Enid Blyton , Anthony Horowitz, Darren Shan ,J K Rowling amongst others to him ! Once again, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. In addition to enjoying it I could see exactly why it is the type of book an examining board would chose for an A Level book.

So, the point of my tale is this, in 2012 , I will leave the mental block of "classic books " in 2011 and I have made a New Years Resolution to at least give these gems a fighting chance to make their way to my bedside cabinet.

Happy New Year and Happy reading !

We have plenty of classic titles available for sale. Visit our website at www.stortbooks.com for email Stortbooks@sky.com for more details.