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A river runs from cover to cover


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I spent a lot of time on a river yesterday. I am currently reading Kathleen Jamie’s ‘Findings’ and enjoying a chapter on what she sees while overlooking a fast flowing piece of water.

 

Taking both together, I would like two of the next books I read to be a work of fiction with a river holding stage and a work of non-fiction featuring a river journey. Does anyone have any recommendations on the forum? Needless to say, I would be grateful for suggestions.



 

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Two suggestions for fiction...

 

The obvious suggestion is Jerome K Jerome's excellent Three Men in a Boat:)


 


A comic masterpiece that has never been out of print since it was first published in 1889, Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat includes an introduction and notes by Jeremy Lewis in Penguin Classics.

 


Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. and his friends George and Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames would suit them to a 'T'. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather forecasts and tins of pineapple chunks - not to mention the devastation left in the wake of J.'s small fox-terrier Montmorency. Three Men in a Boat was an instant success when it appeared in 1889, and, with its benign escapism, authorial discursions and wonderful evocation of the late-Victorian 'clerking classes', it hilariously captured the spirit of its age.


In his introduction, Jeremy Lewis examines Jerome K. Jerome's life and times, and the changing world of Victorian England he depicts - from the
rise of a new mass-culture of tabloids and bestselling novels to crazes for daytripping and bicycling.

 

Although classed as a children's book, Mark Twain's classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is largely set on the Mississippi

 

Mark Twain's story of a boy's journey down the Mississippi on a raft conveyed the voice and experience of the American frontier as no other work had done before. When Huck escapes from his drunken, abusive 'Pap' and the 'sivilizing' Widow Douglas with runaway slave Jim, he embarks on a series of adventures that draw him to feuding families and the trickery of the unscrupulous 'Duke' and 'Dauphin'. Beneath the exploits, however, are more serious undercurrents - of slavery, adult control and, above all, of Huck's struggle between his instinctive goodness and the corrupt values of society which threaten his deep and enduring friendship with Jim.

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'Three Men in a Boat' is now purchased. I am looking forward to it very much. Something different. Obliged for the suggestion.

 

'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' I have read. A wonderful read. It really does have a river flowing from page to page. Thank you, Janet.  :)

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I've got a couple of non-fiction books I can recommend.  Firstly, probably my favourite travel writer, Eric Newby, and the book Slowly Down The Ganges where he and his wife travel down the Indian holy river.

 

Secondly, I'd go for a book I read about 15 years ago, and although a bit dry in places, it recounts a fascinating journey and was one of the first books I'd ever read about China - The River at the Centre of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time by Simon Winchester.

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'Three Men in a Boat' is now purchased. I am looking forward to it very much. Something different. Obliged for the suggestion.

 

Thank you, Janet.  :)

You're welcome. I hope you enjoy it. :)

 

I have Travels with Boogie on my 'to read' pile but need to get the other one.  I might see if the library have it. :)

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Thank you, Claire, for those two recomendations. I have read neither. Not just two works but a favourite genre writer to uncover also. Now that is value! :) Indebted.

 

Thank you also, Raven. Two for one theme here going on here I think! :) I will shape out the time to follow your finger point this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Claire, I found my way to Kathleen Jamie through the wanderings and thought avenues of Robert McFarland. In particular, Wild places and The old ways: A journey on foot.

 

Your use of the word 'beautiful' struck a chord with me the moment I read it. It also prompted the thought that you might consider a meander in the opposite direction to me, along the pathways and rugged landscapes of McFarland's works. If you have not done so already, of course!

 

All I ask is that you give me a wave as you pass!  :)

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I bought The Wild Places for my partner for Christmas a few years ago, because I'd read an article or heard an interview with him, and he'd talked about his friend Roger Deakin, who is another author my partner enjoys reading.  He loved The Wild Places so I've been meaning to read it ever since, so thanks to your reminder, I'll think about starting it sooner rather than later now. :D

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You're welcome. I hope you enjoy it. :)

 

I have Travels with Boogie on my 'to read' pile but need to get the other one.  I might see if the library have it. :)

 

Just to clarify, Travels with Boogie includes both Boogie up the River and Five Hundred Mile Walkies.

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Just to clarify, Travels with Boogie includes both Boogie up the River and Five Hundred Mile Walkies.

Oops - I should, of course, have said I have Boogie up the River, but thanks for the warning - I'd have been annoyed if I'd bought it and then discovered I had both books in one!  :)

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