I try to read something really unseasonal at this time of year (a form of escape!) and right now I am ensconced with Quentin Crisp and his "The Naked Civil Servant" (1968). A friend left it here for me to read a couple of years ago and I've only just managed to reach for it recently. It looks something like this:
Crisp is eminently quotable (and not for the tiny-minded...) but so far my favourite quote is in the first chapter:
"... keeping up with the Joneses was a full-time job with my mother and father. It was not until many years later when I lived alone that I realized how much cheaper it was to drag the Joneses down to my level."
I've missed one Poetry Bus but might make the next one at the weekend (prompt here).
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11 comments:
great quote, a man after my own heart!
That quote is brilliant, and the whole book also - I read it some time ago, and it left a memorable, and salty, impression.
I read at the wiki thing that C4 got Crisp to do their first alternative (to regal) Xmas speech in 1993. Wonder if that's online anywhere...
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Of course it is... it's here (long ad at the beginning, I'm afraid).
A book I've never read, but I now feel I must. I saw the film, of course, with John Hurt.
Oh, that is definitely one to put to memory!
I'm especially enjoying the way the book gives a very different angle on England in the first half of the the 20th Century.
I love that quote. Hope your Christmas has been a good one, Rachel and that it's not too cold for you. Have a wonderful New Year !!
Thanks Selma. Temperatures are up a bit this week... nothing under 0!
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I am all about having low expectations. However, Dr. M insists on doing things he knows the neighbors expect (like mowing).
I've written my bus poem - now I'm working up the courage to sing it.
Oh what a brilliant quote! I must have look at the book...
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