I only recently discovered that Lynne Truss had written a book with a horticultural theme.In fact, in my ignorance I did not know that she had written anything other than Eats Shoots & Leaves.
I found this information recently, whilst perusing a 1994 copy of Gardens Illustrated, in which she was interviewed. Yes, as well as old books, I read old magazines as well - I should get out more.
Such is the power and wonder of the internet that I was able to get hold of a copy not only very quickly, but also very cheaply, although I got stung a bit on the postage.
The book itself (a 2004 reprint of the '94 original) is an amusing comic novel, ideal for a holiday and was a welcome piece of froth when I had some dead time to fill and wasn’t in the mood to concentrate intensively.
It's not perhaps as good as the master of the field Carl Hiassen (what is?), but it put me in mind of the books by that author, being populated as it was by all sorts of loonies, which is quite surprising since it revolves around the staff of a gardening magazine.
Ooh hang on, I must go and check if Lynne Truss ever worked for Amateur Gardening.
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7 comments:
And of course sheds play a big, big role as the anti-hero's gardening column is called Me And My Shed.
"He had been doing it for years. In certain professional quarters people still raved about his Me and My Shed: David Essex; it was said that for anyone interested in the art of celebrity outhouse interviewing, it had represented the absolute ‘last word’."
GM, you should check out http://www.greenmetropolis.com/. It's a great place to find secondhand books at reasonable prices. They've currently got about 10 copies of Lynne Truss' book, all £3.75 with free P&P.
I've definitely read that book, but it got given away.
She was a gardening journalist of some description at some point. But she also does sports writing now and again I think - Alex probably knows. He's just that kind of guy
I am reliably informed that Lynne Truss never worked for Amateur Gardening. I'm a tad surprised it's had a reprint (the book, that it) as the original reviews panned it.
Thanks for that Bookworm, maybe Lynne should get a job at Amateur Gardening - it would surely provide a rich vein of material for her.
I imagine shadowing Peter Seabrook for a week would provide enough material for several comic volumes.
I think from her website the author may have been herself a little surprised at the reprint, (“When it was reissued, along with my other novels, by Profile Books in 2004, I considered it a great kindness, and wept.”), but I found it amusing enough, although I got the impression, a couple of times , that it was a longer book cut down.
It's a penny on Amazon 2nd hand + £2.75 p&p. I found a seller that's donating 25% of the postage to charity
Just finished it.
I felt it would work better as a film - there were too many coincidences to make the plot totally work as a book.
However as a farce (film or play), it could work quite well.
Happy to pass on to a Flange member for a bit of light holiday reading...
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