Review by The Mole
Compiled from headlines and articles gathered from small local newspapers around the country, there are bound to be treats in this book that will at least raise a smile with everyone. But these articles are not gaffs gathered surreptitiously but instead with the full co-operation of the paper's editors. They are serious articles that mean something to the locals, but when viewed by people outside the locality they become amusing.
"Village is crime free" - perhaps not something to make the Met proud, but sure to satisfy the village involved. "Boiled egg explodes" - hardly something to make a national headline. The articles are accompanied by the full transcript of the article and you are left with a smile and wondering in what tranquil backwater these items make the headlines. Other items such as "Police called to pull up Drunk's knickers" and "Cows on the run after tractor theft" are presented as only headlines and maybe we don't really want to understand any more anyway? Some though... and I don't want to spoil it for the readers are just outright funny!
A book to pick up, read a couple of headlines, share a few with a room that is trying to watch "White Christmas" for the 20th time before being driven to put the kettle on.
A really entertaining book and maybe difficult to believe.
Maryom described it as:- A whimsical humorous slice of life as seen through local newspapers.
Publisher - Penguin Viking
Genre - Non Fiction, Adult, Humour
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I agree - an entertaining read but shame they didn't make the effort to add in any sort of comment or research the origin of the stories. Essentially its a load of funny articles and headlines that have been cut and pasted into a book. Bit lazy in my opinion. It's the local journalists who did all the hard work to write them in the first place... Do you think they will recieve any proceeds from the book? No, me neither... straight into the pockets of fat cats at Penguin. It's tantamount to intellectual theft in my opinion. Rant over. I'm a local reporter by the way...
ReplyDeleteIn balance... the acknowledgements at the back credit journalists with suggesting articles and editors as having given their blessings, so while Viking did simply select which to include and compile into the book, this is not very different, in many ways, to compile poetry or short story anthologies. In the later cases the author or poet is credited, whereas in this case the newspaper is credited. So any copyright issue rests with the journalist and editor in this book surely?
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