another birthday last month. well spent, too. which is unusual for me. well spent on a trip down to chichester, where we ate well, had front row seats at a STEWART LEE gig and dropped in on a dear old friend of mine. seeing my pal was good in itself. but he also went on to recommend a book that's stirred up a few ideas and given some pleasure in the weeks following the visit.
looking back at that enjoyable weekend away and looking forward to a trip to NEW YORK and FLORIDA that is now less than three weeks away, I do count myself a fortunate fellow. yes, yes.
NEW YORK will be a whirlwind. not even two full days into which a blaze of experiences must be crammed. I've been there before. but this will be my son's first trip to the city and he's anxious not to spend a single moment doing anything as dull as pausing for breath in a hotel room. so we must flash past a number of the main tourist sights, gorge ourselves on suitably american food, catch up with relatives and a family friend who live in manhattan AND sit through our first ever in-the-flesh NBA game.
FLORIDA will be different. yes, the last bit of our stay down there will be somewhat eventful. but before we go, briefly, all resort hotel and theme park, we will linger longer in the very familiar stretch of U.S. suburbia and american edgelands around which one of my sets of in-laws can be found. no wifi in the house, amazingly! and I can only take so much sun, pale-complexioned, freckle-dotted english rose that I am. and only so many longlonglong infomercials on the tv. so: BOOKS.
good timing, then, that birthday of mine, not least because my other set of in-laws (the just up the road from here in-laws) always ping me a generously fat amazon top-up to mark the passing of another year of this life i'm living. here is the haul, almost all stuff written by familiar writers I can trust to do it for me. intrigued to see if a favourite will emerge in the FLORIDA sunshine between trips to the giant fridge for another weak, pale beer or another helping of HEARTS OF PALM salad:
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