I have been waiting and working towards this climax for six weeks. SIX WEEKS! I kid you not. It's been hard going - I've had to concentrate on this to the exclusion of all else, and to be quite honest, I can't remember any other book taking me quite so long to finish. Tomalin's biography of Sam Pepys, it was. Actually, and the reason why I am gnashing my teeth with desperation, still is. Having got to within striking distance of the end (and the good thing about a well-researched piece of non-fiction, is that the end comes a good deal sooner than you expect, because of the references! Took up a good half-inch at the back of this book, they did), I carried it with me wherever I went, just on the off-chance of reading a sentence or two.
ANYWAY. Pepys's health fails, he moves out to the country (Clapham!), he snuffs it! (Ahhh). He's autopsied (ugh) and the provisions of his will are explained, and . . . .
Dunno. Lost the bloody book, haven't I.
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A perfectly reasonable life spins out of control . . .
About Me
- Mangonel
- Dealer in disease, destruction and death with a kick like a mule. And a BIG crush on Stephen Mangan. Which Significant Other knows nothing about.
Things to do before I die
- See the Aurora Borealis
- Take an actual proper music exam
- Read Clarissa
- Visit Everest Base Camp and see the Khumbu Ice Falls
12 comments:
Didn't he bury some cheese?
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh
how infuriating
%-/
maybe it will turn up?
;-)
(ever read Gabriel Garcia Marquez' autobiography Living to Tell the Tale? might not be the best one to pick up next. . .)
Somehow this reminds me of my own experience with Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver. Though it was John Wilkins who croaked and just got autopsied, in this one. It's really really well researched and well written, and it's hard work to read anyway. Hrm. I sort of know where it is. It is somewhere under the enormous mound of... stuff, in my house.
pepys' diary is online now, with commentary!
read cellini's autobiography; damn, i couldn't put it down. had to buy it. guy was a maniac!
should there be more? - sounds like an end to me . . .
*SPOILER ALERT*
Actually, it turns out Pepys is like Captain Jack off Torchwood and he can't actually die, autopsy notwithstanding, although he does go and live in Cardiff, which is near enough. And he likes doing it with old ladies and studly pilots.
All the same, isn't it a peculiar idea, writing a book that describes the life of man whose main claim to fame is writing a book that describes his own life?
(sounds like blogging to me!)
that was so funny. . . with the cafe con leche
:-)
I didn't get around to your special coffee picture post, but I will do this week!
stop it
I want to go to sleep
;-)
The online Pepys diary is ace as is the real thing. My favourite bits are the lapses into French and when he leaves the lobster on the bus.
studly pilots???
yum!
LBB - Hello! Yes he did, and, as Realdoc points out, he also left a lobster on a bus. The cheese was because the Great Fire was approaching, and sadly he had never heard of raclette.
Valerie - Hey! I've lost Quicksilver too! Mind you, I haven't started it yet . . .
FN - It's on my Amazon wishlist.
Tim - To my regret, never saw Torchwood. And from your description of the cast, I now regret it even more. (And yay - it's a precession of a simulacrum. Don't see many of those around 'ere.)
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