Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Born on this day – Jean Adamson:

Jean Adamson

Writer

Illustrator

February 29, 1928 – December 15, 2024


Credits:

Books:

ABC: A Picture Alphabet (1962); Animal bounce (1969); Busy Builders (1997); Chestnut Tree (1974); Family Tree (1968); Hop Like Me (1972); Neighbours in the Park (1962); People who Help Us Stories (1999); Red Boots, Yellow Boots (1997); Surprises for Topsy & Tim (1971); Topsy & Tim Have Their Hair Cut (1989); Topsy & Tim's Safety Book (1973); Topsy + Tim Meet the Ambulance Crew (1996); Topsy and Tim and the Bully (1994); Topsy and Tim and the New Puppy (1992); Topsy and Tim at Granny and Grandpa's (1996); Topsy and Tim at School (1968); Topsy and Tim at the Bank (1985); Topsy and Tim at the Farm (1970); Topsy and Tim at the Seaside (1965); Topsy and Tim at the Supermarket (1996); Topsy and Tim Can Play Party Games (1981); Topsy and Tim Go for Gold (1977); Topsy and Tim Go Shopping (1977); Topsy And Tim Go Swimming (1973); Topsy and Tim Go to London (2014); Topsy and Tim go to the Hospital (1971); Topsy and Tim go to the zoo (1968); Topsy and Tim move house (1979); Topsy and Tim Stay with a Friend (1987); Topsy and Tim Visit the Tower of London (1976); Topsy and Tim: First Sleepover (2016); Topsy and Tim: Go Camping (1977); Topsy and Tim: Go on a Train (1990); Topsy and Tim: Go on an Aeroplane (1979); Topsy and Tim: Go to the Doctor (1982); Topsy and Tim: Halloween Party; Topsy and Tim: Have a Birthday Party (1971 / 2010); Topsy and Tim: Have Itchy Heads (1996); Topsy and Tim: Have Their Eyes Tested (1982); Topsy and Tim: Help a Friend (2005); Topsy and Tim: Learn to Swim (1973); Topsy and Tim: Meet Father Christmas (2013); Topsy and Tim: Meet the Firefighters (1989); Topsy and Tim: Meet the Police (1989); Topsy and Tim: Our Day Clock Book; Topsy and Tim: Play Football (1991); Topsy and Tim: Start School (2003); Topsy and Tim: the Complete Audio Collection (2017); Topsy and Tim: Visit London (2012); Topsy and Tim's ABC (1982); Topsy and Tim's Big Fun Book; Topsy and Tim's Friday Book (1961); Village Green (1972).

Television:

Topsy and Tim / 64-episode TV series (2013–2015).



Thursday, December 12, 2024

William Styron, on books:

A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end.

You live several lives while reading.

- William Styron.


Monday, November 18, 2024

Recommended reading - In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash

 
In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash

by Jean Shepherd.
 
Filmed as A Christmas Story (1983), directed by Bob Clark.
 
Published by Broadway Books.
Published 1966.
Paperback.
ISBN-10: 0385021747
ISBN-13: 978-0385021746
 
Description:
 
A collection of humorous and nostalgic Americana stories – the beloved, bestselling classics that inspired the movie A Christmas Story.
 
Before Garrison Keillor and Spalding Gray there was Jean a master monologist and writer who spun the materials of his all-American childhood into immensely resonant – and utterly hilarious – works of comic art. In God We All Others Pay Cash represents one of the peaks of his achievement, a compound of irony, affection, and perfect detail that speaks across generations.
 
In God We Trust, Shepherd's wildly witty reunion with his Indiana hometown, disproves the adage “You can never go back.” Bending the ear of Flick, his childhood-buddy-turned-bartender, Shepherd recalls passionately his genuine Red Ryder BB gun, confesses adolescent failure in the arms of Junie Jo Prewitt, and relives a story of man against fish that not even Hemingway could rival. From pop art to the World's Fair, Shepherd's subjects speak with a universal irony and are deeply and unabashedly grounded in American Midwestern life, together rendering a wonderfully nostalgic impression of a more innocent era when life was good, fun was clean, and station wagons roamed the earth.
 
A comic genius who bridged the gap between James Thurber and David Sedaris, Shepherd may have accomplished for Holden, Indiana, what Mark Twain did for Hannibal, Missouri.
 
“Shepherd has a fine eye for absurdity, for the madness and idiocy in all of us.” – Best Sellers.


Friday, November 1, 2024

Anaïs Nin, on writing:


 We write to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection.
- Anaïs Nin.