After Steinar Lillehaug’s review of two of my books
in his blog Ved kjökkenbordet (At the Kitchen table), there have come a couple more readers’
responses that I would like to bring you.
THe
first is from John Ray who says he found 1969 ‘very
accessible and enjoyable’. He mentions the style and the 'almost uncomfortable
intimacy' that might come from us knowing each other well and thinks the distance between me
the writer and the events is part of the charm of the narrative. The missed 'cultural watershed moments' are hilarious he says, referring to how I
for example edged round the crowds listening to the Beatles Rooftop Concert (30
January) not realising what was going on until I saw it on the telly, or how I
was distracted by a long and highbrow discussion of Mozarts’ greatest
symphonies at only a few hunded meters’ distance from the Stones legendary free
Hyde Park festival (5 July), for which I had actually been heading. I did on
the other hand live the Moon Landing to the full on the night of 20/21 July!
This response was followed up by Alastair
Gibbons who took up John’s comment that he liked the work of fiction but did
not feel tempted to read my other ebooks, my collection of poems and my family
tree. Alastair springs to the defence of
the family history Andrewes with an Extra E pointing out it is entirely different
from 1969 and 'worth a read'.
No-one want to put in a good word for the
poems, then?
I might also mention Björn Enes who sent me
a charming, enthusiastic and very personal response to 1969 which it warmed my
heart to read.
Thank you those of you who bought any of my
writings and even more thank yous if you have also read them!! The next step,
which would be useful for me, would be to write what they call an 'honest
review', or better still what I call a 'Reader’s response'. 'Review' sounds a
bit in-depth and professional. A reader’s response is just asking you to give
an impression of how the book worked on you, or didn’t. It doesn’t have to be
lengthy or analytical.
Andrewes with an Extra ‘E’. Or: Who do you
think I should think I am. - A genealogic search
- for my identity, for my roots? - tracing my lineage back over six generations
to the Mr and Mrs Andrew(e)s of Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait fame.
1969. A Year in a Life. - An unreliable memoir of my life in Swinging
London at the end of the 60s. (As they say, if you remember it clearly, you
can’t actually have been there. But I had a diary.)
Other addresses that may be of interest:
Granada la Bella webpage: https://granadalabella.eu/
Granada la Bella blog: https://blog.granadalabella.eu/
About me https://about.me/simonandrewes/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/simonbandrewes
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