In recent times I seem to have picked up a habit of reading
the work of what might be called ‘comfort Brits’. Writers such as Michael
Booth, Andrew Collins, Shaun Bythell, Andy Miller and even Jon Ronson. All UK-based,
my age or older and all wonderfully self-effacing and funny as they describe
their general life experiences and/or zero in on a particular topic to fill
multiple books.
Brian Viner is another those authors and I’ve been reading his
output mostly out of chronological order – in one book he’s been a new parent
while in the next his kids are starting high school. Apart from his
sport-focused volumes I think I’ve caught up with most of his written life now.
“The Pheasants’ Revolt” is a direct sequel to his earlier
book “Tales of the Country” in which he described (with plenty of anecdotes and
digressions) how he decided to move his family from a comfortable life in
London to a more challenging situation in rural Herefordshire. Its pretty much
more of the same this time out. It’s a fun comfort read as always and he goes
out into more tangents, relating many friend-of-a -friend type tall tales that
might illustrate a point he’s making about country life. Nothing too shocking
or unexpected then but a worthy diversion.
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