Monday 9 February 2009

Literally Reading

In commemoration of National Storytelling Week 2009, Reading List offers Readers a list of 10 works which use the fair town of Reading as a backdrop or inspiration for the plot.

Classics:
1. Belford Regis, by Mary Russell Mitford
2. Our Village, by Mary Russell Mitford
3. Bleak House, by Charles Dickens
4. Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy
5. Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome
6. The Wind in the Willows, By Kenneth Grahame

Contemporary:
7. A Melon for Ecstasy, by John Fortune and John Wells
8. The Big Over Easy, by Jasper Fforde
9. The Fourth Bear, by Jasper Fforde

And the poem:
10. Reading Races

If we've missed anything please let us know.

5 comments:

  1. Oranjepan9 February 2009 at 10:13

    Before anyone mentions it, virtually anything by Oscar Wilde (he spent many holidays in the surrounds, until the local justices detained him).

    From whence his Ballad of Reading Gaol.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9 February 2009 at 11:49

    If you think that "Three Men in a Boat" features Reading, then it shows that you haven't read it recently! Jerome K. Jerome explains in half a page why the place is a dump and why they didn't stop. However, just before that, it does have a wonderful description of the Bull at Sonning.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous9 February 2009 at 21:40

    Elizabeth Taylor - Angel set in Reading throughout.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous10 February 2009 at 11:05

    In fact, coming to think about it nearly all Elizabeth Taylor's books are set in Reading or nearby in South-Eastern England. Why she does not get much more recognition for her writing I do not know. For example, Angel was selected as one of the Book Marketing Council's "Best novels of our time". Just as Reading could make more of the Oscar connection, with tours for Wilde buffs to related local places, so there could be more made of the locations in the Elizabeth Taylor books.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oranjepan10 February 2009 at 11:18

    Thanks flash, I'll have to check her out.

    ReplyDelete

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