Based very firmly on a true story, the Surgeon of Crowthorne concerns the inestimable assistance one Dr W.C. Minor gave in assembling the first concise Oxford English Dictionary.
He was deeply interested in language as well as being a keen painter and a man of science.
Oh, and he was a paranoid, delusional, sex-obsessed, xenophobic murderer as well.
Brilliant.
Actually, I’m tempted to just leave it as that. There is a certain elegance in brevity.
I suppose I should probably expand upon that.
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What’s the difference between a viola and a trampoline?
You take your shoes off to jump on a trampoline.
Somehow that joke’s stayed with me for over ten years. I was never one for strings. Give me a brass chorale anyday.
Still, it was nice to delve once more into the world of music – although I can find faults with this book, musical accuracy is not one of them.
“In My Skin is a compelling story of love and squalor that retains humanity and sympathy, shocking more for the unsparing and understanding light it shines” says the Guardian.
Huh. I’ve got to find this other version of ‘In my skin’ and read it. Sounds good.
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Let me just preface this by saying that I really, really like this book. This was my sixth or seventh time through and I’m still finding things I’ve missed before or understanding some scenes in new ways.
That said, the discourse last night did highlight some of the issues with such an ambitious project that I’ve missed for some reason.
