The Patrick Leigh Fermor Appreciation Society discussion
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Between the Woods and the Water
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Between the Woods and the Water
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I'll be reading this in the next few weeks.
^ What a splendid review. Thanks so much.I lent my copy out and should have it back tomorrow. We are discussing it at my real world Book Group in a few weeks.
Guess who was making the book choice this month? :-))
Don’t overlook slotting-in the fascinating comparison of Nicholas Crane’s “Clear Waters Rising” into your busy reading schedule too!
^ thanks for the timely reminder. I am pleased to start this book. #excited
I am thoroughly enjoying the next stage of Paddy's journey having read about a third of the book.
PLF's simply irrepressible.
^ You said it.I'm about halfway through now. So far Paddy's been through Hungary and into Romania and specifically Transylvania. He's enjoying a charmed journey - travelling across the Hungarian plains on horseback, hanging out with shepherds, gypsies and more usually Counts and on country estates.
Interestingly he is conflicted about the amount of time he seems to spend in luxury versus time sleeping rough in his old great coat.
However, no matter where he is, who he's with, or what he's doing, he cannot help waxing lyrical about language, history, geography, wildlife, those he meets, etc. In someone else's hands this could be the very definition of tedium however Paddy makes everything glisten with a life reaffirming vivacity. Absolutely extraordinary, and it's impossible not to fall under his spell in common with everyone he meets on his amazing journey.
Ahha. Transylvania and its salt mines. PLF is, as ever, irrepressible. Indeed positively Ruritanian; yet by pg 158, "Uplands of holt and hanger..." I was transported straight back home to Hampshire!
Just finished Between the Woods and the Water.Here's my review....
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
^ Predictably brilliant - and essential reading
Nigeyb wrote: "Last night my book group discussed this book...http://hovebookgroup.blogspot.co.uk/2..."
Keith makes a very fair point. We can never know what the book written by a teenage PLF would have read like; but there again, if we had that version, then I doubt we'd know the book we have in our hands today. How much is true, how much is artistic license/daring? Long delays in writing and eventual publication do prompt me to question quite where these books lie on the scale of non-fiction - fiction. Helpless in the face of it, I've simply enjoyed this book for what it is. Please tell Martin that I do sympathise with him!
All in all, one has to admire PLF for his ability to turn a bob or two with his writing. Wish I had the same knack!
^ All wise words. Thanks.The fiction/non fiction categories are frequently to simplistic and inadequate.
I'll pass on your message
Not merely interesting but positively intriguing. Bring back the oral craft of the storyteller, say I!
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