Wednesday, October 03, 2007

When it isn't just you...



Life has been a bit shit recently, as some of you may know, so it's nice that some bits of it are starting to slowly work well again. Even better when I told someone about something good that has happened recently and got this in return which made me laugh so much:

And so you should feel special. Like a princess. Or like a princess who's had to work Very Hard at becoming a princess and hasn't simply been born into such splenderous situations. And who must have already had a predispositional princessy talent for becoming one.


You see, this is absolutely why I love other writers. None of this 'good for you' or 'pass the tea' monosyllables for them when several hundred glittery metaphors will do the job just as well.

Makes me wonder what personal dedications of similar flamboyance I can ask Steve Stack to put in my Christmas copies of his book, It is Just You, Everything's Not Shit. He's offering to sign them via his blog. The book - and the blog - is 'A Guide to All Things Nice' from Aardvark to Zebedee and his Sons (or really small kids shouting BOING! everytime he's mentioned in bible classes), dropping in on Sunday lunch, chips from Chinese restaurants, falling in love, drawing pictures in steamed up windows, breaking the ice on a puddle, unicycles (part clown, part Lance Armstrong), watching television sideways, and marbles along the way.

We've all been taking it in turns to read this book in my family and pick out different things each time. To be honest, it's not so much a guide to 'nice things' as a time capsule of British eccentricity. It's definitely a book for someone who already has "a predispositional princessy talent for becoming one", although disappointingly tiaras aren't mentioned. Maybe Steve's saving them for the next edition?

5 comments:

Alex Johnson said...

I hope you all picked the section on 'Working from home' as your favourite bit. For my money, it's by some distance the best part in the entire book, if not the finest four pages that have been published anywhere in the world this year...

Steve Stack said...

What a lovely blog post to read. I am delighted that the family are enjoying my silly musings.

Sarah Salway said...

Thanks, Steve. It's a great book - although we're not altogether convinced about IKEA food. Will be in touch with my dedications shortly.
And yes, Alex. We rarely read anything else in the book apart from pages 194-197 and have had many bright and witty discussions about shed envy. When we're not cheating at scrabble that is!

Nik Perring said...

The book sounds good (silly musings often do). I'll have to make a point of checking it out.

And I'm sure it should be splendorous, shouldn't it! Ah well, it's the thought that counts!

Nik

Sarah Salway said...

It is good, Nik - and you can get your own dedication written. Thinking of ones for certain people has given me splendorous amounts of pleasure already!