Brer Rabbit - The Return...

Nineteen fifties Brer Rabbit annual 

Something wonderful has happened.  After years of waiting, my long lost Brer Rabbit annual has finally come home. Two weeks ago, on this blog, I  explained how I had given away my beloved childhood copy  after being urged at school to donate something 'special' to underprivileged children.  I have pined for the book, with its juggling bunny and shiny turquoise cover, ever since.

Several people, including fellow blogger Faith,  suggested I try Amazon or AbeBooks.  Although I have done this before, as well as scouring countless antique bookshops, I decided to give it  one more try.

A few days later, I thought I had hit the jackpot. The vintage book listed had no photo but it was the right era and much of the detail was the same.  Sadly, when it arrived, it was a different version - written by Enid Blyton - with none of my favourite stories between the covers.

Encouraged by this however, my daughter, Amy, tried again on Ebay, and suddenly there it was!   For three nail-biting days I waited anxiously,  but it was worth it in the end. The Complete Brer Rabbit Stories, retold by Phyllis Briggs from the original stories by Joel Chandler Harris, finally arrived!

My long lost book is here with me now, and I'm not sure I'll ever put it down. There's Brer Rabbit Goes Riding and Mr Cricket's Free Ride, Brer Fox gets Even, and Wishing for the Moon. Then there'sThe Tar Baby - my favourite of them all.

So a million thanks to Amy, AbeBooks, to Faith and Diane, and finally to 'Leonard,' who was given the book as a  Christmas present in 1952. Without them I'd still be pining....

And then there was the one that didn't quite make it.........

Got to go now - it's time for my bedtime story....

Kindle - Dream or Disaster?

Seen a new novel you like the sound of?  Want  to read it now? Wait no longer - with Kindle you can.

That's the sort of copy I turned out regularly in the eighties when I worked for a small advertising agency. All of it was glib and no-one, I suspect, believed a word of it. So for some time now I  have remained unmoved by all the publicity generated by the Amazon Kindle.  Worse still, I  have treated the  e-book phenomenon with scorn, believing nothing could take the place of the trusty old book: the smell of new paper as you scan the pages, the lure of the cover as you hold it in your hands, the sight of your book shelves bulging with literary talent from every corner of the world... (sorry I'm back in advertising  land again)  How could this compare with the lowly Kindle?

But then, blog reader, (with apologies to Jane Eyre) I  bought one. (Or more accurately was given one as a present by my daughter.)

And now, I simply take a different view. I can read the latest books wherever I go and edit my own work at the same time. I can browse through great literature as if  I were in a library,  without  even moving from my chair.  And best of all, I can buy a book at the touch of a button.

I remember the first time I had a feature published in a mainstream magazine; I rushed into the newsagent and bought four copies, one of which I have to this day. It was real, tangible, something I could keep to hand on to the next generation.  These days my house is full of vintage books which reveal so much through their  smell,  feel, and texture. They are full of photographs -a mysterious sepia print or a delicate tapestry-passed down to us from another age.  How dull life would be without them.

So I still don't believe that e-books will ever entirely replace the real thing , but  I hope for now that the two can sit side by side in a rapidly changing world.