TheBanyanTree: A darn silly question

[John Bailey]

Saturday October 18, 2003

A DARN SILLY QUESTION

It was with the greatest reluctance that I dragged myself into 
consciousness after my nap this afternoon to go pay a visit to Graham's 
parents. Oh, the visit was pleasant enough, and sociable enough, too, but I 
would far rather have stayed in intimate contact with my pillow for a while 
longer.

Back home we settled down to watch the recent movie re-make of H.G. Wells's 
The Time Machine. I was unimpressed. Somehow, in the pursuit of clever 
cinematography and special effects, they seem to have lost sight of the 
story. It might make sense if you hadn't read the book but I don't start 
with that advantage. Not a movie I shall ever bother watching again.

And then, though we didn't watch the TV programme that presented it, the 
BBC Big Read shortlist of the nation's favourite novels was published. 
We're down from one hundred to a mere twenty-one, and a motley, 
ill-assorted collection they are, too. I don't do favourites but the one 
novel I'd have nominated--The Alexandria Quartet, by Lawrence Durrell-- 
isn't in the list at all. I can't draw any sensible conclusion from what is 
listed:

         * 1984, George Orwell
         * Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
         * Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
         * Catch 22, Joseph Heller
         * The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
         * Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
         * Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
         * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
         * His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
         * The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
         * Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
         * The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
         * Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
         * Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
         * To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
         * Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
         * Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
         * War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
         * The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
         * Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
         * Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë

Of these I've read all but three--'Birdsong', 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' 
and 'His Dark Materials'--and none of those are on my reading list or ever 
will be. Of those I have read, there's only one I'd care to have on my 
nightstand on a dark and stormy night and that's 'Winnie the Pooh', with 
'The Wind in the Willows' coming a close second. In the spirit of the 
thing, I visited the BBC website and recorded my vote accordingly.

I hate to sound curmugeonly on this because anything that gets people 
reading has to be good, but the whole exercise seems to demonstrate nothing 
more than the heart-warming fact that people will say almost anything when 
asked a silly question. And, to me, 'What is your favourite novel of all 
time?' is a darn silly question. Unless it's asked as part of a parlour 
game, of course, where silliness is not only accepted but actively 
encouraged. In parlour games no-one can hear you pretend.


--
John Bailey   Carmarthenshire, Wales
journal of a writing man
<http://www.oldgreypoet.com>