Narrow Dog to Carcassonne - Terry Darlington

Advantages: Funny and well written
Disadvantages: Too much of a good thing

...Phyllis May, a narrowboat so narrow "that you have to live sideways", buffeting across the high seas and one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, completely dwarfed by container ships and tankers, and with swamping a very real possibility. Further on, they have to negotiate the Bollène lock on the Rhône, the second deepest in Europe. I have never been through a canal lock. If I thought about them at all, it was in an Art of Coarse Sailing ...
...come-uppance. I had not considered what it must be like in a very small boat with lock-sides 75 feet high on either side of you and 200 million gallons of water about to pour in (it takes 10 minutes). Then there's Jim the pork scratchings loving whippet. Turning an animal into a character is not an easy trick to pull off - there's a danger of overly sentimental anthropomorphism. Writers whose business is animals, such as Gerald Durrell or James ... Read review

Advantages: Makes you want to do the trip yourself
Disadvantages: Puts you off ever doing the trip yourself

...of pensioners to navigate a narrow boat from Stoke in Staffordshire through the canals of France to the Carcassonne region. It would have probably have been safer and less eventful if either the author or his wife had any idea of what they were doing, but it is all too apparent that they had not. Fortunately their whippet Jim, who can be viewed in a disgusting pose on Terry's web site, seems to have some sense of self preservation and, despite his ...
...the sympathies of characters crucial to their survival, who would otherwise have been justified in having Terry and his wife sectioned or whatever the equivalent is in France. This entrancing book is full of literary conceits and contradictions. His style of writing so lacks artifice that not only does he manage to use powerful imagery avoiding simile, but that he refuses to kow tow to such ridiculous conventions as inverted commas; and one has ... Read review

Advantages: A great story, very well told
Disadvantages: It ended!

This is the tale of Jim, who is a whippet. And his two companions (the humans who mistakenly believe that they own him) Terry and Monica Darlington. And their "brave" decision, on retiring, to take a canal narrowboat the Phyllis May, all the way from Staffordshire to Carcassonne in Southern France. Everyone told them that they were mad, or brave, or stupid or brave in a madly, stupid way. The upshot of this advice was that they were more intent ...
...The kind of bad habits that endear dogs to people who are not their owners. His habit of begging in pubs is told by Terry in a fashion that is both highly amusing and original in tone. Terry's sense of humour that shines through the telling of this tale has brought a unique voice to the fore of British writing and it is to be hoped that Terry will write many more books in the future. Terry's life before he retired would make a very deep mine for ... Read review

Advantages: Humour that 'll make you wet your pants!
Disadvantages: More laundrey...

...in Florida, again on their narrow boat, The Phylis May. Back to the book in hand though... Narrow dog to Carcassone is to date one of the funniest reads this year. Terry is a retired (but never retiring) reluctant adventure-seeker. After a rash decision to take the Phylis May across the channel, Terry is filled with a mixture of fear, regret and obligation. He has told people of his plans, who in turn have told more people... a.s.o.! Their adventure ...
...are a must read. Terry's humour is second to none and his wife Monica has to be admired. And Jim, well read this book for yourselves and make your own minds up. Bytheway, my sister snaffled my copy so quickly that I'm unable to give you the desired quotes... If you do get this book, I'll be surprised if you're disappointed. One last word, you don't have to be a pensioner to appreciate this rib-tickling yarn. ... Read review