Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Wiity, clever, great |
| Disadvantages: |
some articles not as good as others |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
This is not a book on the face of it that I would ever have bought myself, it was bought for me as a present, and I am glad it was.
The Cricklewood Tapestry is a book full of short humorous articles written by Alan Coren, somebody that I did no realise could write so well or amusingly.
The articles range from those on current affairs, (i.e. sellers packs for houses, the right to roam, changes to the driving test and the going on in the Royal Household) to Mr Coren’s musings on his garden, neighbours, art and Cricklewood. If you are wondering where Cricklewood comes from Alan
Coren lives there and writes from his attic.
These articles have previously been featured in the Times newspaper, although they are rather nice in just the one volume.
So are they good, you may wonder? Yes, some of them are some of the most amusing writing that I have ever read. For instance, pondering the fact that the Queen does not need to wear a rear seatbelt, Coren goes on to say, that there are other special exceptions for the Queen. For instance, when playing football she cannot be sent off for foul and abusive language, she can move if goalie before a penalty is kicked and if playing tennis she can abuse her racket as much as she likes. It is the imagery that this conjures up in your mind that makes it so amusing. There are swipes at BT, thoughts on how many Chinese people can fit onto the Isle of Mann and an inflatable sheep stuck in his back gardens tree.
The writing is excellent, in fact no article is more than three pages, which makes the book ideal, pick up, put down light reading. I shall certainly look out for the articles in the Times and look to get more of his books with such writing in. Very amusing, hilarious in places and in others you will just laugh out loud.
Ok, not every article hits the mark, but most do and I completely recommend this very different book.
