At the University: Parting Breath and Lucky Jim

As fate would have it, I am reading two books both of which take place on British university campuses. Just the tales to cuddle up with as the days are beginning to cool down.

The first is Parting Breath (1977) by Catherine Aird. This was next in line in her series that I am reading featuring Detective Chief Inspector C.D. Sloan and his ever clueless Constable Crosby. It is a very literary mystery and part of the plot (very minor) involves a stolen letter that supposedly revealed the mystery lover of Jane Austen. The main mystery has to do with the murder of one of the students - an ecology major. The background to the the murder investigations (yes, there is more than one death on this lively campus) is a sit-in being staged by students in protest of the expelling of a popular student. Maybe not expelled - I think it's called being sent down. Anyway, there is plenty of mayhem in the main quadrangle. 

I find the late-night conversations between Sloan and his boss Superintendent Leeyes to be very funny. Leeyes has a penchant for taking adult education classes and uses his fractured knowledge to confuse and confound poor Sloan who is trying his best out in the world of crime. 

The second book is quite different: Lucky Jim (1954) by Kingsley Amis. This classic campus book (recently reviewed quite nicely by Kat at mirabile dictu) follows the path through academe trudged by Jim Dixon and is filled with cranky dons and charmless women. Quite a comic treat.

The thing about Parting Breath is that Ms. Aird mentions Lucky Jim along with Zuleika Dobson (a university novel by Max
Beerbahm), Hamlet, Alice in Wonderland, P.G. Wodehouse, Oscar Wilde, and two Wordsworths, William and Dorothy.

I'll bet she had a fun time working all those literary references into the story.

The campus book I remember best is A Separate Peace (1959) by John Knowles that takes place at an American prep school.  Another favorite, Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1934) by James Hilton, is set at a British boarding school. 


I would love to spend a toasty fall semester at a university if only I could just attend class and not have to be bothered with homework. For now, though,  I will have to be content reading about the academic life.

Any campus books you would care to recommend?

Britain in Pictures

I have been doing a bit of book sleuthing this morning about a series launched in 1941 by Collins (now HarperCollins) called Britain in Pictures. Apparently, the 132 books in the series were designed to boost morale at a time when Hitler was threatening to cross the English Channel.

The books were written by some very famous writers - George Orwell (The English People), Edith Sitwell (Women), Graham Greene (Dramatists) - and covered everything from British boxing and birds to cricket and farming. There is even a volume on British hills and mountains.

Each slim book is octavo sized and contains black and white illustrations and 'plates in colour'. 

I happen to know about this series through three books that I bought on a now-long-ago trip to England and Scotland. I didn't know at the time their history:

English Novelists by Elizabeth Bowen, English Gardens by Harry Roberts, and British Universities by S.C. Roberts

Each volume runs about 50 pages. Two of my copies still have their original jackets. I bought the three for two pounds each. I don't remember if I purchased them in London or one of the other towns I visited. 

Oh, yes. I was the one going through customs declaring 'books' while everyone else was bringing home woolens, pottery, and tea sets.

Now three does not a collection make, and these three books have been languishing all alone on my shelves for many years, but in the age of the Internet, I feel a little thrill of excitement at the prospect of finding more. 

Who could resist the books that cover Villages, Postage Stamps, Wild Flowers, and The English at Table? And, what fun it will be tracking them down!

Perhaps you, dear readers, have one or two of the series gathering dust on your bookshelves. If so, let me know, and maybe we can strike a bargain.