Tim Bradford

"Small Town England" sadly was nowhere near as interesting as I had hoped. For childhood memoirs to be interesting the author must have either lived an incredibly exiting life or be of the calibre of Bill Bryson, Roald Dahl or Gerald Durrell. Bradford fits neither of these criteria.

"Small Town England" (specifically Market Rasen in Lincolnshire) records Bradford's upbringing, his musical career, school, his crushes and the local bullies. There are references to his family and the like but mostly it's about his musical tastes, which were linked to punk for much of the book. Again, this just wasn't interesting enough to keep me entertained for too long and I had to read this book in a couple of stints.… (mais)

"The Groundwater Diaries" is a meandering book that doesn't seem to quite reach the goal the author set himself at the start of the book. That goal was a hike along the former rivers of London that have been forced underground by London's continual expansion over the centuries. Bradford does some hiking but seemingly runs out things to say about the rivers in question and instead provides the occasional humorous anecdote about his childhood, his career producing cartoons for an obscure soccer magazine, and his aborted career as a hurdles runner.

Some of the jokes are funny and some reminisces touching, such as the story of his hurdling grandfather, but Bradford seems determined to relate every toilet break he took during the writing of the book. Normally I'm all for authors revealing their toiletry habits but somehow I tired of his depictions. Maybe I'm getting old.

Still, I thought it was a useful timewaster and I'm all for reading the next Bradford tome, even if I do have to wade my way through his faecal concerns.… (mais)