Nomad, by Alan Partridge

This was an interesting experience - I'd got the book on kindle and added the audiobook to it because it was pretty cheap and I liked the idea of having Coogan read it. But I found it pretty slow going.

After a few months of listening to it sporadically, I had a go at reading the text instead, and it seemed to come alive: I found myself laughing out loud, which I hadn't done at all when listening. I don't know why it should be funnier on the page but it was.

I mean, I can imagine Alan saying this Today I plan to walk eighteen miles, to Coddenham, where I expect an apt and well-deserved dinner of 'cod and ham', if such a delicacy exists and maybe I do, when reading it, but actually hearing it just didn't seem so funny.

When he's talking about having Skype conference calls with fellow celebrities, where they worry about Operation Yew Tree: We hurl in scenaris and the group debates whether they should be red-flagged. Is it OK to hug a crying child? All right, what if the child is fifteen and a girl? Or if this takes place in your dressing room and you've taken wine? Or if the child's parents are present but temporarily distracted? Or if the child needs help applying a thigh bandage and only then do you see she's wearing lipstick? And the thigh bandage is made out of lace and looks more like a frilly garter? - etc..

I wanted to quote this bit to Ian: this is a footnote to the main text where he mentions a school: Or should I say academy! The government has been trying to turn failing schools (aka 'state schools') into academies, or it might be free schools, for some time now. And while no one really knows what this means or how a school differs from an academy, or indeed a free school, it's a move that has been vehemently opposed by teachers. And that's good enough for me! I try as far as possible to keep my radio show apolitical but teachers really are blithering scum, and whatever they disagree with, I agree with.

So, worth reading, not worth listening to.

Completed : 07-Sep-2018 (audiobook/non-audiobook)

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