Solvitur ambulando – It is solved by walking
A book was published almost two years by a chap called Adam Buxton, he was one half of the popular Adam & Joe Show from back in the day (late 1990s) – irreverent and funny, little snippets of comedy and generally messing about. Adam’s book by contrast is a much more personal affair and was written as a sort of accompaniment to a Podcast he started six or so years ago. I’ve been a bit late to the world of Podcasts and so have only recently discovered Adam’s – and they are quite charming (I’ve been listening to them whilst out walking). They are essentially a series of conversations, rambles so to speak, with folk he’s met along the way, and they too are sometimes irreverent and also very, very funny – but they are also emotionally very open – through listening to these podcast conversations, Adam’s character can be read like a book, and although his life will not be exactly the same as anyone else’s, these entertaining and rambling conversations, which often go well off topic, are well worth a listen. Adam’s book, the Ramble Book, was published in paperback last year and I thought it’s one to re-visit – it is the perfect reflection of how life should be, and often is, a wonderful journey of discovery – Adam’s book can be found below in the Coles Signed Editions section.
‘Sweet Was the Walk’ by William Wordsworth
Sweet was the walk along the narrow lane
At noon, the bank and hedge-rows all the way
Shagged with wild pale green tufts of fragrant hay,
Caught by the hawthorns from the loaded wain,
Which Age with many a slow stoop strove to gain;
And childhood, seeming still most busy, took
His little rake; with cunning side-long look,
Sauntering to pluck the strawberries wild, unseen.
Now, too, on melancholy’s idle dreams
Musing, the lone spot with my soul agrees,
Quiet and dark; for through the thick wove trees
Scarce peeps the curious star till solemn gleams
The clouded moon, and calls me forth to stray
Thro’ tall, green, silent woods and ruins grey.
This has been a week of conversations at Coles, and that’s the thing with books – they’re always the catalyst for some nattering about something or other. Conversations run deep through our new Coles Signed Editions – Adam Buxton & Charlotte Philby’s books are included this week; and the spy thread continues with Damien Lewis’s ‘The Flame of Resistance’, the remarkable story of Josephine Baker and her courageous role during desperate times; Antony Horowitz weaves in more spy-craft with the latest James Bond novel, ‘With a Mind to Kill’; musician Kim Gordon and journalist Sinead Gleeson have brought together a collection of essays which well and truly kick down the door of the established order in the music industry in ‘This Woman’s Work’; Julia May Jonas has written a novel which we will be hearing much about in the coming weeks and months, ‘Vladimir’ is a tale of tinder-box relationships; Melvyn Braggs memoir, ‘Back in the Day’ recalls a life born out of a sense of place; our storytellers this week include Russ Thomas, Hannah Bervoets and Siobhan MacGowan; in the kitchen (& garden barbeque) are Angellica Bell and The Curry Guy; Megan Hess provides the ‘Elegance’ and Geoff Merrick shows not only skill, but heart and passion for the football club which has dominated much of his life; the illustrations of celebrated Australian artist Robert Ingpen and beautifully shown in the classic stories Gulliver’s Travels and Robinson Crusoe; the first novel from actor and comedian Ardal O’Hanlon have started shipping and so has the paperback version of John Nichols ‘Tornado’.
The complete Newsletter can be found HERE
