Friday's Forgotten Books: Many Happy Returns

I am doing my taxes today which leaves little time for writing at present. I am somewhat abashed to find I spent over $6300 on travel last year. As luxuries go, that's one of the best.

I have Many Happy Returns: An Unofficial Guide to Your Income Tax Problems by Groucho Marx. I believe my brother Bertie bought it for me (either that or the lovely edition of Beds or quite possibly both). Alas, it's in storage in New York (having seen what it's going for, I hope it is in the good storage and not the outdoor place), so I won't be able to quote directly. Trust me, it's fun. As the man said,"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana," so we can all say,"From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it."



  As always, see the round-up of recommendations at Patti's blog.

Know-vember: Frances McCormack

Okay, what're the odds? Oh sure, it is entirely likely that I would get on with the first medievalist I met at NUI Galway. After all, we medievalists have to stick together like all endangered species. But we keep finding amazing things in common like our birthdays (!) and P. G. Wodehouse and the Marx Bros and Tony Hancock. Destiny took a hand in things, I think, when it sent me to Galway. She even invited me to talk to her Old English course so I wouldn't forget entirely what the inside of a classroom looked like. Here's the lovely Frances, award winning lecturer.

1. What's the first thing you do upon waking in the morning?

Let the cats in for a cuddle and go back to sleep, even if only for two minutes. I'm not a fan of sleeping late, but I do like to wake up slowly.

2. What's a song you might be persuaded to dance to?

I'm a trained dancer, but the best songs are those that make me dance like I don't know how! "Come on Eileen," by Dexy's Midnight Runners, has made me jump up and down on ever since I was a bairn in 1982. I remember the first time I heard it: I jumped around the breakfast table with such enthusiasm and abandon that my mum cried with laughter. "Late in the Evening" by Paul Simon makes me do what my husband calls "Muppet Dancing", and it works best when I'm in the passenger seat of the car (although God knows what the people looking in their rear-view mirrors at me are thinking)!

3. Where in the world do you live?

In books. I much prefer stories to real life!

4. What's a great night out for you?

I don't tend to go out. I much prefer 'in'.

5. What's a great night in?

Learning languages, or doing something craftsy. I like to be busy!

6. If you were offered an all expenses paid trip anywhere in the world,where would you go?

Japan, Japan, Japan...or New York! But unfortunately, as I don't really like 'out', traveling is not the easiest thing for me to do!

7. What book do you wish everyone would read so you could talk about it?

The one with the boy with the orange pyjamas...but I can't remember what book it was. I vaguely remember reading it in bed--there was a boy who may have been an orphan; someone (it may have been a man) took him in, and a woman (whose name may have begun with a J) brought him pyjamas in which to sleep. The pyjamas either had oranges on them or orange buttons, and the boy had an aversion to the colour orange, so he slept in his clothes and then crinkled the pyjamas the next morning to make it look like they'd been slept in. I can't remember whether I actually read this book or DREAMT that I had read this book so if it sounds familiar to you, let me know what on earth it is!

8. What movie makes you cry?

I don't cry at movies...but Graham Greene's books always have me in tears!

9. What makes you laugh?

At the moment, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. But everything in general...I'm a giggler! [Ed: I can attest to this.] Ooh yes, and games where you substitute the word 'goose' for either a noun or a verb in a film title. That one makes me chuckle too!

10. Are there fairies at the bottom of your garden?

Yes! There's actually a special fairy garden in my garden, where the dead trees are and the primrose grows. I don't like to visit it very often, because it's also where the septic tank lives, but the fairies don't seem to mind.

Thank you, Frances, a delight!

BitchBuzz: Facebook Trains Us

My latest column for BitchBuzz is up. Sure, my greatest thrill is that I was able to work both Peter Cook and Groucho into the piece, but I am interested in the ways that we grow used to new technologies. Watching people cope with change is always instructive and I think the keepers of Facebook are getting smarter about the ways that they introduce change, because folks seldom like it. While I'm always concerned about the subtle machinations behind the façade, I hardly think the world of social media is as dire as some neo-Luddite academics think. Far from being the end of the world as we know it, I've found it does nothing but enhance my friendships and bring me new ones -- and besides, it makes feel bouncy bouncy. It's only a tool, after all -- it's how you wield it that matters.