Pluvialis-- who has been mysteriously absent from the blogosphere-- sent me an unintentionally hilarious review of the Wilder Places edition of T. H. White's The Goshawk. This was a series of 'forgotten classics" I edited and introduced-- sorry, I can't find any link to that edition.
Anyway, though he attempted to be kind, the reviewer was.. a bit confused, to put it charitably. How he came to think that I was a writer with a different name living in a rural cottage in England on the eve of the Second World War is a bit beyond me but, anyway, here it is:
"hi guys ive just borrowed a copy of the Goshawk by stephen j bodio from
my local library.
"it is more of a story book kind of thing than a factual book so to
speak. it doesnt come close to books such as falconry and hawking or
the harris hawk but it does hold a lot of experience and tips, although
at the beging he does go into a lot of depth about sleep deprevation as
part of a hawks training (which i believe is rather outdated and no
longer used if not rarely)
"cant fault the book as it tells you about the sucseses and mistakes
stephen made and the emotions he goes through and i would recomend it
to a novise as it shows the level of comitment, fear, stress and the
termail your charge can bring aswell as all the endless possitive
sides. and if the first chapter doesnt put you of falconry for life for
your well on your way.
"but i would sugest that its best to read something like falconry and
hawking by philip glasier first as then you will understand the parts
where he is using outdated methods or just being inexperienced and are
less liable to pick up on things that will not benifit you as a
falconer.
"but over all its a good read and when you have some foundation knowlage
or even years of experience then its rather funny to read about how
wrong things go for the Goshawk (which is called Goshawk incidently)
and the falconer."
Words fail me. "the Goshawk (which is called Goshawk incidently)"?? WHAT??
Actually I rather love it. Pluvi says "It's insanely funny, isn't it? I'm so outraged on your behalf." I'm not-- just amazed!
2 comments:
Sorry about the silence. I've been pretty depressed for the last month or so, and am doing a lot of hiding in bed and generally failing to do things (like blogging and communicating with friends) that I usually love and live for. Feeling slightly less than inhuman at the moment, so crossing my fingers that normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!
That review was great Steve, but let's not put it on your website, OK?
BTW: His choice of a better book than White's was "The Harris Hawk," reviewed here.
I have written only one negative review in my life and plan never to write another one. But this book was a special case.
Post a Comment