Finding obscure books
One of the problems which I have as well as , I suspect, a number of people, is tracking down a book which they read many years ago and want to find again. The problems in doing so is, though, that they have only the sketchiest memory of its details. Sure, there is the usual booksellers’ and librarians’ joke of “I think the heroine’s name was Sylvia, or maybe that was the author … ” and so on. This is not that joke. (Oh, “the cover was blue”.) (At the Oxfam bookshop in Reading UK we get such requests – often one a day!)
What I want this thread to be is a sensible forum for people to find “that book”. Somewhere out there are, I’m sure, people who given a vague description can say “Oh, you mean …”, walk over to their bookshelves and put their hand on it immediately. There might be several false positives each time, but ultimately there should be someone who hits it. (There is, of course, the possibly that respondents will throw up false positives which are not the initial target, but nevertheless worth reading. It’s just happened to me! Anyone remember Macdonell’s cricket match? Cricket enthusiasts should read chapter 7.)
No jokes, no side-tracks, no made-up spurious books please; just honest attempts to find obscure ones.
OK, let me try one to start it off.
Many years ago (1962/3/4 ish) I read a dystopic novel about a Fascist takeover of Great Britain. Set vaguely in the 1950s, it explored how one could be engineered in a “democratic” country using the Nazi style methods which Hitler used in Germany in the 1920/30s. The central character was, if I recall correctly, a rather dim and politically naïve individual who was oblivious to the consequences of his actions or to the direction the political leaders were taking. To translate it into current UK politics, it was rather the way which one could imagine an alliance of the BNP and UKIP (and others of the far right lunatic fringe) acting. A sort of prequel to 1984 – how it could have come about.
One of the main points which I remember was that Britain does not have a “secret ballot”. Each ballot paper has a serial number which corresponds to the number on the counterfoil, on which is written the electoral registration number of the voter. Thus any ballot paper can be traced back to whoever cast the vote.
It’s not Sansom’s “Dominion”, although it looks at a similar scenario at a similar period from a slightly different perspective. Interestingly, he does not appear to make reference to it.
Anyone out there recognise the description?
One of the problems which I have as well as , I suspect, a number of people, is tracking down a book which they read many years ago and want to find again. The problems in doing so is, though, that they have only the sketchiest memory of its details. Sure, there is the usual booksellers’ and librarians’ joke of “I think the heroine’s name was Sylvia, or maybe that was the author … ” and so on. This is not that joke. (Oh, “the cover was blue”.) (At the Oxfam bookshop in Reading UK we get such requests – often one a day!)
What I want this thread to be is a sensible forum for people to find “that book”. Somewhere out there are, I’m sure, people who given a vague description can say “Oh, you mean …”, walk over to their bookshelves and put their hand on it immediately. There might be several false positives each time, but ultimately there should be someone who hits it. (There is, of course, the possibly that respondents will throw up false positives which are not the initial target, but nevertheless worth reading. It’s just happened to me! Anyone remember Macdonell’s cricket match? Cricket enthusiasts should read chapter 7.)
No jokes, no side-tracks, no made-up spurious books please; just honest attempts to find obscure ones.
OK, let me try one to start it off.
Many years ago (1962/3/4 ish) I read a dystopic novel about a Fascist takeover of Great Britain. Set vaguely in the 1950s, it explored how one could be engineered in a “democratic” country using the Nazi style methods which Hitler used in Germany in the 1920/30s. The central character was, if I recall correctly, a rather dim and politically naïve individual who was oblivious to the consequences of his actions or to the direction the political leaders were taking. To translate it into current UK politics, it was rather the way which one could imagine an alliance of the BNP and UKIP (and others of the far right lunatic fringe) acting. A sort of prequel to 1984 – how it could have come about.
One of the main points which I remember was that Britain does not have a “secret ballot”. Each ballot paper has a serial number which corresponds to the number on the counterfoil, on which is written the electoral registration number of the voter. Thus any ballot paper can be traced back to whoever cast the vote.
It’s not Sansom’s “Dominion”, although it looks at a similar scenario at a similar period from a slightly different perspective. Interestingly, he does not appear to make reference to it.
Anyone out there recognise the description?
