AFORE YE GO Leaves from the commonplace book . of Wallace
Arnold OUR cheeky young editor has buttonholed me to offer advice on books to take en vacances. Cheeky, because he is fully aware of my voracious appetite for tomes aplenty. How to exhibit the full range of my culture within the limits of my allotted space?
For sheer enjoyment, I will be taking the 1,200-page Prison Letters of the great Finnish activist Svensen, in the fine Dutch translation. For sheer lack of enjoyment, so as to remind myself, as I cruise with Sir Harold Acton aboard his converted pedalo on the azure Mediterranean, of the misery faced by much of mankind, I will pack Freddie Raphael's breathtaking new novel, To Complete the Advance. An aging novel- ist's plans to prove to the world that he has something to say come hopelessly unstuck • • . a gruelling but worthwhile foray into despair, and prime Freddie.
Agreeable wafts
I AM no reader of novels, but most summers I contrive to re-read Proust in the original Italian, and this summer I think he will provide the perfect antidote to the fierce Etruscan sun as it beams with unremitting savagery on the poolside villa of close rich and cultured friends. He is best read, of course, while spooning olives into one's mouth. I will also be taking all Dickens, and substantial portions of Balzac and Zola (good with cashew nuts).
I tend to eschew the 20th century, but I will most surely pack my advance copy of Lady Antonia Pinter's Of Socialism, Sun- flowers and Souffles, her delicious antholo- gy of things charming. I look forward to re-reading Melvyn Bragg's remarkable his- torical novel, The Mast of Windermere, in which an early Victorian television presen- ter goes in search of his roots, and finds them beneath the television mast of the title.
Enviable lifestyle
ON THE lighter side, I am immensely taken with Ben Pimlott's new life of Michael Meacher, and, in the interests of balance, It's Been a Lot of Fun, the long-awaited autobiography of Norman Fowler, will find its place beneath my silk dressing-gown. Elsewhere in my suitcase, John Mortimer will reside. A devotee, look forward to reading key passages from his hilarious new novel, Second Helpings, out loud in Spanish, so that one's native gardener can also partake of the jocular doings of Archibald Merryweather, Mor- timer's finest creation.
After a hard day basking with Proust, I change into a little Dostoievsky before dinner, and this year Crime and Punish- ment beckons, with maybe a smidgin of Gorky to lighten the load. And, of course, this summer and every summer, the Swahi- li edition of Blyton's Famous Five, recited by servants while Sir Harold slaps on the Ambre Solaire.
Bonnes vacances, mes chers!
Wallace Arnold will be signing copies of his latest book at the Janus bookshop, Old Compton Street, on Monday 25 July.
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