The Becket List Blog Tour (#IndieBookNetwork)

 

The Becket List by Henry Becket (RedDoor Press)

Let's face it 2020 has been a pretty miserable year and anything that can raise a smile has to be a good thing, and for me The Becket List has really been a tonic over the past few weeks.

When I was offered the chance by Bex at Ninjabookbox to take part in another #IndieBookNetwork project - and one that was going to be based around a humour book - I was very excited, any thing that chases off the onset of the winter blues is to be embraced.

The Becket List seemed to be just what the (book)doctor ordered:

The Becket List is a not entirely serious compendium of 'First World Problems' - the sort of stuff that drives us round the bend on a daily basis. How is it that atonal music, bus stations, cling-film and coat-hangers can bugger us up so comprehensively? Or passport control people, modern poetry, or just about anything you'll find in a typical hotel bedroom? Embracing both the inanimate - from allen keys to rawlplugs - and the animated (well, in some cases) - from your fellow-travellers to every third-rate waiter who ever walked the earth - this book is essential for your sanity. As such, this comprehensive A to Z provides a signal service to humanity.

The list is arranged alphabetically and I've been reading it one (or two) letters a day during my coffee break and it has made me laugh out loud more than one. I think Mr Norfolkbookworm has got a little fed up with me reading extracts to him as he's trying to do the crossword.

With any personal list there's entries that made me nod in agreement with Henry Becket's thoughts and then there of course there were some entries that I thought were a little harsh, even then his reasoning often brought me round to his point of view! 

I think that my two top entries were the ones on cats and the weather forecasts - both were spot on with my feelings and it was nice to see that others share my opinions on the latter! A little of me would have liked to have heard his opinion on bucket lists but that is a minor quibble.

The book is illustrated by Tony Husband, but the book isn't reliant on them which makes the joy of coming across them all the funnier - the illustration below is actually about teapots and not vicars but it captures my experience with every teapot I've ever used...

This book should bring delight to anyone who comes across it - however grumpy or not they are in general!

Huge thanks to Bex at Ninjabookbox for offering the chance to take part in the blog tour, RedDoor Press & Helen at Literallypr for the copy of the book and then of course to Henry Beckett and Tony Husband for writing a book that has raised a smile in the gloom of autumn 2020.