Thumbs up for The Clothes They Stood Up In and Lady In The Van by Alan Bennett. Literature/Nonfiction.
This contains a novella and an novella-like essay. The former is delightful, and is the reason for my thumbs-up; the latter didn’t do much for me. As usual, skip the spoileriffic introduction.
The Ransomes had been robbed. “Robbed,” Mrs. Ransome said. “Burgled,” Mr. Ransome corrected. Premises were burgled; persons were robbed. Mr. Ransome was a solicitor by profession and thought words mattered. Though “burgled” was the wrong word too. Burglars select; they pick; they remove one item and ignore others. There is a limit to what burglars can take: they seldom take easy chairs, for example, and even more seldom settees. These burglars did. They took everything.
If you enjoyed this post, please share it!