Good afternoon, and Happy New Year!
We’re just about awake. Stuart Little is the only thing on TV, and so far the film isn’t nearly as good as the book. My first reading tip of 2009: read anything you can find by E.B. White. If you’ve ever angrily thrown a Thomas Pynchon book across a room, screaming “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! THIS DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!”, then E.B. White is probably for you. He is the king of clear and simple writing. White wrote Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web, but also The Elements of Style (a book about the language and how to write it) and a number of essay collections, all of which are a joy to read. The sort of writer who can make anything seem interesting. He also played a significant role in the growth of The New Yorker, and his influence can still be seen in the way that magazine is written today.
As an aside, the book “Is Sex Necessary?” (a humour book) by White and James Thurber contains a great author bio (about Thurber):
James Thurber began to write when he was ten years old and to draw when he was fourteen. Quick to arouse, he is very hard to quiet and people often just go away. He has never been taken at fantan. He uses the Thurber convention when bidding and even the most skilled partners have no chance with him. He never listens whenever anyone else is talking. His favourite book is The Great Gatsby; his favourite author is Henry James. He wears excellent clothes very badly and can never find his hat. He is Sagittarius with the moon in Aries and gets along fine with persons born between 20 and 24 August.
And that’s it. I found it extremely funny, particularly as it is placed above a very conventional biography of White.
Where is all this going? Where indeed. Some things to look at until I get myself in order:
Adam Spangler from This is American Soccer has some photos up. I appreciate that here at CCN we have departed a little further under the game’s metaphorical bonnet this year, but our primary interest is and always will be in celebrating football (Fulham in particular). Well Adam’s photos do a terrific job of this. Show the game’s soul. Well done, Adam, and best of luck in 2009.
It’s also worth noting that while we at CCN have been largely absent over the Christmas period, Dan at HammyEnd.com has been beavering away. All the smaller Fulham stories that you might have missed are linked to in the last few days’ posts. Go on over and say hello.
The transfer window is upon us. The rumours are quite limited, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if nothing much happens. I have had at least one dream in which Jimmy Bullard is sold, but it has been a Christmas of massive cheese consumption, so my dreams are not to be trusted for now.
