Sir John Major very kindly sent me his book, More Than A Game, which arrived on my desk only hours before I was due to leave for Dubai. Wonderful timing, as I was able to take it on board the Crystal Symphony where Mary and I were spending two weeks travelling from Dubai to Rome and several ports in between (more on this later).
John's book claims to be the story of cricket's early years, but it is far more than that, as it is his own personal look at Britain and in particular England, during that time, with cricket as the background. For those of us who love the game, it's an absolute must - informative, well-written and a page-turner at the same time. I thoroughly recommend it, but I am bound to say, if you're a serious cricket afficionado, you should buy it in hardback. It always surprised me that Margatet Thatcher and John Major, having had highly successful sales of their memoirs in hardback, did less well in paperback, clearly most people wanted to add these books to their libraries. I believe this falls in the same category. Incidentally, because lesser mortals rarely receive the praise they deserve, the book has one of the best covers I've seen in a long time, and I congratulate the designer.
John of course is incapable of hiding his love of the game and his willingness to forgive a man who can score a century or take 10 wickets in a match even if they've committed a double murder. Nevertheless, however desperately he tries to paint W G Grace - who he describes as the man who did more to advance cricket than anyone, including Bradman - as a worthy figure, I am bound to say that after reading Major's words, I came out thinking what a thoroughly unpleasant piece of work W G must have been - a man whose ego appeared to be as huge as his talent. However read on, because there is so much more in this book for cricket lovers to savour.
John's book claims to be the story of cricket's early years, but it is far more than that, as it is his own personal look at Britain and in particular England, during that time, with cricket as the background. For those of us who love the game, it's an absolute must - informative, well-written and a page-turner at the same time. I thoroughly recommend it, but I am bound to say, if you're a serious cricket afficionado, you should buy it in hardback. It always surprised me that Margatet Thatcher and John Major, having had highly successful sales of their memoirs in hardback, did less well in paperback, clearly most people wanted to add these books to their libraries. I believe this falls in the same category. Incidentally, because lesser mortals rarely receive the praise they deserve, the book has one of the best covers I've seen in a long time, and I congratulate the designer.
John of course is incapable of hiding his love of the game and his willingness to forgive a man who can score a century or take 10 wickets in a match even if they've committed a double murder. Nevertheless, however desperately he tries to paint W G Grace - who he describes as the man who did more to advance cricket than anyone, including Bradman - as a worthy figure, I am bound to say that after reading Major's words, I came out thinking what a thoroughly unpleasant piece of work W G must have been - a man whose ego appeared to be as huge as his talent. However read on, because there is so much more in this book for cricket lovers to savour.
2 Comments:
I'm one of your fans from Iraq, Kane & Able, As the Crow files and Honor among thieves are my favorites.
Please write us more Novels.
Zappy!
I have just read John Major's book and like you I thought it a really thoughtful, well written book.
By the way it was good to read your thoughts about the book on your blog- I would love to see you do more book reviews.
Best Wishes,
Matthew Dean.
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