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10.53pm
1 December 2009
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Ahhh Girl said
Vonbontee followed up
Vonbontee said
Gonna find out for myself probably later today – one of these is in my nearby library and I need something to read.…aaand, it wasn’t there after all
Still in the computer catalog, so somebody must have it out. (Checked out the novel “The Wonder Boys ” instead.)
Did you put a hold on it so they will give you a call or send you an email when it is returned?
Still in the computer catalog, so somebody must have it out. (Checked out the novel “The Wonder Eh, too much trouble to bother those folks. (None of the employees post here and therefore wouldn’t excitedly repeat my request on the “Beatley Moments” thread the way you probably would if the situation happened to you!) Plus, I wasn’t that desperate to read it – I only decided on a whim when I saw this thread revival. I’d needed something new to read and planned to visit the library yesterday anyways. It’ll show itself on the shelf again someday.
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BeatlebugGEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
11.24am
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4 February 2014
Offline I do remember that thread, FM! I just thought these books deserved a thread just for their discussion. 
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Father McCartney12.01pm
1 November 2013
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Never mind this post, This post hasn’t woken up yet.
2.07pm
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17 December 2012
Offline For anyone who’s interested here’s a pdf of In His Own Write:
http://www.sandrelli.net/john%…..0write.pdf
and a copy of the text of A Spaniard In the Works:
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
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15 February 2015
Offline Ron Nasty yellowed gruffly
For anyone who’s interested here’s a pdf of In His Own Write:http://www.sandrelli.net/john%…..0write.pdf
and a copy of the text of A Spaniard In the Works:
@Ron Nasty, thank you so much! I’m loving it. (As you may see I’ve been reading it).
John’s mad as a hatter and it’s fab. 
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2.25am
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4 February 2014
Offline Just finished In His Own Write. Was both interesting and confusing. Obviously entertaining.
I want to try and dissect some of the stories on the forum, but will do that after reading both books.
Will probably read through Spaniard tomorrow. The first one only took so long as I was busy this week. With how much I like this nonsense writing I should fly through it.
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Beatlebug, Father McCartney12.53pm
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20 August 2013
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or the nonsense will take a hold of your brain and your brain will chew on each phrase and it will take you 3 months to read it. 
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1.21pm
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4 February 2014
Offline Ahhh Girl said
That’s very true as well. I’ve had to reread some of te stories to try and understand them… To no avail.
8.27pm
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18 March 2013
Offline I really liked ‘In His Own Write’ but I started ‘A Spaniard in the Works’ and never finished it- just didn’t hold me as much as IHOW did, which I found pretty funny (when asked to recite a poem I always do ‘Good Dog Nigel’-arf arf arf).
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9.57pm
28 March 2015
Offline Holy cow thanks for that PDF RonNasty, I always enjoyed John’s discombobulation of the King’s, and reading it will bring back mammaries of days goon by.
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Moderators
15 February 2015
Offline I read “In His Own Write”, and now I’m reading “A Spaniard In The Works”, and I’m enjoying the latter more than the former. The writing seems stronger, and the nonsense is a little more advanced. I particularly enjoyed “The Singulurge Experience of Miss Anne Duffield”, which was the Lennonised version of Sherlock Holmes, and which I found incredibly entertaining (because as I may have mentioned previously, I’m very keen on Sherlock Holmes).
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17 December 2012
Offline @Beatlebug beamed
I read “In His Own Write”, and now I’m reading “A Spaniard In The Works”, and I’m enjoying the latter more than the former. The writing seems stronger, and the nonsense is a little more advanced. I particularly enjoyed “The Singulurge Experience of Miss Anne Duffield”, which was the Lennonised version of Sherlock Holmes, and which I found incredibly entertaining (because as I may have mentioned previously, I’m very keen on Sherlock Holmes).
The thing to remember, SG, is that the contents of In His Own Write largely pre-date any idea of a book, with much of it going back several years before the book (and fame). It was kind of a collection of what he considered his “Greatest Writs” up until that time. They were written for his own amusement, and for a select group of friends, without any thought they might one day be published.
A Spaniard in the Works was a very different beast. It was new work, written specifically for publication, and came after the leaps and bounds taken in his songwriting, and with the influence of Bob Dylan thrown into the pot (that bit may not be so obvious, but it is there).
One of the ironies is that, following the success of IHOW, Bob was offered a book contract. The thinking being, if John could do it, so could Bob (especially as he was producing interesting poetry/prose-poetry that was being included as sleeve notes on both his and other people’s albums).
He mostly wrote it over 1965 and 1966, but it wasn’t published until 1971 (as Tarantula), and – speaking as a huge Dylan fan – is one of the most difficult things I have ever read.
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
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18 March 2013
Offline I have Tarantula as well. I bought it on a whim when I was in France and had nothing else to read- like A Spaniard In The Works, I have yet to finish it but I’ll get to it this summer….I hope 
.
INTROVERTS UNITE! Separately....in your own homes!
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3.44pm
5 February 2010
Offline If you can find a copy of it (I think Amazon has a few used copies available), The Literary Lennon is a fun read. It’s a more “scholarly” analysis of John’s writings so it’s sort of helpful in digging deeper into the possible meanings of John’s “writty.”
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Father McCartney, Mr. KiteNot a bit like Cagney.
12.31am
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19 February 2013
Offline I’m on to A Spaniard in the Works now, and he’s off already about ‘spastics’ in the first story. The man was obsessed…!
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Beatlebug, Mr. Kite3.07am
Reviewers
4 February 2014
Offline Spaniard is a whole different kind of book. Differently interesting and enjoyable.
I think I might like the shorter style of the first book better, but I’m not too far into Spaniard yet.
I’ve had to take a break from the book as the nonsense was hurting my head, but I’ll continue tomorrow!
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Father McCartney1.53pm
Reviewers
17 December 2012
Offline This is something I do feel needs saying… some thoughts on John’s use of the word “spastic”.
The word has come to have a largely pejorative interpretation placed on its use. However, that pejorative interpretation did not exist at the time of John’s use of the term. It was the most common medical term applied to those suffering from cerebral palsy. To put into further context just how widespread and acceptable the term was at the time John was using it, the main cerebral palsy charity in the UK, SCOPE, was the Spastics Society until 1994!!!!
I am not asking anybody not to be offended by the way in which he expresses his fear of disability. I merely ask that you read that word without attaching the baggage that later attached itself to the word to John’s intention.
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
5.23pm
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20 August 2013
Offline The woman’s name in the story A Spaniard in the Works makes me think about our “Did John have gay leanings?” thread.
The last line of The Fat Budgie sent me looking for something. In the song “I’m the Greatest” there are the lines
Now I’m only thirty-two
And all I want to do is boogaloo
From the information I found, Ringo recorded the song in March of 1973. He was still 32. 
He had turned 33 by the time his Ringo album was released in November of ’73.
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1.49pm
11 November 2013
Offline In His Own Right and A Spaniard In The Works are essential reading for Beatles fans in general and Lennon fans in particular. They are little time capsules of a particular section of his personality.
My personal view – and it is important for me to state that I got these books when they were first published, and have always loved them – is that the wit and wordplay (enhanced enormously by Jonathan Cape’s incredibly sensitive presentation) is offset by a touch of negativity. I don’t mean the sick humour (a very schoolboy thing, and much of IHOW dates back to Lennon the schoolboy) and I don’t mean the politically incorrect stuff (no more than a reflection of the times). But, to me, these two books scream of unrealised potential. From the scratchy sketches – you can see what he’s up to, but they are mostly not quite taken to the finishing line – to the text pieces, short and pithy and often failing to pay off and, when they are longer, rambling and lacking in any coherent drive, they are typical Lennon: masses of raw talent, completely unharnessed. Chaotic, undisciplined, truncated due to boredom, exhibiting all the flaws of Lennon flying solo.
Lennon, in this as in his music, needed a collaborator: someone who was in tune with his gifts but complementary to them, someone who could exercise the discipline which Lennon himself so often lacked, and could pull the raw but unshaped potential into some sort of order. McCartney could do this, Ono never did because she saw that lack of discipline as an end in itself.
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1 May 2011
Offline ‘In His Own Write’ is getting its first ever complete stage play at this years Edinburgh Festival reports Examiner. Yoko has given it her blessing as well as permission to screen rare footage of John reading a piece from the book.
Jonathan Glew (the man behind the play) is quoted as saying
“Without wishing to give too much away at this stage, the show will be performed by three actors as a Goonsesque radio troupe and the book will be performed word-for-word, from cover-to-cover (with) each piece appearing the order it appears in the book (including illustrations).”
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