Fruit flies like another banana

Fruit Flies Like A Banana, the classic 2004 canal travel book  by Steve Haywood, has been reissued in a new edition.  

It's now called One Man And A Narrowboat, and I'm told he's rewritten it a bit.  Or in the words of the publisher Summersdale: 

Steve Haywood's journey in search of real countryside is now revised and reprinted with new material to coincide with the 60 year anniversary of Tom Rolt's own classic trip.

(I presume they mean Rolt's 1939 trip, which was 70 years ago this year.)

First published five years ago, FFLAB was very successful by the standards of the genre.   I reviewed it alongside Nick Corble's Walking on Water, which started from a similar premise of 'finding' England via the canals.

(My original 2006 review is here.)

Last year, about Steve's second canal book, Narrowboat Dreams, I said that I liked it better than his first, which had too much politics for me.  In FFLAB I also found the  constant switching between his canal journey and the history of the Triumph Herald motor car a bit confusing. 

No question, though; FFLAB was perceptive and VERY well written.  My crotchety just clashed a bit with his curmudgeonly.

So One Man And A Narrowboat isn't an all-new book; it's a mellower version of the original.  It's still a great read, and earns its place in the canal book canon.   One part I particularly enjoyed was the description of the 5-year relationship between Robert Aickman and Tom Rolt, from their first Stanley-meets-Livingstone encounter at Tardebigge in 1945 to their final falling-out (and Angela Rolt's falling-in) at the first great IWA festival in Market Harborough.

It's acquired a  snappier to-the-point title and a more stylish cover too.  The original 'collage' cover  (left, echoing Terry Gilliam's Monty Python cartoons) was a bit confusing, I thought, and the original title of the book was too cryptic.

'Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana' is an old joke, but until this new edition arrived I never understood the old title's relevance.

Now I think I understand: Time doesn't fly like an arrow when you are on the canals, is that it?  Took me five years to get the joke.  'One man and a narrowboat' is a more obvious title for slowcoaches like me.  (Since I'm also one man on a narrowboat, it hits home.)

The publishers have just sent me a review copy of the new edition.  When I've read it I'll send it free to the first canal blogger who promises to mention  the new edition and Steve Haywood on their own blog.

Comments

[Andrew Read]

I'll mention it on my blog! (Second attempt to post comment from travelling WiFi on a bus)