What are you reading now?

[smittims]

I didn't know the complete diary had been published, though it was always a possibiity, of course, as the autograph was preserved complete. Like many other readers, I made do with the one-volume Oxford Paperbacks selection for years, so when I discovered the five-volume edition I was quite content with that.

I wouldn't describe it as 'bowdlerised', merely abridged, as the wording or tone of the work hasn't been altered in the way that Bowdler altered Shakespeare. I've always assumed that we have the interesting bits and the rest is much more routine. If I were 30 years younger I would invest in the complete version, but I have more than enough reading to last my remaining years.

There is of course a paradox about James Woodforde in that, although himself a very modest and unassuming man who probably never imagined anyone except possibly his niece and nephew reading his diary , he has become so valuable a source of everyday life in those years. It makes me wonder how many other fascinating men there have been who are forgotten because they didn't keep diaries which we would find delightful. What a contrast to the too-many vain public men who have made such a dreary nuisance of themeselves with their 'memoirs ' which we are all expected to find fascinating. .

[vinteuil]

... If I were 30 years younger I would invest in the complete version, but I have more than enough reading to last my remaining years ...

My thoughts exactly.

Beresford misses out most of the earlier part of Woodforde's life in Somerset and Oxford, concentrating almost entirely on his time at Weston Longeville.

If you can get it, I would heartily recommend the single-volume Folio edition, which "presents a great quantity of material never before published except ... by the Parson Woodforde Society".

I picked up my copy second-hand from abe.books for a fiver....

.