Stop the Presses!

My last road trip was blessed with the discovery of a wonderful book, parts of which were read by Librivox's best reader Peter Yearsley. This book was Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat to Say Nothing of the Dog. Which you can listen to here. This exhuberant work not only delighted me, but turned out to be my grandfather's favorite book. Unbeknownst to me! And then it afforded some hilarity to my family as we read it aloud over Christmas. How can I express my delight that, as I plan for another road trip, I stumble across Peter Yearsley's soon-to-be-complete reading of Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men on the Bummel.

I downloaded it immediately, and then stopped myself--best to save each fantastic sentence for the long car hours. But you should start listening today. Download the first seven draft chapters here.

What's it like? Like Mole and Ratty and Toad became human and went on adventure. It's a book about cycling . . . what's a bummel? Says the narrator: "A 'Bummel'," I explained, "I should describe as a journey, long or short, without an end; the only thing regulating it being the necessity of getting back within a given time to the point from which one started. Sometimes it is through busy streets, and sometimes through the fields and lanes; sometimes we can be spared for a few hours, and sometimes for a few days. But long or short, but here or there, our thoughts are ever on the running of the sand. We nod and smile to many as we pass; with some we stop and talk awhile; and with a few we walk a little way. We have been much interested, and often a little tired. But on the whole we have had a pleasant time, and are sorry when it's over."

And if you want to go over the top, you could also purchase an abridged version of Three Men in a Boat read by Hugh Laurie. Here is a sample below.