Make no mistake - I think Google is wonderful. Want to check something out quickly? Then do a quick search and you have the answer. Never fails to amaze me, the knowledge that is now available to all and available in a nano second as well.
But as Ratty realised in Wind in the Willows that there was 'nothing, absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats' so I realise that there is nothing better than messing around with reference books. Unlike Google however, reference books are addictive and once you open one and check out the piece of information you are looking for, your eye will fall on something else and then something else and so it goes.
I have a shelf in which repose my reference books and it transpires that they are all from Oxford University Press. Some have been reviewed and mentioned by me and I hope that when you click on the link you end up in the right place on Random (doesn't always happen....) Some of these I have had for a while, the Shorter Oxford Dictionary I purchased a few years ago when I was doing an Open University course and realised I really needed a new one, and I had a copy of the Oxford Companion to English Literature for many years, ditto the Dictionary of Quotations. Thanks to the generosity of OUP to this book blogger, I now have new copies of these plus other books they have sent me in the past.
A simply marvelous book Who Married Figaro? As an opera buff, but one who does not pretend to know all the answers, this is sheer delight full of the most interesting facts and nuggets of information.
Then the Oxford Companion to the American Musical. Oh, how I love musicals as you can see from my post. Last year the Proms at the Albert Hall did a simply superb evening featuring the music of nearly all of the MGM musicals which had been lost in a fire and the conductor had spent years painstakingly listening to the songs and orchestration and written it all down. An evening to cherish and to remember and, as the BBC have repeated it three times already, obviously others thought so too.
Then just last week I received the Dictionary of London Place Names which I also loved and found fascinating.
And to cap it all this week, I received a fantastic Complete works of William Shakespeare and now I feel I have everything I need to hand. I foresee many happy hours ahead.
Thank you OUP - I love you....
