England, England

I guess now I have been afflicted with Anglophilia. Symptoms include pining for a cup of tea and a scone with clotted cream or lemon curd, affecting a British accent, and reading novels about England. My latest read, England, England, is actually about anglophilia and what the archetypal English characteristicss are.

This is a novel by Julian Barnes. Another book by him was on my blog stalker reading list, but was not in at the library, so I got this one instead.

The main plot point is that an entrepreneur decides to build a large theme park that condenses all the main points of England into one easy location. They have a replica of the Tower of London, they have Harrods, they have a country cottage with cottagers, they have Robin Hood and his merry men, Samuel Johnson, Shakespeare, they have Buckingham palace (half scale), they have pubs, cricket, the royal family, and all the other things you associate with England. Of course the things is a huge success, and essentially drains the real England dry in the process.

It was a funny light read, and they were spot on about the things tourists want and the things people think of when they think of England. Why not have Harrods in the Tower of London, it saves time, doesn't it!