Ressources
Go To Sleep Smiling
Go To Sleep Smiling; A Bedside Book of True Stories by Bryan Smith. Victoria, B.C.: Gordon M. Smart Publications, 1997. ISBN 0-9692116-5-1 128 pp. $11.95.
Everyone's life is a story. Many storytellers choose to tell stories taken from their own lives, and most of us toy with the idea of writing our memoirs for descendants, friends, or for self-knowledge and satisfaction. Octogenarian Bryan Smith certainly has some colourful memories of his time in WW II. A member of the Royal Pioneer Corps in England, Smith was the Ration NCO and also a member of a dance band which played for local events. The stories in part one of the book are of his adventures in the band and in dealing with an ill-humoured Sgt. Major. Eventually Smith became part of the Army unit "Stars in Battle-dress."
Part two is about his life with his wife, Kay, usually addressed as Soombo. (I don't quite follow the acronym but it stands for She Who Must Be Obeyed, probably borrowed from John Mortimer's Rumpole books and before that, I believe, from H. Rider -Haggard's book She. These are quick little anecdotes, perfect, as the subtitle suggests, for dipping into at bedtime. They are funny, sometimes rowdy and written in a style that lets you feel you are hearing them recounted at a social gathering. Seniors who are thinking of writing their memoirs will be especially nterested to see one way in which it can be done.
Distributed by M&J Books, P.O. Box 2261, Sidney, B.C. V8L 3S8
The Second Story Review, Vol 3, No. 4, March 1998
Everyone's life is a story. Many storytellers choose to tell stories taken from their own lives, and most of us toy with the idea of writing our memoirs for descendants, friends, or for self-knowledge and satisfaction. Octogenarian Bryan Smith certainly has some colourful memories of his time in WW II. A member of the Royal Pioneer Corps in England, Smith was the Ration NCO and also a member of a dance band which played for local events. The stories in part one of the book are of his adventures in the band and in dealing with an ill-humoured Sgt. Major. Eventually Smith became part of the Army unit "Stars in Battle-dress."
Part two is about his life with his wife, Kay, usually addressed as Soombo. (I don't quite follow the acronym but it stands for She Who Must Be Obeyed, probably borrowed from John Mortimer's Rumpole books and before that, I believe, from H. Rider -Haggard's book She. These are quick little anecdotes, perfect, as the subtitle suggests, for dipping into at bedtime. They are funny, sometimes rowdy and written in a style that lets you feel you are hearing them recounted at a social gathering. Seniors who are thinking of writing their memoirs will be especially nterested to see one way in which it can be done.
Distributed by M&J Books, P.O. Box 2261, Sidney, B.C. V8L 3S8
The Second Story Review, Vol 3, No. 4, March 1998