Went out in yesterday's post. Hopefully they'll all arrive by the weekend and will meet with the usual mix of excitement, disappointment, indifference and joy.
January random books have all been parcelled up and are ready to go. Mostly fiction this month, and mostly from Stuart Kelly - one of the 2013 Booker judges. Many of them are uncorrected proof copies, so once again a chance to not only bag a collectable, but to see the mistakes authors make before the proof-readers sort them out.
On cooking bears; 'If the bear is skinny, as it is particularly in the spring, forget about it, you may just as well cook your rubber boots.'
On cooking beavers; 'Do not eat beaver meat when it is too fresh, it is very laxative.'
On cooking skunk; 'Attach a long pole to the box trap and take the skunk carefully to the nearest water hole and drown him. This method is very humane and you can wash the skunk at the same time.'
One lucky member will soon have recipes for Baked Skunk, Moose Nose, Cariboo Ribs, Boiled Bear, and Planked Buffalo.'In order to have baked skunk for Sunday dinner you must first obtain the skunk. This isn't easy.' You're telling me, particularly in a country which skunks don't inhabit.
From RBC HQ.
Most of the January random books will come from the library of Stuart Kelly, one of this year's Booker Prize judges, and a good friend of the RBC.
Because we're going to have to raise the price in the New Year. All current members will continue to pay at the current rate, but new members after 5th January will pay £75 a year for UK membership and £120 for overseas. Still a bargain.
...and a year's membership of the RBC is the perfect present for that difficult person. Unless they can't read.
Hopefully everyone has received their latest book. The 1684 Cicero ought to have landed on someone's doorstep by now, but I have no idea whose.
Haven't really got the hang of keeping the blog up to date, but this was in The Times in July.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/books/article3826983.ece
The RBC now has two Fionas, two Carols, two Vikkis, two Claires and two Annes, but only one Xa. (There are other members too).