RT Memoirs Due 2019

[Jim]

Mine arrived today but i wont be getting my greasy mitts on it until my birthday, sunday.😎

[Shankly (Peter)]

Mine arrived today but i wont be getting my greasy mitts on it until my birthday, sunday.😎

Mine has just arrived too. Happy Birthday for Sunday!

[Barry]

My copy arrived on Thursday.  I also got the audio version with RT reading it himself which is excellent.

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Nice interview with RT in the Irish Times:

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/richard-thompson-on-the-fairport-convention-years-i-probably-never-went-on-stage-sober-1.4524992

[Col D]

Just finished this. Mixed feelings really, what's there is engaging and eminently readable but it's frustratingly short and too many significant events tend to get passed over a bit too quickly for me. He is, however, more candid on his reasons for leaving Fairport than I've seen previously and finally clears up any lingering doubt about Sandy's did-she-jump-or-was-she-pushed departure. Enjoyed it but was hoping for something a bit more in depth.

[davidmjs]

Just finished this. Mixed feelings really, what's there is engaging and eminently readable but it's frustratingly short and too many significant events tend to get passed over a bit too quickly for me. He is, however, more candid on his reasons for leaving Fairport than I've seen previously and finally clears up any lingering doubt about Sandy's did-she-jump-or-was-she-pushed departure. Enjoyed it but was hoping for something a bit more in depth.

I too am in the (perhaps overstating it a bit) 'disappointed' camp.  A bit like Mike Heron's recent book, what was there was engaging, well written and interesting, but I was left wanting a lot more...(like a legible signature instead of a scribbled initial perhaps?).

[Shankly (Peter)]

Just finished this. Mixed feelings really, what's there is engaging and eminently readable but it's frustratingly short and too many significant events tend to get passed over a bit too quickly for me. He is, however, more candid on his reasons for leaving Fairport than I've seen previously and finally clears up any lingering doubt about Sandy's did-she-jump-or-was-she-pushed departure. Enjoyed it but was hoping for something a bit more in depth.

I too am in the (perhaps overstating it a bit) 'disappointed' camp.  A bit like Mike Heron's recent book, what was there was engaging, well written and interesting, but I was left wanting a lot more...(like a legible signature instead of a scribbled initial perhaps?).

Haven't started it yet (just finishing Richard Osman's book) - I certainly agree about the 'signature'. It's not even in the book either - it's on a bookplate. I am looking forward to reading it though.

[Brendan]

I have decided not to buy it, so many people are posting sections of it on Facebook etc I feel I have read it already.

[John From Austin]

I bought the autographed book for my shelf and the pictures, but I actually listened to it on Audible. RT does a marvelous job narrating the story.

[davidmjs]

I certainly agree about the 'signature'. It's not even in the book either - it's on a bookplate.  

Is this from Rough Trade (where I got my copy from)?  That made me cross.  A book plate affixed to the title page is not "a signed book", it is a book with a signed bookplate attached.  As any bookdealer will tell you that is a very different thing indeed - trades descriptions and all that!

[Shankly (Peter)]

I certainly agree about the 'signature'. It's not even in the book either - it's on a bookplate.  

Is this from Rough Trade (where I got my copy from)?  That made me cross.  A book plate affixed to the title page is not "a signed book", it is a book with a signed bookplate attached.  As any bookdealer will tell you that is a very different thing indeed - trades descriptions and all that!

Yes , it was from Rough Trade

[Peter Allen]

Crikey
Mine's from Rough Trade but  put away for my birthday - now from the comments on here  I can't even look forward to looking at the signature !

[davidmjs]

Crikey
Mine's from Rough Trade but  put away for my birthday - now from the comments on here  I can't even look forward to looking at the signature !

I'm fairly sure he'll have written "To Peter, Best wishes from your friend, Richard Thompson" on yours...but for me....  

[Jim]

A couple of weeks before my dad died i queued up for a signed copy of one of Alex Ferguson's ( the first, i think) for his birthday.  It too had  post it note stuck on the inside and i was sorely tempted to complain bitterly.
  Its nothing more than a cheap marketing ploy.

[Shankly (Peter)]

Yep - mine looks just like David's does.

[arie]

In their defense, Covid put a stop to RT going easily to the UK and signing the actual books. When the pre-order got up they probably hadn't foreseen that. It would've cost too much to send the books to and fro. A large bunch of the US version was signed by RT on the title page, with the same squiggle however.
Rough Trade didn't ask more money for the signed books either, as sometimes others do.

But yeah, I was disappointed too when the book arrived last week.
Bright side is that the UK version is a bit larger, has more pictures. Some of them in colour, the US book has only b/w pics

vriendelijke groeten

Arie Euwijk

[davidmjs]

And, lets be honest about this, the man can bloody well write (and write bloody well).  But then we knew that...    There are paragraphs one wants to just read again and again and again...  I'm kind of surprised it's got somebody else's name on it as well as his own.  I'd be intrigued to know who did what.

[Dan O.]

Just finished RT reading the biog to me via Audible. Very good, but as has been stated previously, I'd have liked something a bit more in depth.
He's also mistaken in assuming that the only part of his career of interest is the fledgling years until 1975 with a brief epilogue. The solo years, his "Americanisation" touched on in Patrick Humphries' "Strange Affair" biography, the years spent becoming a cult favourite - every album he releases showered in critical plaudits but "bloody hell I'd like to have had a hit record too". The demise of his 2nd marriage, becoming a "living legend", his take on appearing at Cropredy, Peggy half-joking that they "can only afford him every 3 years" or when there's a 5 year anniversary, his duo work with Danny Thompson, etc. I'd have liked a career-spanning account of all these things and more.
I'd love to see a Part 2 or Part 3, there's still time. I'm aware that he's already dismissed the prospect, however. Shame...

[blagden]

I have no idea or insight into any of this but doesn't this and the over-priced concert tickets (for one man and a guitar) and the alleged high hiring fees and the all meet and greet nonsense make him a look a tiny bit mercenary?

[Shane (Skirky)]

I have no idea or insight into any of this but doesn't this and the over-priced concert tickets (for one man and a guitar) and the alleged high hiring fees and the all meet and greet nonsense make him a look a tiny bit mercenary?

I stopped after 'idea'. Heaven forfend the man should make a living, after all.