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Notebook
Notebook | Tom Cox
4 posts | 2 read
Sure, sex is great, but have you ever cracked open a new notebook and written something on the first page with a really nice pen? The story behind Notebook starts with a minor crime: the theft of Tom Cox's rucksack from a Bristol pub in 2018. In that rucksack was a journal containing ten months worth of notes, one of the many Tom has used to record his thoughts and observations over the past twelve years. It wasn't the best he had ever kept his handwriting was messier than in his previous notebook, his entries more sporadic but he still grieved for every one of the hundred or so lost pages. This incident made Tom appreciate how much notebook-keeping means to him: the act of putting pen to paper has always led him to write with an unvarnished, spur-of-the-moment honesty that he wouldnt achieve on-screen. Here, Tom has assembled his favourite stories, fragments, moments and ideas from those notebooks, ranging from memories of his childhood to the revelation that 'There are two types of people in the world. People who fucking love maps, and people who don't.' The result is a book redolent of the real stuff of life, shot through with Coxs trademark warmth and wit.
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Mskt6891
Notebook | Tom Cox
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Mskt6891
Notebook | Tom Cox
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rockpools
Notebook | Tom Cox
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Tom was dancing to Michael Jackson in a nightclub in Bristol, when his rucksack- containing his current notebook - was stolen. Resulting in him going through his old notebooks and compiling this little volume of snippets and thoughts and musings. And cows.

It‘s warm, funny, incredibly well-observed and a more-than little bit random. Obviously I particularly enjoyed his Norfolk/Devon comparisons. His mum‘s

rockpools lino-cuts are gorgeous and his dad‘s cartoons are apt. And occasionally batty.

I found it wonderful comfort-reading… but would probably hesitate to recommend it widely. If you‘re here for the nature writing, try Ring the Hill. If you‘re after cats, this isn‘t a cat book. But if you‘re a Tom Cox fan anyway, this is a wonderful slice of nonsensical-but-accurate bits and bobs. Basically I relate to it far too closely!
3y
Cathythoughts Sounds like a great read for you 😍 3y
YasmiNova Still haven't made up my mind about Tom Cox... read Help the Witch and Other Stories last year - some were really good, others very puzzling - then again that's his style!! I probably need to read some more of his work, and this sounds like an interesting one to get my teeth into :) 3y
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squirrelbrain I don‘t know this author at all… is that really bad?! 3y
rockpools @YasmiNova I‘ve never read his fiction, - it‘s tagged as horror, which isn‘t really my thing - but I‘m guessing it‘s not really horror? I should give it a go! This really is snippets, so probably quite different - hope you enjoy it if you do get to it. 3y
rockpools @squirrelbrain Honestly I was quite surprised (but pleased obvs) at how well-known he is outside of greater Totnes/Glastonbury and Norwich. He has lots of writing on his website if you want to give him a try https://tom-cox.com - it‘s the tiny, funny observations about life, especially in rural Britain, that work for me. And his Twitter‘s quite fun, if you can be bothered with stuff like that. 3y
squirrelbrain I don‘t do Twitter but I‘ll have a look at the website…. 3y
YasmiNova @rockpools It is officially horror, yes, but I did not find it particularly terrifying. A little on the creepy or unsettling side maybe - see how you get on! :) 3y
50 likes8 comments
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rockpools
Notebook | Tom Cox
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“The town [Sheringham], every time I‘ve been here, has been enormously rattly and whistly, and it‘s perhaps no coincidence that many of its most famous ghosts are known for making high-pitched sounds: most notably, a drowned sailor on the part of the beach near the old bit of town, and a shrieking woman who appears whenever there is disaster on the horizon. The only rattlier, whistlier town I can think of is … whose estuary bridge whistles

rockpools and rattles so much in high winds, it‘s eerie lament can be heard over a mile away.”

And the rest! When we have gales for a few days the singing bridge is enough to drive you to distraction! This is the view up-river from said bridge, at very low tide.
3y
rockpools Also “a fact not remembered enough in the British countryside is that walkers without dogs are people too.” 3y
Cathythoughts Beautiful 3y
charl08 Ah yes, the strange looks I've had when hiking by myself. (Did she lose her dog? I can almost see them thinking...!) 3y
rockpools @charl08 😂😂 It does seem to confuse people more than it should! 3y
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