Well Well Well it's seems like that time again for me to pass unto you some of my many many words of wisdom. Now as you all should know by now, as well as a way of entertaining the masses, I also see this blog as a way of educating and enlightening you poor souls who a may have missed out on some of the lesser known fantastic stuff out there, Hence my monthly Films You Should Have Seen post (look forward to Friday I'm doing a musical). Anyway I have thought of something else that you should be aware of, and it's not a something it's a someone.
Let me introduce you to Mil Millington Author, Humourist and All Round Good Egg (from what I hear).
I came across Mr. Millington around 2001 when a good friend of mine introduced me to his fantastic website Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About. In which he recorded his unending struggle against the strains and dangers of living under the tyrannical thumb of his seemingly mad German girlfriend. This is still one of the funniest sites on the internet. You should definitely have a look.
Since then Mr. Millington has written four novels, (as well as working on many other projects), and I believe that they are four of the funniest novels ever written. Writing full of wit, charm and the occasional C-word. All of his stories look deeply into relationships between couples, from a modern male perspective. something I haven't found in other novels, (though to be ruthlessly honest I haven't looked very hard either). His character interactions remind me of a slightly less classy Bill Wilder, (and if you don't know who that is, hang your head in shame and go to the back of the classroom).
Anyway here are the four Millington Novels (with synopsis taken from http://www.goodreads.com) in my order of preference.
1) Love and Other Near-Death Experiences (2006)
Hello. My name is Robert, and I haven’t been dead for sixty-three days now.
If he hadn’t bought those crummy towels, Rob would be six feet under. But his poor shopping sense accidentally set off a convoluted chain of events that meant he lived when all those others died in the pub explosion. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the ugly towels that saved his life. Perhaps it was some other random action, some other small movement that was the utterly trivial yet vitally important factor. And that’s the real problem.
Now, with his wedding fast approaching, Rob suddenly finds himself paralyzed with indecision–about Every. Little. Thing. He just can't be sure which seemingly innocuous choice will mean the difference between life and death: Should he wash the fork or the knife first? Should he step out of the shower with his left leg or his right leg? Red sweater or blue? One thing is certain: His fiancée, Jo, is at her wits’ end.
To save his relationship and his sanity, Rob embarks on a quest to find out why he’s still breathing. When he meets up with others who have had similar lifesaving near misses, he figures the answer must be close. But fate may just catch them yet, for Rob’s search to understand why he’s still alive might well turn out to be the very thing that kills them all.
2) Instructions For Living Someone Else's Life (2008)
Chris Mortimer goes on a bender one night in 1988 and wakes to find it's 18 years later and he's married to someone he doesn't know. He's still stuck in his hateful job and he's an alcoholic to boot. Things are not looking good.
3) A Certain Chemistry (2003)
Brooding, self-loathing Tom Cartwright is a modestly successful ghostwriter whose ability to spell correctly and meet his deadlines has landed him the job of writing the autobiography of the wildly popular soap-opera star Georgina Nye. His imbibing, chain-smoking agent is swooning, and his offbeat, sweetly supportive live-in girlfriend of five years, Sara, is ecstatic—new carpets!
Yet even as he feverishly pens (read: mostly makes up) Georgina’s “straight-from-the-heart” life story (he’s thinking maybe a thoughtful, feminist angle), he is lusting for Georgina herself. Soon Tom—poor, misguided, painfully careening Tom—thinks he can have it all: a woman at home who loves him, and a hot, panting affair with a television diva. With a little planning, can it really be so hard?
4) Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About (2002)
concerns a guy named Pel who lives with his German girlfriend, Ursula. Pel leads an uneventful life—quietly bluffing his way through his job and discovering new things to argue about with Ursula. But when his boss mysteriously disappears, Pel steps innocently into his shoes and his life spirals out of control in a chaotic whirl of stolen money, missing colleagues, and Chinese mafiosi.
Anyway go out and find these books or if you must stay in and download them, then read them. I can almost guarantee that once you start them you will find it hard to put them down.
Let me introduce you to Mil Millington Author, Humourist and All Round Good Egg (from what I hear).
I came across Mr. Millington around 2001 when a good friend of mine introduced me to his fantastic website Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About. In which he recorded his unending struggle against the strains and dangers of living under the tyrannical thumb of his seemingly mad German girlfriend. This is still one of the funniest sites on the internet. You should definitely have a look.
Since then Mr. Millington has written four novels, (as well as working on many other projects), and I believe that they are four of the funniest novels ever written. Writing full of wit, charm and the occasional C-word. All of his stories look deeply into relationships between couples, from a modern male perspective. something I haven't found in other novels, (though to be ruthlessly honest I haven't looked very hard either). His character interactions remind me of a slightly less classy Bill Wilder, (and if you don't know who that is, hang your head in shame and go to the back of the classroom).
Anyway here are the four Millington Novels (with synopsis taken from http://www.goodreads.com) in my order of preference.
1) Love and Other Near-Death Experiences (2006)
Hello. My name is Robert, and I haven’t been dead for sixty-three days now.
If he hadn’t bought those crummy towels, Rob would be six feet under. But his poor shopping sense accidentally set off a convoluted chain of events that meant he lived when all those others died in the pub explosion. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the ugly towels that saved his life. Perhaps it was some other random action, some other small movement that was the utterly trivial yet vitally important factor. And that’s the real problem.
Now, with his wedding fast approaching, Rob suddenly finds himself paralyzed with indecision–about Every. Little. Thing. He just can't be sure which seemingly innocuous choice will mean the difference between life and death: Should he wash the fork or the knife first? Should he step out of the shower with his left leg or his right leg? Red sweater or blue? One thing is certain: His fiancée, Jo, is at her wits’ end.
To save his relationship and his sanity, Rob embarks on a quest to find out why he’s still breathing. When he meets up with others who have had similar lifesaving near misses, he figures the answer must be close. But fate may just catch them yet, for Rob’s search to understand why he’s still alive might well turn out to be the very thing that kills them all.
2) Instructions For Living Someone Else's Life (2008)
Chris Mortimer goes on a bender one night in 1988 and wakes to find it's 18 years later and he's married to someone he doesn't know. He's still stuck in his hateful job and he's an alcoholic to boot. Things are not looking good.
Brooding, self-loathing Tom Cartwright is a modestly successful ghostwriter whose ability to spell correctly and meet his deadlines has landed him the job of writing the autobiography of the wildly popular soap-opera star Georgina Nye. His imbibing, chain-smoking agent is swooning, and his offbeat, sweetly supportive live-in girlfriend of five years, Sara, is ecstatic—new carpets!
Yet even as he feverishly pens (read: mostly makes up) Georgina’s “straight-from-the-heart” life story (he’s thinking maybe a thoughtful, feminist angle), he is lusting for Georgina herself. Soon Tom—poor, misguided, painfully careening Tom—thinks he can have it all: a woman at home who loves him, and a hot, panting affair with a television diva. With a little planning, can it really be so hard?
concerns a guy named Pel who lives with his German girlfriend, Ursula. Pel leads an uneventful life—quietly bluffing his way through his job and discovering new things to argue about with Ursula. But when his boss mysteriously disappears, Pel steps innocently into his shoes and his life spirals out of control in a chaotic whirl of stolen money, missing colleagues, and Chinese mafiosi.
Anyway go out and find these books or if you must stay in and download them, then read them. I can almost guarantee that once you start them you will find it hard to put them down.
No comments:
Post a Comment