It was not my original nor is it my present intent to blog about all of Elsie J. Oxenham’s books (88 published in her lifetime; 90 total), although reading her works and thinking about them is sort of like opening a bag of delicious Southern Heat Honey Barb-E-Que potato chips (crisps) and you say, oh, just one, and then you have one more because that first one was broken and then another and then another and pretty soon the bag is empty and your lips and fingers are stained orange and then you glance around furtively to see if anyone is looking and if they are not you find yourself licking those orange fingertips and jamming them into the bottom corners of the bag to dab up those last few yummy spicy-salty-sugary potato chip crumbs. In other words, it is hard to stop!
Fortunately, EJO is less caloric than BBQ.
I recently read and enjoyed these two books, just republished by the Elsie Jeanette Oxenham Appreciation Society, and, after what I’m sorry to say are the somewhat flatter Retrospective and Second Generation titles, it was a real pleasure to get back to EJO in her prime, particularly in the second book. I therefore thought I’d share a few comments on them. [Read more…]