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#EmptyShelf 2016 #2: @SuePerkins – Spectacles

sue-perkins-spectaclesI received Sue Perkins Spectacles: A Memoir (Penguin, 2015) for Christmas, and I enjoyed reading it over the course of the last couple of evenings (before term kicks in, and I end up reading seminar-prep books instead!).

Right from the off, you could hear gentle giggles as I read my way through this book – as she talked to her family about if they were happy about how they might appear, and the gentle ribbing as she attempted a couple of pages representing them as they would like to have been!

Having just read David Mitchell’s Backstory – I was already aware of the importance of ‘Footlights’ at Cambridge, so enjoyed reading more about that, and the Edinburgh Fringe (which I managed to go to August 2015 – and went to a comedy show at 10am (or was it 10.05am?!)), and the gentle journey into television comedy.

I enjoyed hearing more from behind-the-scenes of various TV shows I’m familiar with as a viewer – yes, including Bake-Off, and particularly enjoyed reminders of what it was like to travel in Vietnam and Laos … especially that sudden change as one crosses the border – noticed in more than one nation!

A mix of gentle comedy – especially with regards to road rage – and I could hardly contain myself re the journey with the poor dog D&V’ing everywhere, with a certain amount of vulnerability – about the family, pets, relationships, Twitter trolling – I enjoyed it, but darn you Sue – I stayed up late to finish it – I need more sleep!

So … as Sue hears everywhere she goes… let’s all say it together … BAAAAAAKE

By admin

Dr Bex Lewis is passionate about helping people engage with the digital world in a positive way, where she has more than 20 years’ experience. She is Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University and Visiting Research Fellow at St John’s College, Durham University, with a particular interest in digital culture, persuasion and attitudinal change, especially how this affects the third sector, including faith organisations, and, after her breast cancer diagnosis in 2017, has started to research social media and cancer. Trained as a mass communications historian, she has written the original history of the poster Keep Calm and Carry On: The Truth Behind the Poster (Imperial War Museum, 2017), drawing upon her PhD research. She is Director of social media consultancy Digital Fingerprint, and author of Raising Children in a Digital Age: Enjoying the Best, Avoiding the Worst  (Lion Hudson, 2014; second edition in process) as well as a number of book chapters, and regularly judges digital awards. She has a strong media presence, with her expertise featured in a wide range of publications and programmes, including national, international and specialist TV, radio and press, and can be found all over social media, typically as @drbexl.

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