The Bizarre Bookshop

My latest jigsaw has been causing me many smiles. It is entitled “The Bizarre Bookshop”.

The first thing that struck me when I was choosing the jigsaw at our local library was the artistic style was similar to one entitled “The Mariner’s Chest”.  With that one I had enjoyed the imagination which came up with the “Swiss Navy Knife” and “Macho Mariner Biscuits with Extra Weevils”. I was intrigued by “The Merry Mermaid’s Cookbook”.

I gather from the information sheet enclosed in the jigsaw the artist is Colin Thompson, who started as a children’s book writer & illustrator. I gather now some of those books are being turned into films & TV series. I should think they would be great fun.

Anyhow this particular jigsaw, not surprisingly with that title, involves a series of bookshelves laden with books & ornaments. The books are sorted according sections as in a real bookshop.

The fun comes in the details. It is as you read the titles of the books. It’s a bit like the round in the radio programme, “I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue”, in which books, films etc are slightly adjusted in their spelling to comic effect.

  

So it is that in the DIY section, I was bemused to find such classics as “The Merry Wires of Windsor”, “The Valley of the Dowels”, “Canterbury Nails”, “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Plumber”, “The Merchant of Varnish” & “The Mayor of Plasterbridge”.

Some real book titles have been adapted in many ways. So we have “Lady Chatterly’s Plover”, “Lady Chatterly’s Pullover”, “Lady Chatterly’s Lager”, “Lady Chatterly’s Alder”, “Lady Chatterly’s Ogre”, Lady Chatterly’s Rover” & “Lady Chatterly’s Diaper”. Similarly there is “The Spy who came in with a Cold”, “The Magpie who came in from the Cold”, “The Pie that came in from the Cold” & “The Spy who came in from the Cold and got a Warm Cardigan”. I do like the idea of that last one.

Shakespeare was clearly a great source of inspiration with “The Taming of the Stew”, “The Merry Chives of Windsor”, “Romeo and Junket” & “The Merchant of Venison” in the cookery section alone.

There are a few unchanged titles though they are found in strange sections of the bookshop. So, for example, “Whisky Galore” is in the drinks section, “The Grapes of Wrath” & “Great Expectations” in the fruit section.

Sometimes it is the publisher whose name is changed. So “The Gloves of Navarone” was published by “Trouser Press”.

I’ve enjoyed the jigsaw. I think I recognised all the original titles, though I’ve not necessarily read them all. 

I wonder what I will discover at the library this afternoon, what new adventure.