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Ageing Disgracefully
 
 

Ageing Disgracefully [Kindle Edition]

Colin Cotterill
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Product Description

Ageing Disgracefully is a delightful collection of short stories that takes a humorous and life-affirming look at lives of people who, though considerably advanced in years, are still behaving very, very naughtily.

With a keen eye for human foibles and a wicked sense of humor, Colin Cotterill has collected and illustrated—with words and drawings—the colorful lives of numerous atrocious elders found along his life journey, from his old home, England, to his new home, Thailand, with stops in Australia the United States.

In Ageing Disgracefully we entered the minds of venerable and not so venerable elderly bank robbers, murderers and serial-killers, as well as mere practical jokers, gamblers and perverts, who may remind us of some people we know or live with, or perhaps a person who stares back at us in the mirror!

Note: Illustrations aren't available in this edition.

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Colin Cotterill is the author of the Dr. Siri series of novels. Born in London, he has taught in Australia, the USA and Japan and lived for many years in Laos where he worked for non-governmental social service organizations. He now writes full-time and lives in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Ten years ago, Colin became involved in child protection in the region. He is still involved in social projects and has recently set up a book and scholarship programme for his beloved Laos. All the while, Colin continues with his two other passions; cartooning and writing.

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 686 KB
  • Print Length: 296 pages
  • Publisher: Heaven Lake Press (14 Feb 2010)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B0038JETMA
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #16,018 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Very Funny Book 30 Jan 2011
Format:Paperback
Having read all of Colin's more recent novels - the superb Dr Siri series - I saw this earlier collection of short stories which also contain a lot of his excellent but slightly bizarre cartoons.
A wonderful read! - I particularly like "Gran Larcenry" about a Granny shooting up Banks!
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Completely bonkers.
Cotterill has taken a well-earned break from Dr Siri (not too long I hope) which series, if you didn't know, is fabulous - complex but with a dry wit that transcends the macabre subject matter; Agatha Christie for the Pol Pot generation. There's a short story of the hero in this book.
This daft diversion has the author telling the publisher's editors to go for a walk - imagine Steve Bell observing geriatric delinquents from under a pub table.
His cartoons are a bit back-of-a-fag-packet although he doesn't look like a hippy despite being born in the same year as me, BUT DO buy this for a laugh and leave it in the loo for your friends to dip into.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:  3 reviews
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Seventeen stories - hundreds of laughs! 10 Jun 2010
By Dick Johnson - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book was a feel-good-about-myself group of stories - because I wasn't used as a model for any of them. At least I'm trying to convince myself of that. (But I will admit to knowing some folks like those included. Wink. Wink.)

The stories are about people in various places around the world and some have an element of Cotterill's own history included - though supposedly heavily edited to protect the guilty. Dr. Siri Paiboun even makes an appearance. From robbers to murderers to the merely inept, we are taken on a fun trip into some strange situations and lives.

The stories will make you laugh; some will make you think; and some will leave you wondering about the author's mental health. All, though, will be good for the readers health. Some of the stories are comics drawn by Cotterill. Following each story, he comments about its writing. This was a great feature.

If you have enjoyed the Dr. Siri series, then by all means grab this. If you haven't, then by all means grab them and this. Colin Cotterill's books are pure fun reading.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Aging Disgracefully by Colin Cotterill 9 July 2011
By Ms. Teresa L. Roberts - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Cotterill is a great mystery writer. He does funny and ironic mysteries about modern day Laotians. He manages to put on effective mysteries, do culture like an anthropologist, and takes swipes at the fuzzy head socialists who exploited Laos for a long time. "Aging Disgracefully" takes pokes at silly old people in many different countries, most notably though, England and Southeast Asia. The stories are presented as non fictional accounts. The subjects behavior is so off-the-wall as to cause an occasional gasp by the reader. When I read it I had just entered an Independent Elder's Home. I realized right away that I was in the midst of some very silly people. But the elderly are mostly no longer embarrassed by their behavior, so they happily carry on without hesitation or self consciousness.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Ageing Disgracefully? - OK , Folks - Let's Misbehave!!! 15 Nov 2011
By miki 101 - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
For a real, true admirer of Dr Siri the Reluctant Coroner and the new-arrival Jimm Juree the Hilarious Heroine the time between books can be very, very long and very, very boring.
From Dr Siri's latest adventure Slash and Burn (Dr Siri Paiboun Mystery 8) over the first Khun Jimm mystery Killed at the Whim of a Hat to the next Rural Costal Southern Thailand Crime Scene 'Granddad there's a Head on the Beach' in 2012 a real Fan of Colin Cotterill has another choice: Ageing Disgracefully.

I myself had passed it by a lot of times, not exactly knowing what I expected from this book...
But then, finally, a couple of weeks ago, it hit me like a bolt from the blue: Having ONE Colin Cotterill book to read is always better than the alternative, having NO Colin Cotterill book to read!
And Friends, I can only give You an advice: Buy it, read it, and You will know a lot more about the world of Our favourite Laotian/Thai Crime Writer!!!
And You will never see it (and HIM) the same way You did before!!!

This collection of 12 Short Stories and 4 Cartoons is casting a bright light on the manners and styles and misbehaviours of men, women and other genders old enough to retire and do the things as Dear Ol' Granny or Pop should do.

The knowledge that the stories and places are freely inspired by experiences the author himself has encountered makes them just more appetizing for the real fan.
(Look, people, I wrote INSPIRED!)
We will learn that our C.C. was born and bred and schooled in England, then started for a world trip that hasn't ended yet.
We will visit Great Britain, Australia and the U.S. of A., to finally arrive - for now - in South East Asia, last stop Thailand to be exact.
But beeing born in the year 1952 (as I know..?) our Author has yet to reach the average age of them he writes about in this book, which has the capacity to entertain - in one way or the other - everyone of us with an average sense of humour.

We will meet Bank-Robbers (Gran Larceny),
Murderers and Wannabe-Killers (Coconuts, Forked, The One Legged Marathon Runner of Wildebeest Crescent),
Serial-Killers (A Night on the Tiles, The Fanta-Man),
Perverts (Tart, Ode to a Siam Square Pizza),
Supernatural Phenomena (Life as a Torreja, Collecting Old Footprints),
People that are simply 'Playing Grand Theft Auto III With Death' for Life-Saving.
And - a welcome Bonus to every friend and admirer of Dr Siri - there is also the Short Story 'Has Anyone Seen Mrs Lightswitch?'- a mystery egregiously resolved by our Laotian hero.

Those are the twelve 'written' Stories.

But there is a lot more to discover about Mr. Cotterill!
He is also an ingenious Cartoonist!
Yes, no joke, I give You my word as a Girl Scout!

You will be confronted with:
Oldtimers com-pleeet-ly out of their wits with the bad taste for worse jokes (Jack Wong Has a Rare Moment of Lucidity) - an absolut politically incorrect one!
75-Year-Oldies-but-Sexies that have the insight as big (or little) as a peanut (The Inside Job) - hilarious, simply to roll on the ground laughing!
The Life of a Dog (It's a Dog's Life - in Four Short Acts)......and...
... a personal experience of the Writer/Designer himself (A Slightly Embellished True Story from the Gulf of Siam) - texted in rhymes! A real jewel!

Each and every story has its own illustrated afterword, written by the Author's own hand in printed letters.
This little Extra gives the stories a very personal touch, telling You more of his life and character You (perhaps) ever wanted to know...

To make a yet long story short: If You are collecting books written by Colin Cotterill, this one is a Must-Have for every real fan.
An earlier Edition reaches astronomical prices yet (look and learn!).
And I believe that the book is way too special in the original language to be ever traslated into other languages.
It would perhaps lose too much of its word wit or the dead serious meaning of some of the stories.
Because - don't misunderstand this review.
There are moments of thrill together with those that will simply make You cry.
You will find stories that can only make You laugh, and then others full of that kind of wisdom a person can only acquire by seeing the better and the worst of mankind plus a great amount of the shades in between.
Especially the comments are often so refined, so acute that You will ask Yourself - how has he been able to see those things, remember them and model them into the very right shape???
I myself have never regretted buying and reading the book.
But, as I always use to say - De Gustibus etc. etc. It's always a matter of taste.
Try to find out - it is a small price to one biiiiiig entertainment!
Word of a faithful Colin Cotterill reader.
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