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The Magic Spring: My Year Learning to be English
 
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The Magic Spring: My Year Learning to be English (Hardcover)

by Richard Lewis (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.99
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Customers buy this book with The English Year by Steve Roud

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  • This item: The Magic Spring: My Year Learning to be English by Richard Lewis

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Atlantic Books (14 April 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1843543079
  • ISBN-13: 978-1843543077
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 14 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 557,668 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Billy Bragg, fRoots Magazine

A wonderful book for aficionados and sceptics alike.


Professor Ronald Hutton

The research is admirable: he really has done his work very well.
See all Product Description

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (4)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Hey nonny nonny, 20 Jul 2006
By Glossopswift (Derbys, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Magic Spring: My Year Learning to be English (Paperback)
Lewis made me laugh out loud and that'll do for me. Imagine a Louis Theroux or Danny Wallace character wandering England looking for those ancient English customs that we hear so much about but tend to ignore. Why do we proudly fly the cross of St. George on our car and shout from high our rekindled pride in Englishness but feel too embarrassed to sing a folk song or go morris dancing? Lewis doesn't simply observe these customs (together with sun worshipping, straw bear following, tree talking) - he joins in to try and find the English spirit within him, something to connect him to his English forefathers. Lewis' conclusions are perhaps disappointing for those looking to find the link between the mists of ancient time and the customs of today but a boon to those looking to have fun, drink ale and throw off the embarrassment of singing ta-loo-ra-loo-ra-lye and waving a hankie about. Don't show your English pride by singing anti-Irish/Scottish/Welsh songs - show it by learning an old ballad or two and sing it in the pub to the accompaniment of a melodeon. Better still - get this book, order yourself a pint of warm real ale and settle back for a very amusing read.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One Mans Search for his Roots, 27 April 2005
It's good. It's very good. One mans search for his roots, his culture. It includes real ale, wassailing, mumming, Cliffe Bonfire Boys, hobby horses, pagans and morris dancing.

Now the penultimate word might raise heckles - "He's saying it's all pagan, is he?" - but rest assured, I found it one of the best de-bunking books on English Folk Traditions I've ever read. And funny, as well.

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10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, 23 May 2005
By A Customer
As an expat Englishman, this book was a joyful tonic to life abroad. Richard Lewis brilliantly unpicks a variety of weird and wonderful and very English traditions, managing to inform and amuse at the same time. He combines his history lessons with a truly mischievous but understated sense of humour, whose cumulative effect had me reduced to uncontrollable giggles on a number of occasions. What's refreshing about this book is that, unlike so many other books of a similar genre, Lewis never patronises the people he writes about - no mean feat given the general dottiness of what most of them get up to. Quite the reverse, in fact. He believes, often in the face of apparently scant evidence, that they have something to teach him, and treats them with respect and affection. The effect is to lend these often strange people a curious dignity as they do their little bit to maintain these traditions which keep England English. This elevates the book from the "Look at me, I wrote a book" stable of narcissitic travel writing (if that's the correct term) to something rewarding and compelling and, above all, very enjoyable. Here in the middle of America, with its endless retail chains and identikit lifestyles, I relished the chance to tour the country I left behind me in all its idiosyncratic glory. It made me homesick, but I loved every minute of it. Thank you, Richard Lewis.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and full of empathy
My first thoughts were, 'oh no, young media savvy bloke seeks to score points against easy target', and I found myself looking for the sarcasm, the opportunistic folk-knocking... Read more
Published 5 days ago by Louise the book worm

4.0 out of 5 stars A grand tour of the meaning of being English
Ricahrd Lewis hit the point in life when your realise that it is easier in the 21st Century to be from the UK and British than to be English. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mist of Time

1.0 out of 5 stars Mostly not all that
Not the best book I have read on the UK, but not the worst, though it does not come through on the promise to tell all about tradition sadly. Read more
Published on 9 Aug 2005 by boyracer47

5.0 out of 5 stars Transforming
This was a gentle and cleansing read. It gave me a lot to think about, there were some really touching moments, some laughs and one or two tears. Read more
Published on 15 Jul 2005 by Kate Szostak

5.0 out of 5 stars A Magic Book
For me, this book was a real inner journey. A journey of love and emotion. A piece of great literacy and a wonderfully addictive book. Thank you Richard Lewis.
Published on 12 Jul 2005

1.0 out of 5 stars This England?
The problem here is that the author starts with a premise to rediscover England and English roots, yet in his attempts not to sneer he gets overly self-important and any achingly... Read more
Published on 1 Jul 2005 by rodneyb108

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly done
I wanted to love this but found it to be a real let down on all accounts. When it tried to be funny it faltered and when it tried serious analysis it tied itself up in knots. Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2005 by pda1978

5.0 out of 5 stars It glows!
This is my new favourite book so I have to disagree with some previous reviewers. It made me laugh and most importantly it made me want to get the hell out of London and start... Read more
Published on 22 May 2005 by Claudia Burns

5.0 out of 5 stars Warm, touching and funny
I found The Magic Spring to be a rather moving account of one person's attempt to reconnect with the land, the seasons, with life in its most elemental form and to make peace with... Read more
Published on 22 May 2005 by Roland Green

1.0 out of 5 stars wasted opportunity
This could have been a much-needed guide to English custom but got bogged down by being an out of date version of just another wannabe travel author. Read more
Published on 20 May 2005 by rbyford3

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