Our Doris – DaneCobain.com

Title: Talking Heads

Author: Alan Bennett

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 272

Rating: 3.5/5

I was pretty excited when I spotted this going cheap in a charity shop because I’ve read and enjoyed quite a few Alan Bennett books and this is one of his most well-known. I also know that it’s a huge influence on fellow writer and BookTuber Charlie Heathcote, and indeed his Our Doris series is also a series of monologues.

But dare I say it? I think Charlie’s book is better. It certainly made me laugh more, and while the two obviously have a lot in common, I think Charlie leaned more towards writing a good book while Bennett leaned towards writing a good monologue for TV/radio. It’s a subtle distinction, but it just meant that for me, I felt as though I was missing something.

I think that this book is probably better suited to people who are already Talking Heads fans. That’s kind of what it feels like, a sort of spin-off from a TV show. It reminds me of the A Bit of Fry and Laurie book, which was basically just the scripts from the show. It was okay, but seeing them actually performed was better.

I am still glad I read this though, and Bennett as always raises some interesting points and discussion subjects. It just wasn’t quite on the same level as The Lady in the Van, The Uncommon Reader and some of his others. I felt like that about The History Boys too, so maybe it’s just a case of the books sometimes being overtaken by their hype.

Learn more about Talking Heads.

Charles Heathcote – Indisputably Doris | Review

Title: Indisputably Doris

Author: Charles Heathcote

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 256

Rating: 4.5/5

Charles Heathcote – Indisputably Doris

This is the second book in Heathcote’s Doris series, and I loved this one just as much as I loved the last one, if not more so. Here, septuagenarian Doris Copeland faces competition at the local Women’s Institute and her long-suffering husband ‘arold has to support her as she gets into all sorts of unfortunate situations.

Indisputably Doris builds on the previous book but could also be read as a standalone, although I’d recommend reading both books anyway and so you might as well read them in order. The plots of the books might not sound particularly interesting at first glance, but they’re interesting to our Doris and that’s all you need. The joy of these books comes from watching how she tries to get her way through the cynical eyes of our ‘arold.

Charlie has a great sense of humour, and he uses it like some sort of evil villain with a superpower here. The result is a book that I didn’t want to end and which did a great job of keeping my spirits high when life was stressing me out. There’s just something comforting about these books, and that’s probably the way that Heathcote is inspired by old comedies like Keeping Up Appearances. It’s feel-good, laugh out loud funny and just a pleasure to read. I definitely recommend this one, especially if you want to support an indie author. Great work, Mr. Heathcote.