Lunchtime read: Scoop

The humour in the book is delivered in a gentle but constant way so you end up reading with a smile on your face and occasionally burst out laughing because of the deft way Waugh delivers some of the punch lines.

Highlights from chapters three and four

Chapter three
After having weighed up the idea of the sack or going on the trip Boot heads to a hotel, then gets kitted out with almost everything the outfitters stocks. He gets sent by mistake to chase up Lady Stitch who has driven into some public toilets and he thinks she is beautiful before he gets called back to the office and sent to the airport. Once there everything is going well until someone mentions stamping his passport.

Chapter four
Salter, the foreign editor, back at the office is upset that Boot has not got a passport so sets it up so he can get an emergency one but after being told he needs to get approval from the Ishmaelia agencies in London he gets the passport burned because one group says it has been stamped by a traitor. He finally heads off on an aeroplane with his expenses mounting all the time and lands in Paris ready to start the overland trip to pick up a boat.

More tomorrow…