What is 'vintage'?
According to our dictionary it's 'representative of the best and most typical', or 'of lasting interest and importance'.
In other words, classic, for all seasons, for everyone and all occasions. Vintage Publishing focuses on producing quality literary fiction, and celebrates its 21st birthday this year.
Shakespeare ( a Vintage author*) wrote of the seven ages of man, and it set us to thinking. Vintage really does provide something for everyone at all stages of life, so we allocated three titles to each 'age' from our most popular Vintage books. So as you progress through life in Marlborough, this is what you're reading, apparently.....allowing for the fact that we will be pressing these titles on you, because we love them all.
Mewling and puking infants don't read much, but for books for children, about childhood, or titles that Every Child Should Read, we offer -
J M Barrie's Peter Pan
Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie and
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
For whining schoolboys with their satchels we came up with
Sherlock Holmes - everyone should read Conan Doyle, it's part of a rounded education.
Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and
I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith's brilliant, funny novel of adolescence.
And then the lover. We were spoilt for choice here, but our customers buy
Ian McEwan's Atonement. To break your heart.....
The Moon and Sixpence. Not strictly a love story, but Somerset Maugham's Dire Warning of the consequences of falling in love with an artist?
Pride and Prejudice. Enough said....
The Soldier, or the armchair soldier, or those who are glad not to have gone for a soldier can read
All Quiet on the Western Front, the contemporary classic of the Great War, or
Birdsong, Sebastian Faulk's modern classic of the conflict that became known as the First World War, and finally
Joe Simpson's Touching the Void, not a soldier's tale, but a story of adventure, courage, and devastating, difficult decisions.
The Justice comes next, those in middle life, full of 'wise saws'. We'll pass over the 'fair rounded belly' (there are plenty of books to help you tackle that....) and enjoy that time of life when we know what we like, don't always have unlimited time, but still want some choice reading.
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Our Man in Havana (or almost any other Graham Greene novel), and
Susan Hill's The Various Haunts of Men (and the rest of the Simon Serraillier series).
The sixth age is the lean and slippered pantaloon (!). Shakespeare is not complimentary about this stage of life, but as we all know, these days seventy is the new whatever-you-want-it-to-be, so we've interpreted as a period in which we can settle down with old favourites, or, finally, get around to things we've Always Meant To Read (past the stage now of thinking We Ought To Read anything...). Books like -
Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea
On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin, and
A S Byatt's Possession.
According to our dictionary it's 'representative of the best and most typical', or 'of lasting interest and importance'.
In other words, classic, for all seasons, for everyone and all occasions. Vintage Publishing focuses on producing quality literary fiction, and celebrates its 21st birthday this year.
Shakespeare ( a Vintage author*) wrote of the seven ages of man, and it set us to thinking. Vintage really does provide something for everyone at all stages of life, so we allocated three titles to each 'age' from our most popular Vintage books. So as you progress through life in Marlborough, this is what you're reading, apparently.....allowing for the fact that we will be pressing these titles on you, because we love them all.
Mewling and puking infants don't read much, but for books for children, about childhood, or titles that Every Child Should Read, we offer -
J M Barrie's Peter Pan
Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie and
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
For whining schoolboys with their satchels we came up with
Sherlock Holmes - everyone should read Conan Doyle, it's part of a rounded education.
Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and
I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith's brilliant, funny novel of adolescence.
And then the lover. We were spoilt for choice here, but our customers buy
Ian McEwan's Atonement. To break your heart.....
The Moon and Sixpence. Not strictly a love story, but Somerset Maugham's Dire Warning of the consequences of falling in love with an artist?
Pride and Prejudice. Enough said....
The Soldier, or the armchair soldier, or those who are glad not to have gone for a soldier can read
All Quiet on the Western Front, the contemporary classic of the Great War, or
Birdsong, Sebastian Faulk's modern classic of the conflict that became known as the First World War, and finally
Joe Simpson's Touching the Void, not a soldier's tale, but a story of adventure, courage, and devastating, difficult decisions.
The Justice comes next, those in middle life, full of 'wise saws'. We'll pass over the 'fair rounded belly' (there are plenty of books to help you tackle that....) and enjoy that time of life when we know what we like, don't always have unlimited time, but still want some choice reading.
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Our Man in Havana (or almost any other Graham Greene novel), and
Susan Hill's The Various Haunts of Men (and the rest of the Simon Serraillier series).
The sixth age is the lean and slippered pantaloon (!). Shakespeare is not complimentary about this stage of life, but as we all know, these days seventy is the new whatever-you-want-it-to-be, so we've interpreted as a period in which we can settle down with old favourites, or, finally, get around to things we've Always Meant To Read (past the stage now of thinking We Ought To Read anything...). Books like -
Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea
On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin, and
A S Byatt's Possession.
Which brings us to second childhood, when we all hope to be able to become totally immersed in a story, just as we did when very young. Our customers (none of whom seem to be in second childhood) are buying stories like
Mrs Gaskell's Cranford
The Hare with Amber Eyes, by Edmund de Waal, and
Proust. Surely on everyone's Going To Read list? Six fine, fat volumes.
But of course, this is not a comprehensive, definitive or final list...everyone will have their favourite Vintage titles - and probably different 'favourites' at different times of life.
Over to you - let us know?
* The Sonnets, Vintage Classics, £5.99
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