“f you look at a thing nine hundred and ninety-nine times, you are perfectly safe; if you look at it the thousandth time, you are in frightful danger of seeing it for the first time.” – G.K. Chesterton, The Napoleon of Notting Hill, p. 17.
On a particularly grey, cold and rainy day, a quick stop at the Bathurst campus library led to my discovery of a unique book that I felt was worth sharing.
The Napoleon of Notting Hill by G. K. Chesterton
Set in a post-alternate world, leaders of London are randomly chosen to run the city. Published in 1904, this story is set in 1984 and takes readers on a devastatingly interesting journey that challenges ideas of society. The character Auberon Quinn takes readers on a journey of his endeavours in turning London into a medieval carnival under his rule.
Chesterton’s writing explores themes of the world, politics, and philosophy. There is speculation on the web that George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, drew inspiration from this book. A great read that is a must for anyone interested in an exquisite control of language that will have you imagining the unimaginable.
I’m certainly looking forward to the next book that I discover at the library!
Borrow books online
Can’t get to the library in person? There are other ways to borrow books from Charles Sturt Libraries.
- Pop onto the Library website and type into the search bar the book, theme or subject that you are interested in.
- From the results, select the title that grabs your interest.
- Scroll down to ‘Submit loan request’.
- From the ‘Pickup location’ drop-down bar, scroll down to select ‘Home address’.
- Click the ‘Next’ button and you are done! Now it’s just a short wait for delivery and you’ll have yourself an interesting book to learn from and enjoy.
Happy reading!
