All Points North by Simon Armitage

All Points North Reviews

• 
  JMJ

  I was hoping for a lot more in this book I think...
  
  Armitage is a very good poet. However, this memoir-cum-guide-cum-collection of stories did not convey that same talent. At first I was very drawn to the way in which Armitage portrays the local area I too have grown up in and the differing opinions he offers. This is definitely a strength of the book - Armitage gives his own unrelenting stance with wit and wry humour but also in a very genuine way. I also felt however that some parts of this were simply memories that Armitage wanted to write down but carried no meaning when conveyed to someone else. Overall there were some nice parts about life before the turn of the millenium but not a huge amount that would interest someone from outside the area I fear. armitage loses his crystalline poetic voice among the lengths excerpts.
  
  The standout part for me is the short dramatic scene 'Jerusalem' which very eloquently and concisely puts across petty village rivalries and scheming as well as traditions and friendships that can often be found in small West Yorkshire villages. I would very much have liked to see more along this theme as Armitage has a real talent.
• 
  CuteBadger

  I enjoyed this collection of pieces by poet Simon Armitage, but found it a mixed bag. I enjoyed the more autobiographical parts best, but there are things to like in all the chapters. It's not a book to read from cover to cover straight through - I found it worked best when reading one section at a time with a pause between.
• 
  Grim-Anal King

  An exercise in missing an easy target (one hit repeatedly by Maconie among others) over and over again due to poor execution. And you felt the second person conceit (that's how it came across) was bloody annoying....
• 
  Annie Moon

  This book is so honest. It is a real insight to life as a Northerner, where Armitage grants the reader a glance at the mundane parts of life - often overlooked, and relates them with a blatant beauty causing the reader to question why life has not been seen this way before.
  Armitage uses satire at the expense of himself and others, narrating small moments of his own life in a hilariously funny and unbiased way.
  With it’s references to local figures, cultures, and society in general, this book is very relatable, enjoyable and easy to read.
  This book makes me want to stop, observe all the small things that occur in every day life and appreciate their comforts.
  A prize to anyone who reads it.
  
• 
  Claire

  I live just down the valley from the places that Simon talks about so I have to confess an additional interest in this book. However, it's still a good read, although I suspect his readers drop off the further south you travel. I particularly like his news snippets, my favourite being the Halifax man who misread the World record for living in a tree and came down after 26 days instead of 26 years. Very droll, funny and Northern
• 
  Mike

  Disappointed in this. I love Simon Armitage's poetry. This is a bit of a mish mash of recollections, anecdotes, life story. Some very amusing bits. But other large sections which appear to be drafts or extracts of mini-plays which did nothing for me and I ended up skipping parts. Worth a read if you're already an Armitage fan
• 
  Velvetink

  Didn't connect with Simon. I think he's the kind of guy you have to see live rather than read...it must be all in the delivery.
  
  He has me interested in two films though - Kes and Regeneration
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kes_(film) and
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenera....
  
  
  1 0f 23 books all for $10
• 
  Ian

  Typically amusing volume of short prose pieces and some poetry, with the common theme of theme of The North, and especially Yorkshire. Armitage is an acute observer of the small things that make us all absurd, and describes them with great affection and wry humour.
• 
  Phill Featherstone

  Maybe it's just because I live in the north and only a few miles from Simon Armitage that I like this so much. It's full of gritty pennine atmosphere and no nonsense humour. A great read.
• 
  Nick Davies

  Understatedly enjoyable, this meandering collection of anecdotes, poems, illustrative news pieces and fictional asides aims to quietly say something about The North (moreso Yorkshire). Compared to others on the same subject (ie. Stuart Maconie) this is delivered in an unpretentious ‘take it or leave it’ manner, a little less like the author is ‘talking about this project’ and is mindful of this. I’ve read a Simon Armitage book about walking The Pennine Way before, which was slightly underwhelming, but this book - though similar- didn’t bother me in that way. Some parts I skim read a little, poems/fiction, but it was overall an enjoyable read.
• 
  Ned Netherwood

  A great book, a wonderful collection of recollections, notes, poems, scripts and stories. Of course, the fact it focuses on my home town of Huddersfilef and especially on Marsden, where I lived as a teen is just the icing on the cake. It's a perfect book except for the fact he claims Oasis played the McAlpine stadium in support of R.E.M. when in fact they pulled out about a week before the show having become too big for support slots by that time.
• 
  Don

  A fairly gentle, affectionate, knowing portrait (and in part, self-portrait) of people and places in Yorkshire and environs.
• 
  Sandra Danby

  For me, as a Yorkshirewoman, there are many laugh out loud moments in Simon Armitage’s All Points North and others that make me feel fond of my home county.
  But the piece that stayed with me longest was the page on ‘Writing’.
  Writing, he says, is “a form of disappearance. Burglars watching the house from outside for four or five hours would think it empty. There isn’t another human activity which combines stillness and silence with so much energy.”
  I know exactly what he means. I will be upstairs in my attic study, writing all day, my husband out, my only movement during the day is to make a cup of tea and scrounge a handful of fruit and nuts from the snack jar. When I come down at the end of the day, turning off the lights as an unconscious signal to myself not to go back upstairs and start working again, it is not uncommon to find ‘we tried to deliver but you were out’ postcards on the mat, or parcels piled up outside the front door. It’s not that our doorbell isn’t up to the job, simply that when you’re in the zone that’s where you are.
  Read more about my thoughts on books and writing at
  www.sandradanby.com
• 
  Lloyd

  Enjoyable stuff, and I liked the eclectic mix of prose and poetry (although Armitage's prose is pretty poetic it has to be said). Some especially satisfying episodes were the trip that Armitage's drama group made to Bridlington, and several anecdotes from Armitage's school days.
  
  Must admit to flicking through the pages a little impatiently towards the end, particularly during the astronomical chapter, but it was a good book to read on the back of a hefty tome and I felt slightly envious at points for not being a northerner. But only slightly.
• 
  Emma

  Warm lovely book full of anecdotes and reflections on Yorkshire, poetry, Yorkshire poetry and Armitage's experiences as both a probation officer and as a media person. Brought many smiles to my face. Want to read more of his work.
• 
  Aline

  Enjoyed this very much, possibly because I'm originally from somewhere not that far away from him.
  I recognised the things he discussed without ever having actually experienced them. A West Yorkshire childhood shared.
• 
  Martin Budd

  A book that desperately needed better editing. A bit like a box of "weekend" (anyone from "Up North", like me, will know what they are!) one or two good ones, one or two average ones, the rest just filler. Poor.
• 
  Sheena

  really good if you want to understand what it is to be from up north (uk)
• 
  Darren Sant

  Witty, sweet, interesting, funny...read it!
• 
  Dee

  I am definitely not a Simon Armitage fan but have only been reading his works to help my son revise/study for his English Literature exams.
• 
  Sean Lear

  If you're from the North of England this is required reading
• 
  Gill

  Sorry . Only managed to skim read this as it didn't grab me.
• 
  Michael

  Enjoyable but not what I expected, I suppose I expected more humour and more, what I would call or identify as 'northernness' if such a word can exist.
• 
  Tracey Sinclair

  Wry, well-observed, often very funny. The Alan Bennett comparisons are both fair and unavoidable, but Armitage always feels slightly more 'of the world' to me. Very enjoyable.