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UK Holidays - Counting My Chickens
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List Price: $14.62
Our Price: $14.62
Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
Manufacturer: Long Barn Books
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 808
EAN: 9781902421056
ISBN: 1902421051
Label: Long Barn Books
Manufacturer: Long Barn Books
Number Of Pages: 164
Publication Date: 2001-09-01
Publisher: Long Barn Books
Studio: Long Barn Books
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Editorial Reviews:
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A unique window on an extraordinary life lived with tremendous zest, discrimination, and intelligenceThe Duchess of Devonshire is the youngest of the Mitford siblings, the famous brood that includes the writers Nancy and Jessica. Like them, she has lived an unusually full and remarkable life, and like them she has an inimitable expressive gift. In Counting My Chickens, she has gathered extracts from her diaries and other writings to create a multifaceted portrait of her life at Chatsworth, the home of the Dukes of Devonshire, that is pithy, hilarious, wise, and always richly rewarding.Under the Duchess's inspired supervision, Chatsworth has become one of England's most frequently visited great houses, welcoming over 400,000 visitors a year. The Duchess reveals what it takes to keep such an establishment alive and prospering, tells of transporting a goat by train from the Scottish island of Mull to London, discusses having her portrait painted by Lucian Freud, and provides rich reminisces of growing up a Mitford--along with telling anecdotes about friends from Evelyn Waugh to John F. Kennedy. From Tom Stoppard's adoring Introduction to the author's meditation on the beauty of Elvis Presley's voice, COUNTING MY CHICKENS offers continuous surprise and delight.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: enjoyable-- a real-life "Dowager Duchess of Denver"
Comment: The Dorothy Sayers mystery novel fans out there will understand me-- the Duchess of Devonshire reminded me so much of Lord Peter Wimsey's mother, it was amazing. :) She is charming and utterly unconcerned about political correctness. This is a oollection of stories and thoughts from a woman raised in an earlier time. Lots of gems, well worth reading.
Customer Rating:
Summary: witty and pithy
Comment: The Duchess has that touch of Mitford wit that can also be seen in Nancy & Jessica's writings. Filled with pithy observations about aspects of life in Britain and history, I was laughing out loud at her recountments of ancestral adventures (brothers sharing one hotel room with a dead body, everyone crying at the birth of another girl) and encounters with the general public ("Saw the duchess in the garden, she looked quite normal."; "That's the Dowager Duchess. It was taken the year she died.")
Customer Rating:
Summary: a Mitford Memoir, but a little thin, interesting though
Comment: The Duchess of Devonshire is of course the youngest of the 6 Brilliant Mitford sisters born early in the twentieth century, and she is the only surviving one now. This book is really two things, a collection of her various writings and collection of her memories both of friends and of family.
I got this at the same time as I bought her Chatsworth Cookbook, and I have to say I think the other was a better buy - maybe in food I find more relevance, but the anecdotes relating to food and people seemed more real and interesting. I don't think the Duchess is a naturally good writer. When talking about herself I found I was interested - she revealed things like her favourte books (including Beattrix Potters Ginger and Pickles) to her love of chickens and hwo they are looked after. I found the anecdotes about her friends and family less easy to read. It wasn't like she was name dropping - these people really were her friends and family - but I found the writing felt more stilted, more formal and less easy to read. Her various writings for papers have been reprinted in collection here and are of interest for their subject rather than for their eloquence.
There have been better memoirs of the Mitford family, and better writing, but I have never seen a memoir of the latest Ducehss of Devonshire and given her acheivements and interests I think one is long overdue.
Personally while this was 'nice' I would be more inclined to purchase the Chatsworth cookbook which has lots of nice stories in it and seems to flow better - but if you are a hardened Mitrodite then don't walk past this, it is enlightening and I really would like to know more about this youngest mitford's life.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Lovely Book By A Wonderful Woman
Comment: Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire, shows to the world the emotional warmth and range of interests which have endeared her to her family and friends for over eighty years. Extolled by James Lees-Milne throughout his life, Debo, the people at Hatchards tell me, is their favorite author when it comes to book-signings. When I bought a copy of this book there the clerk remarked "Ah, the Duchess, bless her." And so she has been, and is, by all.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Small Jewel From the Last Mitford Girl
Comment: Counting My Chickens is a collection of newspaper and magazine columns by Deborah Freeman-Mitford Cavendish, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire. "Debo" is the youngest and only surviving Mitford Girl, the fabulous daughters of Lord and Lady Redesdale who scandalized and delighted the British and the world from the 1930s onward.
Although this is a very short book cut into many small, fairly unconnected segments, there is nevertheless much that charms. The celebrated Mitford wit,most clearly displayed by Debo's sisters Nancy and Jessica, is in evidence, particularly in the sections that deal with Debo's childhood and early adult years (she once traveled by train from Scotland with a goat, milking it in first class waiting rooms on the way.)
Also in evidence is the extraordinariness of Debo's life as wife of a Duke and as chatelaine of one of England's great mansions, Chatsworth House. She casually drops names like Harold Macmillan and John Kennedy (both of whom were indirectly related to her husband) and at the same time records some of the merriments and aggravations that come with having your home on display to tourists several months each year. Occasionally Debo will drop a barbed comment or two on the silliness of some politicians and visitors, but for the most part she is soft spoken and accomodating.
Few Duchesses have written or revealed much about their lives, so its nice that one has done so now, at a time when the House of Lords is being democratized and the aristocracy must seem more anachronistic than ever.
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