Never to be given any notice of again despite occasionally coming up on ‘must read’ lists. So the book went back on the shelf, never to be spoken of again. Reading some of the text did nothing to persuade me this was anything other than freakishly weird. I recall flicking through the book which, it seemed, was 70% pages of weird photos of seagulls and very little actual text, and being rather bemused. Yet he thought this strange philosophical story of a seagull called Jonathan who ends up leading a religious cult was the best thing ever. What made this odd was my friend was a Scottish, spit-and-sawdust kind of guy who left school at 16 and really didn’t rate learning or reading books. And it was there that my mate pulled this book off the shelves and said ‘you’ve got to read this book’.

Even as a 16-year-old, I liked quiet pubs. It was a haven of quietness away from the rowdiness of the main pub. I think it was called ‘The Library’, and certainly it had genuine books lining the walls. In the 80s it had a back room – restaurant-like before pubs really had the idea of restaurants. We’d start off at the Fox and Goose, nearest to me in my hometown of Coalville, Leicestershire. He and I would do Friday night pub crawls before we were legally allowed to. I recall being introduced to the book by a mate in a pub in my youth.

It’s a very confusing book.Īnd it always has been confusing – as has the reaction it has received from the strangest of people. Is it good, or is it a pile of shite? I’m dodging between 3 stars and 4 for this review but certain parts are more like a 2 and others up at 5. For once, here is a book I’m not quite decided about.

Jonathan livingston seagull book