Book Of Life

The three essentials for an autobiography are that its compiler shall have an eccentric father, a miserable childhood and a hell of a time at his public school, and I enjoyed none of these advantages. - PG Wodehouse The Book of Life is an engrossing anthology of memoirs by some of the finest, funniest and most talented figures in history. Beginning at childhood and progressing through to adulthood if not necessarily maturity it offers the literary journal of a lifetime, in the company of the world s greatest writers, artists, poets, scientists, showmen, statements, saints and superstars. From Alan Bennett s wartime childhood in Yorkshire to Mahatma Gandhi s experiment with cigarettes; Katharine Hepburn on her first acting job aged 21 and Primo Levi on being captured by Fascist militia at the same age; Darwin on his lifelong love his work and Nelson Mandela on his release from prison aged 71 life and living in all its manifold glories is represented. With insights that encompass generations and continents, this is a uniquely enjoyable immersion in some of the world s best, and most personal, writing.

Featured in the March 2008 Hotbooks newsletter.
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