Latest Readings

Splendid book. About thirty short essays, though written in the shadow of the valley of death are lively,often exuberant..They cover important authors-Joseph Conrad,Olivia Manning ,William Shakespeare;as well as spublic figures such Jacqueline Kennedy.Kay Graham and Winston Churchill.He encourages the joy of reading by the enthusiasm he show sin devouring huge amount of material in which he displays the focus of of a speed reader and the discrimination of the experienced wine taster. I enjoyed the mixture of high culture and popular culture. He chides Conrad for not making Lord Jim more Hollywoodish, and Sebald for not reading boys books about luftwaffe air aces. I imagine that he would discuss "War and Peace",the Iliad and Saving Private Ryan with equal gusto.Still,Latest Readings is a serious reflection on literature.Throughout there arresting reflectionss about the writer and history

Wanted to read something written by this famous author. However, because of the circumstances under which this book was written, it was not perhaps a wise introduction to his work. Would like to read some of his poetry; one can get tired of continual criticism.

First, you're unlikely to agree that all the books Clive James includes in LATEST READINGS are what you'd chose if you were in his circumstances (COPD, terminal leukemia). In fact, it's likely that some of his choices wouldn't be yours if you were in the best of health with almost certainly many years of reading time ahead of you.Anthony Powell, for example. I have read almost all of his books over the years, and I'd say A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME is the least impressive of them, unless you're awed by mere length. Perhaps you have to be British to be an admirer of this overlong, overdrawn account of the social adventures of Nick Jenkins, the narrator of all 12 (or is it 13?) volumes and a candidate for the most faceless character in modern fiction, especially given the reader's lengthy acquaintance with him. And the career of Widmerpol, the villain of the piece and the central character after Jenkins, is as one-dimensional and predictable as can be, excepting his highly implausible end in the last volume. Any comparison of Powell with Proust (and this is too often made) is laughable. It's the difference between an artist and a social novelist who aims at depth and at best provides entertainment. But as I said, maybe you have to be British: Ian Rankin chose DANCE as the one book he'd take with him to a desert island (on Desert Island Discs), though I think he'd have more fun with the collected works of John Dickson Carr.Similarly, Olivia Manning is a good novelist, but she doesn't deserve the lavish praise that James heaps on her two trilogies. Perhaps nostalgia for the period about which she writes is the decisive factor for him?On the other hand, to reread Conrad after 50 years and find UNDER WESTERN EYES to be one of the great novels in the language, as James does, testifies to a masterful taste for fiction, since the book is a genuine candidate for anyone's last reading list.More than his individual choices for "readings", James lifelong interest in literature is inspiring to the nth degree. As he approaches nothingness, he makes it clear that reading has been a major matter in his life, that it's made him what he is: a wise chap who understands how important books are in a full and meaningful life. For that he deserves unqualified admiration.

I have been looking forward to this book. Not at the level of Cultural Amnesia and Cultural Cohesion but like anything written by Clive James an excellent read.

I wish I'd liked it given the sad circumstances of its writing.