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Life Class: The Selected Memoirs Of Diana Athill
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Product Description
Review
'This is a wonderful collection of memoirs, a hopeful letter from the front line of life' - Mail on Sunday --Review
`Diana Athill's brilliant collected writings, Life Class, offers perfect ballast to any Christmas stocking' - Mariella Frostrup, Observer --Review
'The prose is breathtaking, and the honesty exhilarating' - Independent on Sunday --Review
'A whopping treat' - Daily Express --Review
'Fascinating, sharply intelligent and exquisitely written' - Saga
--Review
`Diana Athill's brilliant collected writings, Life Class, offers perfect ballast to any Christmas stocking' - Mariella Frostrup, Observer --Review
'The prose is breathtaking, and the honesty exhilarating' - Independent on Sunday --Review
'A whopping treat' - Daily Express --Review
'Fascinating, sharply intelligent and exquisitely written' - Saga
--Review
Review
'There is a sense throughout Athill's works that you are making a new friend as much as reading a new story' Observer 'What sets her apart is the flagrancy and wit of her writing - her memoirs display a vivacious appreciation of the life she has lived and what is still to come' New Statesman 'Athill has always had a peculiar and attractive talent for communicating her pleasure in life' Telegraph Athill tells her own story lightly and delightfully' Daily Mail 'Diana Athill is one of our most captivating and truth-seeking memoir writers, and this hefty four-books-in-one collection spans most of her 92 years' Good Housekeeping
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
59 of 59 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Diana Athill should be a guru. No-one can make you feel life is so enjoyable as she does. How wonderful that at 92, this vibrant, intelligent woman is still fully aware, with all her marbles and her penetrating wit.
She has no sentimentality but she writes with compassion and great humour. This book will remain by my bedside for a long time, to dip into again and again.
For anyone over 65, this is a guide on how to grow old gracefully, or even how to ignore your age. It is absolutely essential reading and also entertaining, thought-provoking, interesting and intelligent. What more can you ask for a writer, a person, a book. Diana Athill is a National Treasure. She says her aim was to capture the truth in her writing. Well, whether this is THE truth or not, it is certainly HER truth, and her honesty shines through so loud and clear. A great pleasure to know this woman inhabits the same planet as me. This book is life-enhancing.
She has no sentimentality but she writes with compassion and great humour. This book will remain by my bedside for a long time, to dip into again and again.
For anyone over 65, this is a guide on how to grow old gracefully, or even how to ignore your age. It is absolutely essential reading and also entertaining, thought-provoking, interesting and intelligent. What more can you ask for a writer, a person, a book. Diana Athill is a National Treasure. She says her aim was to capture the truth in her writing. Well, whether this is THE truth or not, it is certainly HER truth, and her honesty shines through so loud and clear. A great pleasure to know this woman inhabits the same planet as me. This book is life-enhancing.
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is truly a fine book. It is large but not that heavy considering, and the worst I can say about it is that Ms Athill tends to repeat herself on various occasions. A good editor could have done little about this because it is in effect simply a compendium of four books of autobiography - none allows for the others to be read alongside it, rather than with a gap of many years.
But that tiny carp aside, I've rarely read anything more effective in this line. I think the crux of its success is its honesty, for she is honest about herself as well as others, gentle in her assessments when necessary but real, above all, just about all the time. She tells it straight, with a candour that is admirable. She's brilliant about the joys and hassles of getting old, and equally engaging about being young - while she's spot on about the life of a book editor (I speak from experience, though none so distinguished as hers). I finished the book wishing I'd the privilege of knowing her - and yet somehow feeling I already did.
It's a truly brilliant price too - a bargain. Don't hesitate - a wise book by a wise woman. We need more of them!
But that tiny carp aside, I've rarely read anything more effective in this line. I think the crux of its success is its honesty, for she is honest about herself as well as others, gentle in her assessments when necessary but real, above all, just about all the time. She tells it straight, with a candour that is admirable. She's brilliant about the joys and hassles of getting old, and equally engaging about being young - while she's spot on about the life of a book editor (I speak from experience, though none so distinguished as hers). I finished the book wishing I'd the privilege of knowing her - and yet somehow feeling I already did.
It's a truly brilliant price too - a bargain. Don't hesitate - a wise book by a wise woman. We need more of them!
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I love Diana Athill. The way she interprets her eveyday life is a joy to read. I find myself nodding as I read saying, "Yes I know exactly what you mean. I look forward to the sequel.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Profound and moving
I started reading Diana Athill the "wrong" way round - So I started with Somewhere Towards the End. A book written by and old woman about being old and about the reality of death... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Pink
Pattern for living...
As I get older, I appreciate Diana Athill's writing more and more. Her life is fascinating (to an outsider), and she writes about it in a wonderfully clear, concise prose style,... Read more
Published 13 months ago by S. Walsgrove
can't review because it never arrived!
Purchased and was billed on Jan 17, but as of Feb 16 it has not arrived. After email queries to Amazonuk, was told to wait until Feb 15 and I would be refunded or a replacement... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Lassie, loves literature and music
A comforting read
Life Class consists of four memoirs by Diana Athill, from her childhood to the present day (she was 93 when it was published), with an Introduction by Ian Jack. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Helen D.
marvellous
This book is great,written from the heart and so cleverly and clearly wrote. From the minute I started to read this well presented book I just couldn't stop. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Cityman David Stevenage
Diana Athill's memoir
I have only read a little of this book so far but this wonderful woman is inspiring and I look forward to discovering so much more ...
Published 21 months ago by Veggiegrower
Half Way
I am half way through this long, utterly absorbing book so it is too early to give a review. Hopefully I shall do one during the next couple of weeks on my blog Past Imperfect... Read more
Published 24 months ago by Patricia Mackay
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