Previous Convictions: Assignments From Here and There
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Product Description
Review
Gill manages to be entertaining and evocative in a way that puts supposedly literary writers to shame (HERALD )
Book Description
The second collection of travel writing (and other essays) by Britain's funniest and most feared critic.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I first encountered A.A. Gill through his restaurant reviews in the Sunday Times, where he came across as a somewhat more cerebral alternative to the entertainingly bumptious Michael Winner. He seemed to be a good writer (he once used the adjective "insistent" in his description of a sauce, which I thought a deft touch), so I was pleased to be able to pick up this collection of essays in a remaindered bookshop a few weeks ago.
It's a nice set which ranges over a variety of topics in the "here" section, and some good travel pieces filed under "there". They're all easy to read, although sometimes their brevity leaves you wanting more (I thought his essays on Las Vegas and Haiti very good). And I still think he's a good stylist (though I wouldn't rate him, as one reviewer claims, one of the "best in Britain"). In particular, his description (p192) of a capable game ranger as "a man who can handle a hysterical couple from Dundee and a surprised hippo", had me smiling broadly.
It's a nice set which ranges over a variety of topics in the "here" section, and some good travel pieces filed under "there". They're all easy to read, although sometimes their brevity leaves you wanting more (I thought his essays on Las Vegas and Haiti very good). And I still think he's a good stylist (though I wouldn't rate him, as one reviewer claims, one of the "best in Britain"). In particular, his description (p192) of a capable game ranger as "a man who can handle a hysterical couple from Dundee and a surprised hippo", had me smiling broadly.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a collection of articles and essays by A.A. Gill from a period of about 20 years, covering everything from the Glastonbury festival, to beetles, to modern Haiti. They are, by and large, fairly short piecees, and many are very funny, so they make for entertaining little bursts of reading.
It is not, however, a book which I can enjoy reading for any length of time, and that can be put down to a number of reasons. It must be admitted, I accept, that Gill is an excellent prose stylist, but there is at times a slight glibness about the writing that suggests deep and meaningful insights, but they are never really developed or rewarded. The description is frequently masterful: Gill's evocation of the appalling squalor of Haiti is striking, but it often ends there. But these merits cannot carry the book as a whole.
For this book can never really be successful as a book, simply because of its origins. These are journalistic pieces, and must perforce lack the thoroughness and rigour of more literary writing, regardless of the panache of the prose. When Gill writes about his father's dementia (in what is a touching and thoughtful piece), the reader is offered no more than a brief vignette, with no more than a passing gesture towards the wider issues which the article raises.
So, a recommendation? For holiday reading, or to take on the train, this is a very good book. As a book itself, it is frustrating.
It is not, however, a book which I can enjoy reading for any length of time, and that can be put down to a number of reasons. It must be admitted, I accept, that Gill is an excellent prose stylist, but there is at times a slight glibness about the writing that suggests deep and meaningful insights, but they are never really developed or rewarded. The description is frequently masterful: Gill's evocation of the appalling squalor of Haiti is striking, but it often ends there. But these merits cannot carry the book as a whole.
For this book can never really be successful as a book, simply because of its origins. These are journalistic pieces, and must perforce lack the thoroughness and rigour of more literary writing, regardless of the panache of the prose. When Gill writes about his father's dementia (in what is a touching and thoughtful piece), the reader is offered no more than a brief vignette, with no more than a passing gesture towards the wider issues which the article raises.
So, a recommendation? For holiday reading, or to take on the train, this is a very good book. As a book itself, it is frustrating.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you haven't read A A Gill do try him. He's a mate of Jeremy Clarkson and it shows in a number of the pieces here. Gill is direct, often impolite, frequently raw, and takes little account of received opinion on anything. Having said that, he's also shrewd, full of insight, humane, often very funny and, when appropriate, capable of exposing injustice or cant with devastating honesty and directness. He writes with immense style and great fluency. A pleasure to read.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
