- Paperback: 704 pages
- Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd; New edition edition (27 Sep 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841951722
- ISBN-13: 978-1841951720
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.6 x 6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 564,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
"I always say, keep a diary and someday it'll keep you", quipped Mae West, an insight that is wonderfully borne out in Irene and Alan Taylor's The Assassin's Cloak, an anthology of the world's greatest diarists. All of life can be found in this extraordinary compilation of diary entries by 170 of history's most famous (and infamous) diarists, beginning with "the Shakespeare of diarists", Samuel Pepys, and ending with the likes of the more notorious recent diarists, Roy Strong and Alan Clarke. The editors have cleverly arranged the book like a diary--there are entries for every day of the year, leading to fascinating juxtapositions, such as the thoughts of Leo Tolstoy, Queen Victoria and Josef Goebbels on three very different days in April. The selections are wonderfully judged, as they move from the momentous and the revealing--Noel Coward admitting "Gandhi has been assassinated. In my humble opinion, a bloody good thing but far too late"--to the banal and the downright bizarre--Wilhelm Reich claiming "I yearn for a beautiful woman with no sexual anxieties who will just take me! Have inhaled too much orgone radiation". Prepare to be shocked by the comments of those famous diarists you know, and intrigued by those you have never heard of (helpfully covered by short biographies at the end of the book), but more than anything be captivated by the sheer lust for life in all its detail reflected in a book that is clearly a long and arduous labour of love on the part of its authors. The sheer wealth of fascinating material in The Assassin's Cloak is overwhelming, and should be sampled day by day--rather like a diary. --Jerry Brotton
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
""A sumptuous feast. This inspired anthology of diverse diary entries, selected chiefly for their honesty, is relentlessly thought-provoking." --"Independent
--This text refers to an alternate
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a wonderful and quite novel idea. Instead of being split up into themes and categories, this collection reads like a normal diary (ie. January 1st to December 31st). It features famous diary writers like Samuel Pepys, Andy Warhol and Victor Klemperer but also introduced me to some people I'd not heard of before. What impressed me about this collection was the small details, the everyday things that many diary keepers consider too mundane to note, but it is in these details that we find real life. This is a book to read and re-read every now and again. Truly a book to treasure.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
To anyone who loves reading diaries this volume is a must. It is massive in size and scope. The diarists featured are among the most interesting and diverse group that you could hope for in one volume. I read most of this title in one sitting, it is so addictive. I know that I will be dipping in and out of this book for years to come. Highly recommended and well earns a five star rating.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If ever there was a book that was non-linear and didn't fit the cover to cover model of reading this is it. I enjoy it as you should enjoy a good cheese board sampling the delights of different flavours and tastes without having to have a full meal. Delectable.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Enduring pleasure
I find this is a wonderful book, for me one to dip in to, not read from cover to cover. The variety, humanity, humour, sadness and so more contained there in is a constant... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Binjons
Carpe Deum
I suppose most books were written by dead people. But whether they are fiction or non-fiction, most books are detached from the author's present - time is displaced into the future... Read more
Published on 22 July 2007 by Mr. S. J. Wade
A daily treat
Of the around 170 diarists quoted in this anthology, one, James Lee-Milne, writes "If a man has no constant lover who shares his soul as well as his body he must have a diary - a... Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2007 by Four Violets
Standard of diary keeping isn't what it used to be!
Peeking into strangers front rooms to see how they live is nothing compared to the illicit pleasure of the thought of opening their diaries. Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2003 by Myrtle
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