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Review
"£10 well spent...informative, interesting and fun...an energetic and well thought-out celebration of the transforming power of books" --Daily Mail
Review
"Another triumph from Time Out...contemporary and cultured, this is one not to miss"
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
This isn't a patch on 1001 books you must read before you die. In saying that it isn't trying to be. It gives an excellent list of books to read including childrens and unlike the above mentioned it is easy to hold containing 280 pages! For a beginner wishing to improve their reading this is perfect has nice pics and interesting reviews from well known personalites. What more could a bookworm want!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Much of interest- but could have been a lot better
19 Jan 2008
This book about books has a lot of interesting material in it. It asks writers about books which changed their lives. It presents seven sections from Infancy to Old Age and Death- as outlined in the famous Shakespearean passage on the Ages of Man (Stages of Life). It contains four lead essays for each sections within which various titles are recommended.
Among the lead essays Kate Clanchy writes on the Age of Innocence, Infancy- Adele Geras on Childhood and Telling Tales- Michael Bywater on Old Age.
I found the section on 'life drawing ' or biographical writing by A.C. Grayling interesting. He speaks of why people love biography as a form. He speaks of the story element, the capacity to follow the stages of a life and learn from it, the gossip element which he does not look down on. He has a special interest in the biographies of philosophers and says that there are a very few outstanding ones, citing two on Wittgenstein one by Ray Monk.
The chapter on Adulthood has a section devoted to Manhood. And there is a survey of war- writing and list of recommended titles. Among those titles is Michael Herr's 'Dispatches' which is one of the most disturbing and difficult but I suspect truest pictures of war ever given. The writing of another great war- correspondent Vassily Grossman is also on the list.
There is a section on books about Working which maintains that this is one of the great ignored subjects of Literature. Dickens it is said never really wrote about people actually at their work.
The book often seems insular with a bit too much British focus on the British. Many of the readers selected to give their response give responses which to my mind are most often rather unexciting.
The work has a helpful index of the thousand titles recommended. However within the chapters themselves the small summaries of the works are often poor and inadequate.
This work is a kind of dip-in and skim and get what you can work.
Again there is much of interest in it but I felt it could have been done in a much deeper and comprehensive way.
Among the lead essays Kate Clanchy writes on the Age of Innocence, Infancy- Adele Geras on Childhood and Telling Tales- Michael Bywater on Old Age.
I found the section on 'life drawing ' or biographical writing by A.C. Grayling interesting. He speaks of why people love biography as a form. He speaks of the story element, the capacity to follow the stages of a life and learn from it, the gossip element which he does not look down on. He has a special interest in the biographies of philosophers and says that there are a very few outstanding ones, citing two on Wittgenstein one by Ray Monk.
The chapter on Adulthood has a section devoted to Manhood. And there is a survey of war- writing and list of recommended titles. Among those titles is Michael Herr's 'Dispatches' which is one of the most disturbing and difficult but I suspect truest pictures of war ever given. The writing of another great war- correspondent Vassily Grossman is also on the list.
There is a section on books about Working which maintains that this is one of the great ignored subjects of Literature. Dickens it is said never really wrote about people actually at their work.
The book often seems insular with a bit too much British focus on the British. Many of the readers selected to give their response give responses which to my mind are most often rather unexciting.
The work has a helpful index of the thousand titles recommended. However within the chapters themselves the small summaries of the works are often poor and inadequate.
This work is a kind of dip-in and skim and get what you can work.
Again there is much of interest in it but I felt it could have been done in a much deeper and comprehensive way.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Great airline book.
2 May 2009
Softcover, light, easy-to-pack, and easy-to-carry. Even if you are a career reader put this in your carry-on. You will feel good seeing the books discussed that you have already read (this validates your reading program) and it might point out books you've overlooked. Much, much easier to carry than "1000 Books You Must Read Before You Die." In addition, the essays are just that: essays. Pick it up at a discount book store for about $8.50; about $11.50 at Amazon.com.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
This is Time Out LONDON
15 May 2009
I love Time Out New York, and although I know there are several editions of Time Out, I didn't realize this books was Time Out LONDON until I sat down to look through it. It is DEFINITELY British, and not American. There are a lot of interesting books, authors, etc. noted, and I do love a lot of English literature, but I was definitely thinking this was a US book and was frankly disconcerted that it was not. The cover of the book I have is different, too, and I should have realized something was up when I didn't recognize most of the authors noted on the front cover. I guess there is only this London edition, since the one I have (and it IS British) has the same ISBN number.
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