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quietdomino's review against another edition
I could probably read Alan Bennett's reflections (on recently-closed hardware stores and the indignities of biking while slightly deaf, among other topics) forever.
brampton's review against another edition
5.0
Reading this is like having afternoon teat with an old gent as he reminisces about the old days and rails against modernity. Excellent!
whiterosereader's review against another edition
3.0
I found a large part of the diary entries a bit dull, and dragged a fair bit. They were well written, but just a lot of what AB describes, notably the church visits, just aren't to my taste. I liked the references to The History Boys, the main actors (who are much more my generation)
I enjoyed the passages of text which related to Leeds, particularly the ones about stately homes in Leeds, such as Temple Newsam which I visited a lot as a child.
However, I still would like to try his two other diaries, and it has prompted me to want to revisit some of his other works too, especially The History Boys.
I enjoyed the passages of text which related to Leeds, particularly the ones about stately homes in Leeds, such as Temple Newsam which I visited a lot as a child.
However, I still would like to try his two other diaries, and it has prompted me to want to revisit some of his other works too, especially The History Boys.
woolfardis's review against another edition
4.0
I read all of Alan Bennett's diaries in a row, which, given they were written over about 40 years it's unlikely this was how he intended them to be read, since this would require a foresight hitherto unknown since Adam said unto Eve, "you and me babe, how about it?"
As is such, I probably both ruined my enjoyment of them but also catapulted that enjoyment, wherein I garnered far more insight than one would hope in such a man's life.
This particular entry in to the long-standing tradition of English diarists is the longest of AB's, with over half of the content given over to the diary entries themselves. This was a delight as to read more is what one wants from any continued series, but I found myself sometimes wishing there were less.
The main problem would be the sheer amount of politics. Not withstanding my agreement or disagreement, it was mainly that he could feel so much more about modern goings on than what had occurred in the 80s, which was either the same or worse as what goes on today.
The explanation being that possibly any more brusque or indeed harsher political views were not included in the 80s and 90s diary anthologies because he was a more prominent figure and boldly in the public eye.
But to think that he could not be even remotely moved by Margaret Thatcher's systematic dismantling of the entire Northern culture overnight seems unlikely, which I am choosing to believe to be the case.
In any regard, seeing how AB has evolved over time proves that my way of reading his books one after the other was a good decision. He doesn't seem to have changed an awful lot in the way he writes about everyday life (often pithy, sometimes sarcastic, perhaps sardonic), but his views and ways of looking at things has evolved as he has aged. He is still shy, but less so. He can still be angry, and probably more so. He still delights in small things,
His writing-diaries aside-is ever enchanting. I find AB to be an excellent communicator of knowledge and expert in explaining things without doing the actual explaining, or even possibly being aware that he is imparting his knowledge at all. That is the mark of a truly great writer, one who not only shows and doesn't tell, but one whose enthusiasm for their chosen subject is such that it bubbles over without it being acknowledged.
As is such, I probably both ruined my enjoyment of them but also catapulted that enjoyment, wherein I garnered far more insight than one would hope in such a man's life.
This particular entry in to the long-standing tradition of English diarists is the longest of AB's, with over half of the content given over to the diary entries themselves. This was a delight as to read more is what one wants from any continued series, but I found myself sometimes wishing there were less.
The main problem would be the sheer amount of politics. Not withstanding my agreement or disagreement, it was mainly that he could feel so much more about modern goings on than what had occurred in the 80s, which was either the same or worse as what goes on today.
The explanation being that possibly any more brusque or indeed harsher political views were not included in the 80s and 90s diary anthologies because he was a more prominent figure and boldly in the public eye.
But to think that he could not be even remotely moved by Margaret Thatcher's systematic dismantling of the entire Northern culture overnight seems unlikely, which I am choosing to believe to be the case.
In any regard, seeing how AB has evolved over time proves that my way of reading his books one after the other was a good decision. He doesn't seem to have changed an awful lot in the way he writes about everyday life (often pithy, sometimes sarcastic, perhaps sardonic), but his views and ways of looking at things has evolved as he has aged. He is still shy, but less so. He can still be angry, and probably more so. He still delights in small things,
His writing-diaries aside-is ever enchanting. I find AB to be an excellent communicator of knowledge and expert in explaining things without doing the actual explaining, or even possibly being aware that he is imparting his knowledge at all. That is the mark of a truly great writer, one who not only shows and doesn't tell, but one whose enthusiasm for their chosen subject is such that it bubbles over without it being acknowledged.
bearunderthecypresses's review against another edition
4.0
This library checkout had to become a personal copy. Thanks to Auntie's Bookstore for supplying the personal copy. I flagged many sections, but here are a few of them: "The success of the History Boys (2004) was wholly unexpected. We'd had such a good time rehearsing it I don't recall ever wondering how well it would go down. Nicholas Hytner has said that on first reading the script he thought it would perhaps make eighty performances. As it was the reception of the play at its first preview took us both by surprise. It wasn't so much the laughter -- though at least twice it brought the show to a halt -- but it was the hush in the audience just before the curtain when the boys talk of their future lives and Hector comes back from the dead to give them his last message. When the curtain came down there was a moment's silence and then the house went up like a furnace." pg. 508.
"January 1, 2010: 'I'm happy doing what I'm doing. I'm not always happy with what I've done." pg 200.
"28 November, 2007: R. is reading Brideshead Revisited for the first time, my browning-at-the-edges Penguin that must be fifty years old. 'Tell me,' he says plaintively, 'is it meant to be snobbish or am I missing the point?" pg 129.
"It's getting near the day of Dad's death, too, and before we leave on Sunday we pick some flowers from the garden and put them on the grave where Gordon must have planted some bizzy lizzies, or begonias maybe. Think of Mam and Dad standing there smiling and also think of Anne next door whose chest is bad and has to go for an X-Ray on Monday. Easy journey back with the same towering high summer clouds. Between Newark and Grantham I always strain to see the towers of Lincoln Cathedral on the eastern horizon but never do, the only time I have when we were unexpectedly bussed from Retford to Grantham, when they were unmistakable in the last of the sun." pg 114 - 115.
"10 January, 2009, Yorkshire. I call in next door to have a word with the district nurses who are due to visit. It's after ten on a bitterly cold Saturday night and the two nurses are still on duty, washing and changing Anne, giving her her medication and settling her down for the night. And two nurses come again at nine the next morning, one of them the same nurse who had been on duty the night before. When one sees this level of dedication in the NHS it is both humbling and inspiring, and undertaken in such a straightforward matter-of-fact way, working round the clock not worth mentioning." pg 172.
"13 May, 2015. Talk to the (always cheering) Archie Powell. His four-year-old son Wilfred is learning chess and was recently taken to a Church of England confirmation service where the bishop officiating was Richard Charteris. Having ascertained the Charteris was a bishop Wilfred whispered, 'Does that mean he can only move diagonally?' Archie is 'easy' about religion but wife, Jane, like Rupert, is fiercely atheist." pg. 355.
"January 1, 2010: 'I'm happy doing what I'm doing. I'm not always happy with what I've done." pg 200.
"28 November, 2007: R. is reading Brideshead Revisited for the first time, my browning-at-the-edges Penguin that must be fifty years old. 'Tell me,' he says plaintively, 'is it meant to be snobbish or am I missing the point?" pg 129.
"It's getting near the day of Dad's death, too, and before we leave on Sunday we pick some flowers from the garden and put them on the grave where Gordon must have planted some bizzy lizzies, or begonias maybe. Think of Mam and Dad standing there smiling and also think of Anne next door whose chest is bad and has to go for an X-Ray on Monday. Easy journey back with the same towering high summer clouds. Between Newark and Grantham I always strain to see the towers of Lincoln Cathedral on the eastern horizon but never do, the only time I have when we were unexpectedly bussed from Retford to Grantham, when they were unmistakable in the last of the sun." pg 114 - 115.
"10 January, 2009, Yorkshire. I call in next door to have a word with the district nurses who are due to visit. It's after ten on a bitterly cold Saturday night and the two nurses are still on duty, washing and changing Anne, giving her her medication and settling her down for the night. And two nurses come again at nine the next morning, one of them the same nurse who had been on duty the night before. When one sees this level of dedication in the NHS it is both humbling and inspiring, and undertaken in such a straightforward matter-of-fact way, working round the clock not worth mentioning." pg 172.
"13 May, 2015. Talk to the (always cheering) Archie Powell. His four-year-old son Wilfred is learning chess and was recently taken to a Church of England confirmation service where the bishop officiating was Richard Charteris. Having ascertained the Charteris was a bishop Wilfred whispered, 'Does that mean he can only move diagonally?' Archie is 'easy' about religion but wife, Jane, like Rupert, is fiercely atheist." pg. 355.
collyofthewobbles's review against another edition
3.0
From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
Alan Bennett reads extracts from his recently published diaries, covering the years 2005 to 2014
A collection of Alan's unique observations, recollection, thought's and reminiscences. From the closing of The History Boys, up to the filming of The Lady In the Van.
Alan's narrative on the world is quintessentially English. Dry humour, whitty one liner and some observations that hit you between the eyes.
He comes across as a mix of crippling nativity, self doubt and narcissism.
He's observations on politics and the take down of the NHS , is very pointe and I appreciated his point of view.
I'm not sure I could read this, I think it would be very slow and dull. But read by the author himself, it comes to life a lot more and is something of a time capsule.
elizabethrichey's review against another edition
3.0
A very long compilation of diaries, essays, reviews, and other writings from Alan Bennett, with lots of great lines and insightful thoughts. I enjoyed seeing the way he observed the behavior and speech of other people, and the way he transformed some of his observations into art.
lnatal's review
2.0
From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
Alan Bennett reads extracts from his recently published diaries.
Following on from Alan Bennett's bestselling, award-winning prose collections Writing Home and Untold Stories, Keeping On Keeping On is a newly-published third anthology featuring his unique observations, recollections and reminiscences.
In these entries, covering the years 2005 to 2014, Bennett looks back on a packed decade that included writing four highly-acclaimed plays - The Habit of Art, People, Hymn and Cocktail Sticks, all of which premiered at the National Theatre - as well as the screenplays for the hit films of The History Boys and The Lady in the Van.
In addition, he reflects on his 25 years of friendship and collaboration with director Nicholas Hytner, life with his partner Rupert Thomas and, radical views notwithstanding, his status as 'kindly, cosy and essentially harmless' - a view which these diaries do their best to disprove.
Today, Alan's play The History Boys has its last production at the National Theatre and he laments the many abandoned pieces he has written.
Abridged and produced by Gordon House.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07zyg5p
Alan Bennett reads extracts from his recently published diaries.
Following on from Alan Bennett's bestselling, award-winning prose collections Writing Home and Untold Stories, Keeping On Keeping On is a newly-published third anthology featuring his unique observations, recollections and reminiscences.
In these entries, covering the years 2005 to 2014, Bennett looks back on a packed decade that included writing four highly-acclaimed plays - The Habit of Art, People, Hymn and Cocktail Sticks, all of which premiered at the National Theatre - as well as the screenplays for the hit films of The History Boys and The Lady in the Van.
In addition, he reflects on his 25 years of friendship and collaboration with director Nicholas Hytner, life with his partner Rupert Thomas and, radical views notwithstanding, his status as 'kindly, cosy and essentially harmless' - a view which these diaries do their best to disprove.
Today, Alan's play The History Boys has its last production at the National Theatre and he laments the many abandoned pieces he has written.
Abridged and produced by Gordon House.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07zyg5p
quintusmarcus's review
5.0
First book down of the new year! Ok, true, I was sandbagging a little - saved the last few pages for today. I loved reading his diary excerpts in the London Review of Books - it got to a point where that was the only part I was reading. Mostly details of his daily life: travels, irritations, political commentaries, and observations. Clear-eyed, thoughtful, and very worth reading.