Sunday Best : 80 Great Books From a Lifetime of Reviews

In 1977, newly installed as a professor of English at Oxford, the author took the position of chief reviewer for the Sunday Times. In a career spanning over 40 years and upwards of 1,000 reviews, the author has kept abreast of the brightest and best books of the day, distilling his thoughts each week for the entertainment of Sunday readers. Contained in this volume is the cream of that substantial crop: a choice selection of the books which the author has most cherished. Covering subjects as diverse as the science of laughter, the art of Grayson Perry, the history of madness, and Sylvia Plath's letters, this is a collection of treats and surprises, suffused with careful thought, wisdom, and enjoyment. The result is a compendium of titles which have stood the test of time, offered with the author's warmest recommendation. Contents 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 12 INTRODUCTION 13 CULTURAL HISTORY 21 The Mediterranean in History edited by David Abulafia, 2003 21 The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve: The Story that Created Us 25 Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity 28 Eat Me: A Natural and Unnatural History of Cannibalism 31 Stonehenge 34 Universe of Stone: Chartres Cathedral and the Triumph of the Medieval Mind 37 Vauxhall Gardens: A History 41 A Thing in Disguise: The Visionary Life of Joseph Paxton 45 Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men after the First World War 48 Private Words: Letters and Diaries from the Second World War 52 In the Fifties 55 The Greatest Shows on Earth: A History of the Circus 58 A Great Feast of Light: Growing Up Irish in the Television Age 61 Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain 65 IQ: The Brilliant Idea that Failed 68 The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies: Almost Always Do Better 72 Leadville: A Biography of the A40 76 SCIENCE 83 The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution 83 Darwin’s Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England 87 Darwin’s Sacred Cause: Race Slavery and the Quest for Human Origins 87 The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science 91 You’re Looking Very Well: The Surprising Nature of Getting Old 94 The Science of Love and Betrayal 98 Laughter: A Scientific Investigation 101 Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears 101 Mauve: How One Man Invented a Colour that Changed the World 105 Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood 107 American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer 110 Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine, and What Matters in the End 114 MEMOIRS 121 The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: The Hidden World of a Paris Atelier 121 No Voice from the Hall: Early Memories of a Country House Snooper 125 Gypsies: An English History 128 Fishing in Utopia: Sweden and the Future that Disappeared 131 Family Secrets 134 Swimming with My Father: A Memoir 138 Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense 141 Publisher 144 Untold Stories 147 Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl 151 Naked at Lunch: The Adventures of a Reluctant Nudist 154 Ahead of the Class: How an Inspiring Headmistress Gave Children Back Their Future 157 Worrying: A Literary and Cultural History 160 Alamein to Zem Zem 163 ANTHROPOLOGY 169 Feast: Why Humans Share Food 169 The Reinvention of Humanity: A Story of Race, Sex, Gender and the Discovery of Culture 173 Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle 176 Letters to Lily on How the World Works 179 BIOGRAPHY 185 The Fortunes of Francis Barber: The True Story of a Jamaican Slave Who Became Samuel Johnson’s Heir 185 Sarah: The Life of Sarah Bernhardt 188 Bulwer Lytton: The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Man of Letters 192 Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett 195 Samuel Beckett: The Last Modernist 195 The World of Samuel Beckett, 1906–1946 195 Eric Gill 199 Betjeman: The Bonus of Laughter 202 Eileen: The Making of George Orwell 206 The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul 209 Hergé: The Man Who Created Tintin 212 The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome 216 Furious Interiors: Wales, R.S. Thomas and God 219 LITERATURE 225 The Poet’s Tale: Chaucer and the Year that Made the Canterbury Tales 225 Shakespeare’s Language 228 Shakespeare’s Wife 231 The Letters of Charles Dickens, Volume Eight: 1856–1858 235 The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, 2 vols 238 The Short Sharp Life of T.E. Hulme 242 Robert Graves and the White Goddess, 1940–1985 245 Robert Graves: Life on the Edge 245 Robert Graves: Collected Writings on Poetry 245 The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 2: 1956–1963 250 Faulks on Fiction: The Secret Life of the Novel 253 The Good Soldier Švejk 257 BACK TO NATURE 263 Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature 263 Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden 267 Owl Sense 269 The Spade as Mighty as the Sword: The Story of World War Two’s Dig for Victory Campaign 272 Bertie, May and Mrs Fish: Country Memories of Wartime 276 Running for the Hills: A Family Story 279 MIND BENDERS 285 A Short Treatise of the Great Virtues: The Uses of Philosophy in Everyday Life 285 The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of the Universe 288 The Clock Mirage: Our Myth of Measured Time 292 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 295 VEGETABLE GARDENING 301 Vegetable Gardening 301 A collection of John Carey's greatest, wisest, and wittiestreviews-amassed over a lifetime of writing In 1977, newlyinstalled as a professor of English at Oxford, John Carey took theposition of chief reviewer for the Sunday Times-a job hestill retains. In a career spanning more than forty years andupward of 1,000 reviews, Carey has kept abreast of the brightestand best books of the day, distilling his thoughts each week forthe entertainment of Sunday readers. Contained in this volume isthe cream of that substantial crop: a choice selection of the booksthat Carey has most cherished. Covering subjects as diverse as thescience of laughter, the art of Grayson Perry, the history ofmadness, and Sylvia Plath's letters-and incorporating earlierwritings "Down with Dons" and "Vegetable Gardening"-this is acollection of treats and surprises, suffused with careful thought,wisdom, and enjoyment. The result is a compendium of titles thathave stood the test of time, offered with Carey's warmestrecommendation A collection of John Carey's greatest, wisest, and wittiest reviews--amassed over a lifetime of writing In 1977, newly installed as a professor of English at Oxford, John Carey took the position of chief reviewer for the Sunday Times--a job he still retains. In a career spanning more than forty years and upward of 1,000 reviews, Carey has kept abreast of the brightest and best books of the day, distilling his thoughts each week for the entertainment of Sunday readers. Contained in this volume is the cream of that substantial crop: a choice selection of the books that Carey has most cherished. Covering subjects as diverse as the science of laughter, the art of Grayson Perry, the history of madness, and Sylvia Plath's letters--and incorporating earlier writings "Down with Dons" and "Vegetable Gardening"--this is a collection of treats and surprises, suffused with careful thought, wisdom, and enjoyment. The result is a compendium of titles that have stood the test of time, offered with Carey's warmest recommendation A collection of John Carey's greatest, wisest, and wittiest reviews—amassed over a lifetime of writing In 1977, newly installed as a professor of English at Oxford, John Carey took the position of chief reviewer for the Sunday Times —a job he still retains. In a career spanning more than forty years and upward of 1,000 reviews, Carey has kept abreast of the brightest and best books of the day, distilling his thoughts each week for the entertainment of Sunday readers. Contained in this volume is the cream of that substantial crop: a choice selection of the books that Carey has most cherished. Covering subjects as diverse as the science of laughter, the art of Grayson Perry, the history of madness, and Sylvia Plath's letters—and incorporating earlier writings "Down with Dons" and "Vegetable Gardening"—this is a collection of treats and surprises, suffused with careful thought, wisdom, and enjoyment. The result is a compendium of titles that have stood the test of time, offered with Carey's warmest recommendation. A collection of John Carey's greatest, wisest, and wittiest reviews—amassed over a lifetime of writing In 1977, newly installed as a professor of English at Oxford, John Carey took the position of chief reviewer for the Sunday Times. In a career spanning over 40 years and upwards of 1,000 reviews, Carey has kept abreast of the brightest and best books of the day, distilling his thoughts each week for the entertainment of Sunday readers. Contained in this volume is the cream of that substantial crop: a choice selection of the books which Carey has most cherished. Covering subjects as diverse as the science of laughter, the art of Grayson Perry, the history of madness, and Sylvia Plath's letters, this is a collection of treats and surprises, suffused with careful thought, wisdom, and enjoyment. The result is a compendium of titles that have stood the test of time, offered with Carey's warmest recommendation.