Clive James's Reading List
The novelist, critic, poet and author, most recently, of a new translation of Dante’s “Divine Comedy” relishes his defense of Philip Larkin: “Spraying cold water on a witch hunt is one of the duties that a critic should be ready to perform.”
Open in WellRead Daily app →By the Book: Clive James (2013)
NYT By the Book column (2013-04-11).
Source: www.nytimes.com
Marcel Proust · Buy on Amazon
"My favorite novelists are Proust and Tolstoy, closely followed by Scott Fitzgerald, and perhaps Hemingway when he isn’t beating his chest."
Leo Tolstoy · Buy on Amazon
"My favorite novelists are Proust and Tolstoy, closely followed by Scott Fitzgerald, and perhaps Hemingway when he isn’t beating his chest."
F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1925 · Buy on Amazon
"My favorite novelists are Proust and Tolstoy, closely followed by Scott Fitzgerald, and perhaps Hemingway when he isn’t beating his chest."
Ernest Hemingway · Buy on Amazon
"My favorite novelists are Proust and Tolstoy, closely followed by Scott Fitzgerald, and perhaps Hemingway when he isn’t beating his chest."
S. J. Perelman · Buy on Amazon
"But in all my life I never enjoyed anything more than the first pieces I read by S. J. Perelman."
Clive James · Buy on Amazon
"I’ve been editing the manuscript of my forthcoming translation of “The Divine Comedy,” so I’ve been reading great poetry every day."
Keith Douglas · Buy on Amazon
"But among modern poets, Keith Douglas has struck me all over again as the most promising British poet of the World War II period."
Keith Douglas · Buy on Amazon
"If I had students, I would tell them to Google Douglas’s poem “Canoe” and see how majestically beautiful it is: tragedy in the language of high romance."
Evelyn Waugh · Buy on Amazon
"But recently I did reread all of Evelyn Waugh’s novels, and was pleased to find that he was almost as thoughtful as, say, Olivia Manning, although his snobbery sometimes grates."
Olivia Manning · Buy on Amazon
"But recently I did reread all of Evelyn Waugh’s novels, and was pleased to find that he was almost as thoughtful as, say, Olivia Manning, although his snobbery sometimes grates."
Kingsley Amis · Buy on Amazon
"Also, I enjoyed “Lucky Jim,” by Kingsley Amis, all over again: the funniest novel I have ever read."
Philip Larkin · Buy on Amazon
"My best good reviews were mainly about Philip Larkin; it was a privilege to be in a position to call him a great poet."
Nicholas Monsarrat · Buy on Amazon
"In my time, at least one best seller — Nicholas Monsarrat’s “Cruel Sea,” published just after World War II — was a literary achievement of a high order."
Unknown · Buy on Amazon
"“From Here to Eternity” and “The Naked and the Dead” were pretty good too, and in more recent times there was a lot to be said for “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.”"
Unknown · Buy on Amazon
"“From Here to Eternity” and “The Naked and the Dead” were pretty good too, and in more recent times there was a lot to be said for “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.”"
Unknown · Buy on Amazon
"“From Here to Eternity” and “The Naked and the Dead” were pretty good too, and in more recent times there was a lot to be said for “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.”"
Pushkin · Buy on Amazon
"In Russia at the beginning of the 19th century, all the fine young ladies were mad about the poetry of Pushkin, and they were quite right."
Booth Tarkington · Buy on Amazon
"In Australia 60 years ago, when I was an adolescent, nobody was reading the American author Booth Tarkington except me."
Clive James · Buy on Amazon
"My forthcoming translation of Dante’s “Divine Comedy” is my best book, I think, but I’ve got a soft spot for “Cultural Amnesia,” my book about 20th-century culture and politics."
Clive James · Buy on Amazon
"My forthcoming translation of Dante’s “Divine Comedy” is my best book, I think, but I’ve got a soft spot for “Cultural Amnesia,” my book about 20th-century culture and politics."
Clive James · Buy on Amazon
"My best book of shorter poems is “Opal Sunset,” a selection from my verse over a period of 50 years."
Clive James · Buy on Amazon
"And I wouldn’t want to leave out “Unreliable Memoirs,” the book about my childhood and upbringing that was first published more than 30 years ago and has gone on selling everywhere in the English-speaking world except in America."