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P. D. James
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Bibliographic Detail
Publisher
Thorndike Pr
Publication date
November 1, 2000
Pages
555
Binding
Hardcover
Edition
Large print
Book category
Adult Non-Fiction
ISBN-13
9780786228317
ISBN-10
0786228318
Dimensions
1.25 by 5.75 by 8.50 in.
Weight
1.50 lbs.
Availability§
Out of Print
Original list price
$26.95
Other format details
large print
§As reported by publisher
Amazon.com says people who bought this book also bought:
P. D. James | Death of an Expert Witness | The Skull Beneath the Skin | The Children of Men | Talking About Detective Fiction
P. D. James | Death of an Expert Witness | The Skull Beneath the Skin | The Children of Men | Talking About Detective Fiction
Summaries and Reviews
(view table of contents)
Amazon.com description: Product Description: The great British mystery novelist P. D. James, otherwise known as the Queen of Crime, has redefined the genre over a career spanning close to forty years. TIME magazine called her the âreigning mistress of murder,â whose vivid and compelling novels have made her one of the worldâs leading crime writers. Biographers have urged her to allow them to write about her life, but she has always kept them at bay, valuing her privacy.
However, at the age of seventy-seven, P. D. James decided for the first time in her life to keep a diary for one year, foremost as a record of her thoughts and memories for her family and herself, but also as a âfragment of autobiographyâ for publication. As she beautifully describes the salient events of a dizzying year full of publicity duties, giving lectures and fulfilling other public commitments, she lets the memories flow, wandering back and forth through the years to illuminate an extraordinary life and to give striking insights into the craft of writing. The book became a New York Times bestseller â as have all of her recent books â and does more than simply satisfy the curiosity of her many fans.
Mystery author Eric Wright wrote in The Globe and Mail that âThe final effect is not of a fragment, but of a finished miniature portrait of the artist in her 77th year. ⦠The form she has invented, a kind of public diary, creates an intimacy that a major autobiography would never achieve. â¦a revealing portrait of a gifted human being, full of common sense and humour, someone we would like to know.â
In the book, James comments on everything from architecture to literature to fox hunting to the decline of moral values in modern Britain, and shares with us her love of reading and the joys of family life (she has two daughters, who live in the United States, and several grandchildren). However, she refuses to delve too deeply into the painful areas of her personal life now well in the past, though she has clearly experienced some hard times. âThey are over and must be accepted, made sense of and forgiven, afforded no more than their proper place in a long life in which I have always known that happiness is a gift, not a right.â Readers have found this reservation admirable and elegantly refreshing in a time of âself-rummaging, self-serving autobiographyâ (Joan Barfoot, The London Free Press). Still, hints of pain slip in, and we may sometimes read between the lines.
Time to Be in Earnest is a privileged and engrossing look into the life and mind of one of the great mystery writers alive today, one who has earned comparisons with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers. James is also deeply thoughtful, a remarkable woman who witnessed much over the course of the twentieth century. Whether describing motherhood in London during the bombardments of the Second World War, her fine career as a civil servant in the British Home Office, or her later life as a formidably successful writer, she sheds light on a lifetime of exceptional achievements.
However, at the age of seventy-seven, P. D. James decided for the first time in her life to keep a diary for one year, foremost as a record of her thoughts and memories for her family and herself, but also as a âfragment of autobiographyâ for publication. As she beautifully describes the salient events of a dizzying year full of publicity duties, giving lectures and fulfilling other public commitments, she lets the memories flow, wandering back and forth through the years to illuminate an extraordinary life and to give striking insights into the craft of writing. The book became a New York Times bestseller â as have all of her recent books â and does more than simply satisfy the curiosity of her many fans.
Mystery author Eric Wright wrote in The Globe and Mail that âThe final effect is not of a fragment, but of a finished miniature portrait of the artist in her 77th year. ⦠The form she has invented, a kind of public diary, creates an intimacy that a major autobiography would never achieve. â¦a revealing portrait of a gifted human being, full of common sense and humour, someone we would like to know.â
In the book, James comments on everything from architecture to literature to fox hunting to the decline of moral values in modern Britain, and shares with us her love of reading and the joys of family life (she has two daughters, who live in the United States, and several grandchildren). However, she refuses to delve too deeply into the painful areas of her personal life now well in the past, though she has clearly experienced some hard times. âThey are over and must be accepted, made sense of and forgiven, afforded no more than their proper place in a long life in which I have always known that happiness is a gift, not a right.â Readers have found this reservation admirable and elegantly refreshing in a time of âself-rummaging, self-serving autobiographyâ (Joan Barfoot, The London Free Press). Still, hints of pain slip in, and we may sometimes read between the lines.
Time to Be in Earnest is a privileged and engrossing look into the life and mind of one of the great mystery writers alive today, one who has earned comparisons with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers. James is also deeply thoughtful, a remarkable woman who witnessed much over the course of the twentieth century. Whether describing motherhood in London during the bombardments of the Second World War, her fine career as a civil servant in the British Home Office, or her later life as a formidably successful writer, she sheds light on a lifetime of exceptional achievements.
Editions
Hardcover
The price comparison is for this edition
Large print edition from Thorndike Pr (November 1, 2000)
9780786228317 | details & prices | 555 pages | 5.75 × 8.50 × 1.25 in. | 1.50 lbs | List price $26.95
About: The great British mystery novelist P.
About: The great British mystery novelist P.
from Random House Inc (May 1, 2000)
9780676972719 | details & prices | List price $38.00
Signed edition from Alfred a Knopf Inc (April 4, 2000)
9780375410918 | details & prices | 288 pages | List price $25.00
About: Originally loathe to embark on a full autobiography, P.
About: Originally loathe to embark on a full autobiography, P.
from Alfred a Knopf Inc (April 1, 2000)
9780375410666 | details & prices | 269 pages | 6.50 × 9.50 × 1.25 in. | 1.40 lbs | List price $25.00
About: Based on the diary she kept for years, a candid autobiography of mystery writer P.
About: Based on the diary she kept for years, a candid autobiography of mystery writer P.
Paperback
from Ballantine Books (March 1, 2001)
9780345442123 | details & prices | 269 pages | 5.50 × 8.50 × 0.75 in. | 0.65 lbs | List price $15.00
About: Based on the diary she kept for years, a candid autobiography of mystery writer P.
About: Based on the diary she kept for years, a candid autobiography of mystery writer P.
Cassette/Spoken Word
With June Barrie (other contributor) |
Unabridged edition from Chivers Audio Books (August 1, 2000); titled "A Time to Be in Earnest: A Fragment of Autobiography"
9780754004967 | details & prices | 6.75 × 9.00 × 2.25 in. | 1.35 lbs | List price $84.95
About: On the day she turned seventy-seven, internationally acclaimed mystery writer P.
About: On the day she turned seventy-seven, internationally acclaimed mystery writer P.
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