“The funniest novel I have ever read”

Are you a rereader? What books do you find yourself returning to again and again?

I don’t do much rereading anymore because I’ve been ill and feel that I’m running out of time. 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. Also, I enjoyed Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis, all over again: the funniest novel I have ever read. Is there some Bulgarian equivalent, languishing untranslated? Probably not.

—Clive James, novelist, critic, poet and recent translator of Dante’s Divine Comedy, was in the The New York Times Book Review answering questions in their “By the Book” column. We’re thrilled he enjoyed rereading Lucky Jim, and will make it easier to return to Olivia Manning as we are publishing the second trilogy in the Fortunes of War series, The Levant Trilogy, in Spring 2014 (we published The Balkan Trilogy in 2010).

(illustration by Jillian Tamaki)

Richard Griffiths, Olivia Manning’s Husband, and The History Boys

Flipping through the recently released biography of Olivia Manning (Olivia Manning: A Writer at War), we were surprised to see the name of Richard Griffiths, who died last week, jump out. If you’ve read The Balkan Trilogy (and are anticipating our publication of The Levant Trilogy next year) and are infuriated by the character Guy (based on Manning’s husband Reggie Smith) you might enjoy this:

It was around this time [1970] that Richard Griffiths … met Reggie, and Griffiths’ memory of their friendship, shared with me in a long conversation backstage at the National Theatre, helped shape his performance as Hector in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys … In an Associated Press interview just before opening in the American production of Bennett’s play in the spring of 2006, Griffiths described Reggie as “very roly-poly”—a big fat guy, very amiable, and “an absolute god of memory of English verse and poetry.”

“It matters not at the end of a book where or how you bought it, but that you read it, experienced, walked with it.”

— 

James Bridle’s thoughts on the differences—and similarities—between reading print and ebooks, inspired by finishing Olivia Manning’s Balkan Trilogy.

By the way, there are now some 100 NYRB Classics available in ebook format. Have a look at them all here.