Unreliable Memoirs (Unreliable Memoirs, 1) - Softcover

One of the funniest - and, at times, most moving - books in the language * Sunday Times * Unreliable Memoirs . . . is his prose masterpiece, and an example of English comic writing that should be taught to schoolchildren alongside the works of Evelyn Waugh and PG Wodehouse. -- Peter Bradshaw * Guardian * Do not read this book in public. You will risk severe internal injuries from trying to suppress your laughter. What's worse, you can't put it down once started. Its addictive powers stun all normal decent resistance within seconds. Not to be missed * Sunday Times * Of James's jokes it is hard to find anything adequate to say. They are so funny that you had better not read the book on a train, unless you are unselfconscious about shrieking and snorting in public. They are vivid, cumulative and full of surprises * Observer * Very, very few of us have the gift of articulacy that was bestowed on Clive James * Independent * James cannot find it within himself to write a dull paragraph * The Times * All that really needs to be said to recommend Unreliable Memoirs is that James writes exactly as he talks, which is all his millions of fans could wish * Evening Standard * You can't put it down once started. Its addictive powers stun all normal, decent resistance within seconds. Not to be missed * Sunday Times *

With an introduction by P. J. O'Rourke 'Do not read this book in public. You will risk severe internal injuries from trying to suppress your laughter.' Sunday Times I was born in 1939. The other big event of that year was the outbreak of the Second World War, but for the moment that did not affect me. In the first instalment of Clive James's memoirs we follow the young Clive on his journey from boyhood to the cusp of manhood, when his days of wearing short trousers are finally behind him. Battling with school, girls, various relatives and an overwhelming desire to be a superhero, Clive's adventures growing up in the suburbs of post-war Sydney are hair-raising, uproarious and almost too good to be true . . . Told with James's unassailable sense of humour and self-effacing charm, Unreliable Memoirs is a hilarious and touching introduction to the story of a national treasure. A million-copy bestseller, this classic memoir is a celebration of life in all its unpredictable glory.