Julian Barnes was London correspondent for The New Yorker from 1989 to 1994. This book is a collection of columns written during that period. And it's terrific. Barnes is extraordinarily smart and unfathomably erudite, qualities which - oddly enough - don't always serve him well in his fiction (he can't help showing off, which distracts the reader and detracts from the writing). But in a collection of reportage pieces like this one, his intelligence and breadth of knowledge add to the quality of the essays. He is also hilarious. This list of sub-entries under the index entry for "clothes" gives an indication of how funny he is - Queen's jodhpursshabbiness of MPsreduced shabbiness of MPsNonna Longden's knickerstantric influence on Mrs Thatcher's wardrobeJohn major's grey suitsJohn Major's underpantsGlenda Jackson's wardrobepositive smartness of Labour MPsbadnews cufflinksQueen's clothing allowancecoat-folding at Buckingham palacemore badnews cufflinksregal aspect of Mrs Thatcher's frocksincineration of Chanel dressesQueen's fuchsia ensembleBritish underwearTony Blair's jacketPirie knot for bow tiesThe list of sub-entries under the index entry for "Margaret Thatcher" is side-splittingly funny, but too long to include in this review, alas.
I enjoyed this a great deal. The period of history it covers is one I lived through and yet didn't have a particularly detailed knowledge of since I was aged 10-15. For instance, I knew that the poll tax was crassly awful but I didn't know quite why. Now I do.Oh, and here's something droll. In the article about Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes refers to a fellow scrivener being unable to attend a fundraiser for an Oxford college as he has "unavoidably gone skiing".Barnes writes that the "fictioneer's freemasonry" prevents him from naming him, but if you leaf through the index as I did, you'll see the entry: McEwan, Ian: unavoidably goes skiing, 293. Named and shamed!
What do You think about Letters From London (1995)?
This book made me want to move to London more than anything else, besides my true love living there or whatever. So then I moved to London. And then I didn't really dig London, so I cam back. And years later, I re-read this, and it kinda made me want to move to London again. Then I got over it but know what I haven't gotten over? How freaking sexy Julian Barnes looks in this edition's author photo. He's all, "I'm one of the greatest living writers. I know it. You know it. Just look at me."Ooo! And then there's this one:
—Rory
