Clive James is the award-winning author of dozens of works of literary criticism, poetry, and history. To celebrate his writings, Yale University Press, London are offering two reading groups a chance to win packs that include:
- 10 copies of Play All
- 10 copies of Latest Reading
Please log in and enter your details below by 13th April to get your reading group involved!
About the books:
Latest Readings
In 2010, Clive James was diagnosed with terminal leukemia. Deciding that ‘if you don’t know the exact moment when the lights will go out, you might as well read until they do,’ James moved his library to his house in Cambridge, where he would ‘live, read, and perhaps even write.’ This volume contains his reflections on James’s old favourites as well as some of his recent discoveries. This book also offers a revealing look at the author himself, sharing his evocative musings on literature and family, and on living and dying.
Review: ‘These thoughtful essays are immensely appealing, their tone is beautifully judged. Cleverly, he re-reads in order to measure the past. With this and his recent poetry, he could outlive us all.’ – Ian McEwan
Play All
Television viewing are not what they once were – and that’s a good thing. Since serving as television columnist for the London Observer from 1972 to 1982, James has witnessed a radical change in content, format, and programming, and in the very manner in which TV is watched. Here he examines this unique cultural revolution, providing a brilliant, eminently entertaining analysis of many of the medium’s most notable twenty-first-century accomplishments and their not always subtle impact on modern society – including such acclaimed serial dramas as Breaking Bad, The West Wing, Mad Men, and The Sopranos, as well as the comedy 30 Rock. With intelligence and wit, James explores a television landscape expanded by cable and broadband and profoundly altered by the advent of Netflix, Amazon, and other ‘cord-cutting’ platforms that have helped to usher in a golden age of unabashed binge-watching.
Review: ‘James loves television, he loves the winding stories it tells and that we share them together. Play All is a late love letter to the medium of our lives.’ – AA Gill, Sunday Times
