Books By Diana Athill
List of 5 best books written by Diana Athill. Check out the booklist.
1. Life Class: The Selected Memoirs Of Diana Athill
Diana Athill, born in 1917, made her reputation as a writer with the candour of her memoirs; through her commitment, in her words, ‘to understand, to be aware, to touch the truth’. In a celebration of her life and writing, Life Class brings together four of her best-loved memoirs in one volume, spanning her very English childhood, her life and loves during the Second World War, her publishing career at André Deutsch, and her reflections on old age. Introduced by Ian Jack, Diana Athill’s selected memoirs are a remarkable testament to an unusual and fully lived life.
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2. Somewhere Towards The End
This is a lively narrative of events, lovers and friendships: the people and experiences that have taught her to regret very little, to resist despondency and to question the beliefs and customs of her own generation.
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3. Alive, Alive Oh!: And Other Things that Matter
In the remarkable title chapter, Athill describes her pregnancy at the age of forty-three, losing the baby and almost losing her life, and her gratitude on discovering that she had survived. With vivid memories of the past mingled with candid, wise and often very funny reflections on the experience of being very old, Alive, Alive Oh! reminds us of the joy and richness to be found at every stage of life.
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4. Stet: An Editor’s Life
In a prose style of inimitable wit and rare candour, she recounts tales from a long life in publishing, including her reflections on editing writers such as V. S. Naipaul, Jean Rhys, Gitta Sereny and Brian Moore. She also provides an account of her own writing career, which includes the two critically acclaimed works, Instead of a Letter and After a Funeral.
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5. After A Funeral
This is the story of how and why a talented writer came to kill himself. When Diana Athill met the man she calls Didi, an Egyptian in exile, she fell in love instantly and out of love just as fast. Didi moved into her flat, they shared housework and holidays, and a life of easy intimacy seemed to beckon.
