Those for whom variety is the spice of their reading lives will find much flavor in A Memoir of My Former Self, a collection of nonfiction from the late novelist, memoirist, and cultural critic Hilary Mantel (The Mirror & the Light; Bring Up the Bodies; Wolf Hall). This collection, which spans her career of more than three decades, gathers personal reflections; essays on history's characters, major and minor; book reviews; movie reviews; lectures on the nature and meaning of historical fiction; and much more. It is an all-you-can-eat buffet for the curious mind: ruminations on her life as a writer; her experience living in Saudi Arabia; her struggle to be diagnosed and to live daily with the pain of severe endometriosis; reviews of academic titles and thoughts on popular literary fiction authors Annie Proulx and V.S. Naipaul; and reviews of popular movies. (And don't worry, Jane Austen superfans--there's a long essay in here for you, too.) Mantel's prose is poised, clear, and often soothing--like a pleasant daydream--but punctuated with sharp wit, precise declarations, and barbed but compassionate judgment. Every piece testifies to an author with a first-rate and wide-ranging intellect, immensely disciplined in the art and science of language.
A Memoir of My Former Self is full of delights big and small--RoboCop good, Fatal Attraction awful, When Harry Met Sally a mixed bag--joys and griefs, and intense examinations of the past and present. It is a stunning monument to a brilliant mind and the extraordinary breadth, skill, and talent of a singular writer. --Walker Minot, writer and editor