Rating: 
Summary: Thanks for the memories!
Review: Reading this thoughtful and immensely readable book, appropriately subtitled "a fragment of autobiography", is like a personal invitation to a friendly, but never cozy, English cream tea prepared specially by the author. One comes away captivated by her honesty, humility, intelligence and wit, touched by her courage and fortitude in the face of troubles and sorrows, cheered by her masterful writing, grateful for her keen discretion in choosing to exclude the more sensitive areas of her private life (an uncommon but wise option in this "confessional" age), and finally, satisfied but never satiated by the delicious repast. Thanks for the memories, P.D. James!
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Time to Be in Earnest is a journal kept by mystery writer P.D. James beginning in 1997 and ending in late 1998. She does not confine herself just to events during these dates, instead recaling her life earlier. She writes of starting to write because she did not want to be a grandmother who said "I wanted to write a novel", the England she remembers after World War 1 and surviving World War ll. She recalls old friends, literary influences, historic events, infamous crimes of the British Isles. Also touched upon is the struggle of living with a husband with chrinic mental illness and the acceptance of being the support of her family. All this is conveyed in some of the most flowing and beautiful language I have ever read. The everyday is lifted up by the command of the English language and the observant eye of someone embracing life. A wonderful book, a joy to read.
Rating:
Summary: Drink in the words
Review: Time to Be in Earnest is a journal kept by mystery writer P.D. James beginning in 1997 and ending in late 1998. She does not confine herself just to events during these dates, instead recaling her life earlier. She writes of starting to write because she did not want to be a grandmother who said "I wanted to write a novel", the England she remembers after World War 1 and surviving World War ll. She recalls old friends, literary influences, historic events, infamous crimes of the British Isles. Also touched upon is the struggle of living with a husband with chrinic mental illness and the acceptance of being the support of her family. All this is conveyed in some of the most flowing and beautiful language I have ever read. The everyday is lifted up by the command of the English language and the observant eye of someone embracing life. A wonderful book, a joy to read.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful memoir that reveals the soul of a famous writer
Review: What a marvellous book P.D. James has written! It is not just for fans of her mysteries. Rather, it is for anyone who has had to have a day job to pursue other interests, who has toiled in hospitals or government bureaucracies, who had to deal with family problems--all of which P.D. James had to do. Luckily, the book, like her life, has a happy ending, with a seat in the House of Lords, a place on the BBC Board of Governors, and visits to the Queen's Garden Party, in addition to best-sellerdom and homes in Oxford and London, to top it off! It is so charming that after reading it, I gave it to my mother to celebrate her 77th birthday (P.D. James' gave this milestone as the reason she wrote the book -- at 77 it is time to be in earnest).
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