I quiet enjoyed this little book. Its not exactly an autobiography. Rather, as the subtitle says, it is an account of Aldiss' 'writing life', chronicling his writing endeavours, various influences, ideas, setbacks, publication and of course the public and critical reception of his work. Throughout, Aldiss' wonderful sense of humour shines through:

"The home of the Kirov is a grandly restored eighteenth century building. The company itself is magnificent.

That night, they were dancing Hamlet to a modern score.

The ballet stayed very close to Shakespeare's original story. But even a faithful Hamlet becomes, without words, the story of two rather pleasant middle-aged people who marry and, on their honeymoon in Elismore, are pestered by a young fellow in black. This adolescent, contrary to the usual rule of adolescence, loves his father, who has died, and spends all evening dancing in and out, mucking up the honeymoon." ( )

A tightly written, Humorous and insightful memoir of his career as both a writer and bookseller. This certainly made we want to pick up a great many of his books. ( )

A fine insight into the writer's life and the history of publishing in Britain Since World War 2 ( )