Time to Be in Earnest

Time To Be In Earnest: A Fragment Of Autobiography by P.D. James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I expected not to like Time to Be In Earnest simply on the principle of it being an autobiography and therefore being navel-gazing. Consequently, I was happily surprised to really enjoy it.

I liked the format of the book--part daily diary, part lifelong history. I thought James combined the two well, going from a discussion of a minute detail of her life to the broader topic of, for instance, the purpose of the BBC, fairly effortlessly.

James referenced a number of events and people of whom I had no notion, so at times it was handy to have the internet close by to look things up, and that was a bit arduous.

It is clear that James loves her country--the cities, the churches, the country landscape, the ocean, the language. This love comes through her writing clearly, and with me reading, she was preaching to the choir.


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