Every one a joy. ( )

Oh, I laughed out loud at this one. It was a scream from start to finish. James Lees Milne is one of the best diarists of the last one hundred years. He's the Samuel Pepys of the 20th Century. However, Another Self is his "memoir" (put in quotation marks because several writers dispute the truthfulness of his accounts). But I don't care if everything he wrote was bologna. It was delicious bologna and hilarious bologna. He was raised by lunatic parents and his stories about them had me in tears. Also, he wrote about his adventures at school and his military service afterwards. It's a short book and a breeze to read. You will not be disappointed.

(Btw, Milne may be the one of the greatest preservers of English architecture in the 20th Century. He joined Britain's National Trust in its early days and thereafter went about saving a host of country estates which had fallen into disrepair, most of which were slated for destruction. Because of him and his cohorts, there are many real-life Downtown Abbeys in existence today.)

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Read during Summer 2004

Sometimes humourous, high readable, memoir of the early life of James Lees-Milne. The early chapters are full wonderfully dotty eccentricity that pales a bit later but is replaced by some great rant and ravings, as well as thoughtful commentary on the early part of the twentieth century. Definetely made me want to read more of his diaries.

James Lees-Milne is well known for his wonderful diaries and for his great work for the National Trust. In 'Another Self' he has written one of the most readable and funny autobiographies I have ever read. he tells us about his childhood living with his long-suffering father and dotty mother. He writes of his hilarious entry into his prep school,which nearly made this reader fall off his chair with laughter. there is also the episode of mistaken identity,in which he visits Portugal and is mistaken for an high official of the British Government and taken (in shorts and sandals) to inspect lines of troops on parade.
There are just so many anecdotes during the course of the book,that it is difficult to pick out particular ones,however the episode of the dead and stinking fish and the consternation of vicar and his congregation would be hard to beat. ( )