Title: Reflections
Author: Graham Greene
Type: Non-Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 325
Rating: 7/10
Graham Greene – Reflections
This book’s a little different to your average, run of the mill novel – Reflections is, in fact, a collection of the articles that Graham Greene wrote for an assortment of newspapers throughout his career, a bit like By-line by Ernest Hemingway. Spanning nearly seven decades of his writing, it’s definitely a must-have for any serious fan of Graham Greene, and I’m actually convinced that even new readers will enjoy it, although they might find it slow going. The fact is, as with any author, it’s interesting to see inside his mind, and to see what he was interested in outside of writing.
You can expect a good mixture of subject matters too, from travel writing to essays and reviews of the movies of the time – it’s a bit like going out on a journey, as it’s in chronological order. The world was changing around him on a daily basis, and Greene was like time’s guinea pig as he wrote and wrote and wrote, his style the same but the subject matter changing as he aged.
Still, Greene’s unique take is the main attraction on offer here, and you learn almost as much about the author as you do about the subjects that he talks about – indeed, in some cases, I had literally no idea what he was going on about, but it was a lot of fun just the same.
It’s hard to pick out individuals articles which stand out above the others because there are just so many of them – that also means that it’s quite a long read, but it’s worth starting and sticking to if you’re interested in either the changes that took place or the author himself. They just don’t make writers like this any more, and Greene’s generation is really the last generation to be composed of that rare archetype, the English gentleman.
Graham Greene
Ernest Hemingway – By-Line | Review
Title: By-Line
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Type: Non-Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 446
Rating: 8/10
Ernest Hemingway – By-Line
Let’s face it, we all know that Ernest Hemingway is a phenomenal writer, but this book here is what proves it. See, he started work as a journalist nearly 100 years ago, and the first piece of work in this collection is dated March 1920, a piece on a free shave by an apprentice barber in Toronto. It was journalism which paved the way for Hemingway’s literary career, and this book collects together 75 articles written over the course of 35 years.
As you can imagine, it’s a fascinating read, and not just because it’s interesting to see how much the world changed across the intervening years – Hemingway’s gift for words is just as apparent here as it is in his novels, and it’s potentially even more powerful because he’s writing about true events, the majority of which happened either directly to him or to his contacts.
The sort of stuff that he covers is pretty typical for Hemingway – hunting, fishing, bullfights, women, booze, etc. He was the first great writer to make himself a reputation for being a great drunk, too – he’s had many imitators, both in the way that he lived his life and the way in which he writes, but nobody has ever proved themselves his equal. In my opinion, no-one ever will, and it’s fantastic that his personality has been thoroughly stamped on his journalism, as well as in the rest of his work.
Ernest Hemingway
Ultimately, you’re probably not going to want to read this if you’re not a Hemingway fan, and even if you are then I wouldn’t blame you if you stuck to his novels, at least to begin with. But then, as with most great writers, even the lesser-read and seemingly less appealing work emerges in all of its triumphant glory, once you read it. My honest opinion is that you’d be a fool to pass this over just because a book of journalism doesn’t sound particularly interesting, and that you’ll learn a lot more about the world as it was and as it is than you’d expect to.
Of course, what with this being a classic, it includes commentary, a foreword and even, bizarrely enough, an introduction called ‘Hemingway Needs No Introduction‘. With most classic novels, it becomes something of a chore to have the author’s work intruded upon by references – Noel Coward once said that “having to read footnotes resembles having to go downstairs to answer the door while in the midst of making love.” Here, though, the extra notes just add to what you’re reading, in a way that few other books ever manage.
Ernest Hemingway Quote
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