Hand Luggage

"John Bayley is a man who has spent a lifetime sampling books and libraries, as an epicure tastes fine wines. Bayley's Hand Luggage is his annotated compilation of those passages of poetry and prose which have meant the most to him on his journey through life." "Now in his mid-seventies, the distinguished critic looks back on a life in which reading has been his predominant occupation. In an extensive essay, prefaced to his personal selection of short extracts culled from a wide range of novels, letters, diaries, memoirs and poetry, Bayley considers the ways in which books have always been the essential items of luggage that have travelled with him. He remembers favourite books of childhood, the formative reading of his adolescent years and his academic interest in the works of Henry James, Leo Tolstoy and A. E. Housman. He also considers the ways in which books can alleviate low spirits in times of adversity, and includes the poetry which he found comforting during the final illness of his wife, Iris Murdoch."--BOOK JACKET.