Book description
Any Human Heart is William's Boyd's classic, bestselling novel, now available as a Penguin Essential for the first time.
Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary, but Logan Mountstuart's - lived from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century - contains more than its fair share of both.…
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Why read it?
1 author picked Any Human Heart as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
What I loved about this book is that Boyd does what I would never do. He writes as if it were a journal in which the writer, like the reader, doesn't know what will happen next. It's like going on a journey without a set plan.
There are beautifully idiosyncratic descriptions of now famous, then unknown literary figures – Evelyn Waugh, Hemingway, etc. – told in a natural 'course of conversation,' not a name-dropping way, and catty asides shedding light on characters like Virginia Woolf and her racism. Boyd is very good at describing feelings and attitudes and the way…
If you love Any Human Heart...
We Are Made
You’re grieving, you’re falling in love and you’re skint. On top of it all, Europe’s going to Hell in a handcart. Things can’t get any worse, can they?
London, 1938. William is grieving over his former teacher and mentor, killed fighting for the Republicans in Spain. As Europe slides towards…
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