Pure Pleasure: A Guide to the 20th Century's Most Enjoyable Books

This book collects the essays commissioned from Carey (editor, Oxford English professor, and accomplished author of studies on Dickens, Thackeray, Donne) by London's Sunday Times. The list of books he compiled is all 20th-century, limited to one book per author, and aims for balance between the decades. (That said, it's definitely weighted toward the first 2/3 of the century -- the '60s have four books, '70s have two, '80s have three, and the '90s also three.) In the introduction, Carey explains some of the rationale for his selections: "The list that I have put together is.... not chosen on grounds of literary 'greatness', the testimony they bear to the human spirit, or anything of that kind.... Instead I took pure reading-pleasure as my criterion -- the pleasure the books have given me, and the pleasure I hope others will get from being reminded of them, or perhaps introduced to them..." and similarly he decided to "omit books that gain their power more from their subjects more than their writing." The resulting list of selections is a mix of 33 novels and short story collections, 10 poetry collections and 7 works of non-fiction. Most of authors will be instantly recognizable to anyone with more than a passing interest in 20th-century Western letters: Amis, Auden, Chesterton, Conan Doyle, Conrad, Eliot, Fitzgerald, Forester, Gide, Graves, Greene, Hardy, Huxley, Joyce, Kipling, Mann, Naipaul, Orwell, Sarte, Steinbeck, Waugh, Wells -- albeit with a few notable exceptions (no Faulkner, Hemingway, Nabokov). Those with a particular interest in female writers may be a little dismayed by their relative absence (five are included: Elizabeth Bowen, Katherine Mansfield, poetess Stevie Smith, Muriel Spark, and Sylvia Townsend Warner), but as Carey makes clear from the outset, it is a very personal selection. Each selection is accorded a 3-4 page essay which combines concise summary with authorial context and insightful analysis. These benefit from Carey's expertise and clear writing, which manages to convey both his erudition and enthusiasm for each work. On the one hand, I found myself newly enriched by his comments on books I'd long ago read, such as "The Great Gatsby", "Brighton Rock", and "The Good Soldier Svejk". And on the other, I was greatly appreciative of Carey's discovery that "I found myself avoiding the thumping masterpieces, and going instead for less trumpeted and less familiar favorites..." Among the books I'll be seeking out at some point in the future are Bulgakov's "A Country Doctor's Notebook", Isherwood's "Mr. Norris Changes Trains", Mann's "Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man", and Orwell's "Coming Up for Air". Easy to dip into, this is an excellent resource for the reader looking for an accessible introduction to some of the best of 20th-century writing.

I picked this book up after it was mentioned in a 'Reason' magazine article about James Joyce and Bloomsday celebrations. Carey writes well, has well-reasoned opinions, and is humane in his critical judgments. His list is less should-do and more want-to. I will return to it again and again when considering what to read next. Thank you, Mr. Carey!

This is a truly enjoyable book. Carey discusses (or should that be: enthuses about) his personal favourites with a passion that makes one want to go out and read, or re-read, all of them. And he does so in a wonderfully concise and clear manner, never academic in tone.This is a book for anybody who love reading, to read, but also to refer back to from time to time. I cannot but recommend it.