In My Own Time: Thoughts and Afterthoughts - Hardcover

Miller, Jane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0349007586 ISBN 13: 9780349007588

Publisher: Virago, 2018

Synopsis

For the past four years Jane Miller, author of Crazy Age: Thoughts on Being Old, has been writing a column for an American magazine called In These Times. Her beautifully observed pieces about life, politics and Britain open a window to her American readers of a world very different from their own.

Jane lives in London, and has never met anyone connected to the magazine; all the time she has been contributing pieces, she and her editor at In These Times have kept up a lively email correspondence, and - having explored the Chicago street in which they work on Google Street View - she imagines her editor and his young assistants bicycling efficiently along the wide road, braced for a day's fact-checking, assembling the magazine and then 'putting it to bed'.

In My Own Time is a celebration of the new connections possible in the modern world, and a collection of small windows on these last four years, at home and abroad. Through her emails across the Atlantic - warm and thoughtful, witty and sharp - Miller gives us an 84 Charing Cross Road for the twenty-first century.

About this title

About the Author

Jane Miller first worked in publishing, then as an English teacher in a London comprehensive and finally as a Professor at the London University Institute of Education. Her publications include Many Voices: Bilingualiam, Culture and Education; Women Writing About Men; Seductions: Studies in Reading and Culture; School for Women; Relations; Crazy Age and In My Own Time: Thoughts and Afterthoughts. She lives in London.

Review

This is a remarkable collection, a reflection not just of a later life well lived, but a distinct political and personal
sensibility. Far from being "over the hill", Miller is one of a growing tribe of female elders who stand right on the peak, taking a wry, wise and witty view of all they survey

―Guardian

[An] entertaining and insightful collection . . . her writing has a fascinating effect: she is forced to look in on herself from the outside. She isn't confined to age, menopause or retirement as themes . . . Miller's writing is filled with a wisdom, cheery world-weariness and kindness . . . She is wonderful on age and authority . . .Miller is a fantastic companion―Viv Groskop, Telegraph

Jane Miller's collected journalism is a treasure trove of literary, personal and political marvels. The writing is a joy, as is the observation, wit and humanity that underpin it: like Montaigne, only funnier―Matthew d?Ancona, Guardian and Evening Standard columnist

Breadth in no way comes at the expense of readability or of Miller's mastery of her subject matter. Her erudition is both dazzling and lightly borne . . . Miller's is a welcome, necessary voice - readable, informative and entertaining―Times Literary Supplement

A humanity and quiet humour that makes them feel like conversations with an intelligent friend―Jane Shilling, Daily Mail

Edition details

• Publisher: Virago
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0349007586
• ISBN 13: 9780349007588
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 320