Books we like ... and books we're not too fussed about
William Leith
Bloomsbury 2005
I first came across William Leith when he wrote a weekly article for the Independent on Sunday in the early nineties. In it he was candid about his private life, and especially his relationship with his “girlfriend”. This candour was pretty unprecedented at the time, and for a while I found it quite interesting. In the end though, it all became a bit wearing. In this book, there’s more of the same, and my reactions are similar. His very personal account of binge eating and other forms of addiction (drugs, booze, sex) is undoubtedly interesting, but in the end the self-absorption got me down. For example, just about the only bit of current affairs to intrude – the invasion of Iraq – is written off in a couple of sentences. Still it’s probably unfair to criticise a personal account of an obsession for being too personal. This book does what it says on the tin, and certainly has a lot of interesting things to say about obesity, dieting, and addiction, as well as society’s wider malaise. At times, though, its lack of structure made it a frustrating read for me.
http://www.hungryyears.com/
17th January 2009
See also: Bits Of Me Are Falling Apart
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