The Smoking Diaries cover art

The Smoking Diaries

The Smoking Diaries, Volume 1

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The Smoking Diaries

By: Simon Gray
Narrated by: Simon Gray
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About this listen

'The funniest book I've read all year.' Julian Barnes

When he turned sixty-five, the playwright Simon Gray began to keep a diary: not a careful honing of the day's events with a view to posterity but an account of his thoughts as he had them, honestly, turbulently, digressively expressed.

One of Britain's most amusing and original writers reflects on a life filled with cigarettes (continuing), alcohol (stopped), several triumphs and many more disasters; a record of shame, adultery, friendship and love. Few diarists have ever been so frank about themselves, and even fewer so entertaining.

©2012 Simon Gray (P)2012 Faber & Faber
Art & Literature Authors Diaries & Journals Memoirs, Diaries & Correspondence Tobacco

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Critic reviews

"The funniest book I've read all year." (Julian Barnes)
All stars
Most relevant
Compelling listening in a stream of consciousness way. Slightly bigger breaks between chapters would help.

Immersive

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Great to hear Gray’s voice. His diaries are like listening to an old friend. Really enjoyable

Wonderful

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