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Charles Ritchie Diaries Chronologic #.5
An Appetite for Life: The Education of a Young Diarist, 1924-1927
Charles Ritchie’s first volume of diaries, The Siren Years , created a sensation when it was published in 1974. Besides winning the Governor General’s Award for Non-fiction, it was hailed by reviewers on both sides of the Atlantic. An Appetite for Life , his second volume, first published in 1977, deals with his youth in Halifax and his career at Oxford—the years when Charles Ritchie turned from a callow, blundering youth into a callow, blundering young man.
As these diaries show, Charles Ritchie had a sharp eye, a keen ear, a highly developed sense of the absurd, and—despite his unhappy knack of landing flat on his face —a thorough “appetite for life.”
This is not only a hilariously funny book, but it presents a vivid picture of two worlds—Halifax and Oxford in the mid-twenties—that are now long gone. It also introduces us to an astonishing range of characters, but the most astonishing of all is the young Charles Ritchie himself.
As these diaries show, Charles Ritchie had a sharp eye, a keen ear, a highly developed sense of the absurd, and—despite his unhappy knack of landing flat on his face —a thorough “appetite for life.”
This is not only a hilariously funny book, but it presents a vivid picture of two worlds—Halifax and Oxford in the mid-twenties—that are now long gone. It also introduces us to an astonishing range of characters, but the most astonishing of all is the young Charles Ritchie himself.
168 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 2001
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 23, 2020
This work of non-fiction, a compilation of diary entries from Charles Ritchie's life as a teenager and a young student in Oxford, records his years growing up in Halifax while giving us a picture of life in Canada (and as a Canadian) in the early 20's. The book was much wittier than I expected, falling somewhere between the forecasting of a memoir with all the narrative direction one would expect from such an endeavor, a slice of life, and the sporadic, spontaneous inner musings of a young mind figuring out family, friends, romance and coming of age. in this developing space along the Eastern shores of the Canadian maritime Province.
It's unintentionally witty as well, seeing his time and place as if he was writing from the future, reflecting on the kind of idiosyncrasies one might pick up only in hindsight. It's quite clever in that way, and often funny as you see him responding to his religious environment, some strange friends, and awkward love interests.
Broken into two parts, his time growing up in Halfax, and his time attending school in London, this hit the spot for me as I was looking for something with a particular Canadian flavor. This was written a good deal ago, first published a bit more recently, but still works as an enjoyable peek into a bit of Canadiana (he would eventually go on to be a Canadian diplomat in London). It has an appetite for life for sure.
It's unintentionally witty as well, seeing his time and place as if he was writing from the future, reflecting on the kind of idiosyncrasies one might pick up only in hindsight. It's quite clever in that way, and often funny as you see him responding to his religious environment, some strange friends, and awkward love interests.
Broken into two parts, his time growing up in Halfax, and his time attending school in London, this hit the spot for me as I was looking for something with a particular Canadian flavor. This was written a good deal ago, first published a bit more recently, but still works as an enjoyable peek into a bit of Canadiana (he would eventually go on to be a Canadian diplomat in London). It has an appetite for life for sure.
September 9, 2015
Charming Canadiana.
The first half of the book, set in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in the mid-1920s, reads as if it were written by a minor male character (an ineffectual teenager) in the "Anne of Green Gables" books.
The second half of the book follows the same "character" across the ocean to England, to college days in Oxford, where he now takes on the mannerisms of an undergraduate in an early Evelyn Waugh novel.
The first half of the book, set in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in the mid-1920s, reads as if it were written by a minor male character (an ineffectual teenager) in the "Anne of Green Gables" books.
The second half of the book follows the same "character" across the ocean to England, to college days in Oxford, where he now takes on the mannerisms of an undergraduate in an early Evelyn Waugh novel.
July 22, 2009
Charles Richie spent a lifetime as a Canadian Diplomat and in 1974 published a volume of his diaries which are delightful...well written, filled with anecdote and detail. A window on a world too seldom told...Canadian diplomacy in action.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews