“A loving and breezy set of essays” on today’s most addictive TV shows from “an incisive and hilarious critic” (Slate). Television is not what it once was. Award-winning author and critic Clive James spent decades covering the medium, and witnessed a radical change in content, format, and programming, and in the very manner in which TV is watched. Here he examines this unique cultural revolution, providing a brilliant, eminently entertaining analysis of many of television’s most notable twenty-first-century accomplishments and their not always subtle impact on modern society—including such acclaimed serial dramas as Breaking Bad, The West Wing, Mad Men, and The Sopranos and the comedy 30 Rock. With intelligence and wit, James explores a television landscape expanded by cable and broadband and profoundly altered by the advent of Netflix, Amazon, and other cord-cutting platforms that have helped to usher in a golden age of unabashed binge-watching. “James loves television, he loves the winding stories it tells and that we share them together. Play All is a late love letter to the medium of our lives.”—Sunday Times “Large-brained and largehearted, and written with astonishing energy.”—The New York Times Book Review “Witty and insightful musing on popular and critically acclaimed series of the past two decades.”—Publishers Weekly

His best in one volume, Clive James On Television includes all Clive James's treasured TV criticism, originally written for The Observer between the years 1972 and 1982. From the 1972 Olympics to the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest, here is a decade of the most trenchant, witty and thought-provoking criticism of any kind, with a foreword from Clive James himself, described as 'the funniest man in Britain'. This volume incorporates three collections: Visions Before Midnight, The Crystal Bucket and Glued to the Box.

The final instalment in Clive James's collections of TV criticism in The Observer including pieces originally published between 1979 and 1982. Adding to an already unforgettable collection of comic brilliance, fans of Visions Before Midnight and The Crystal Bucket will not be disappointed.

“With unfailing panache and a style that swoops from crisply cynical to downright voluptuous, Princess Daisy is a guaranteed winner.”—Cosmopolitan She was born Princess Marguerite Alexandrovna Valensky. But everyone called her Daisy. She was a blonde beauty living in a world of aristocrats and countless wealthy. Her father was a prince, a Russian nobleman. Her mother was an American movie goddess. Men desired her. Women envied her. Daisy's life was a fairy tale filled with parties and balls, priceless jewels, money and love. Then, suddenly, the fairy tale ended. And Princess Daisy had to start again, with nothing—except the secret she guarded from the day she was born. Praise for Princess Daisy “This page-turner is a champion.”—People “Judith Krantz has written the glamour novel of the year if not of the decade. Princess Daisy has the same storytelling assets as Scruples, only more of them. Glamour, glamour is everywhere.”—John Barkham Reviews “A positively gorgeous reading experience.”—Shirley Eder, Detroit Free Press “Princess Daisy soars to the heights of escapist entertainment. . . . It is delicious.”—Jill Gerson, Philadelphia Inquirer “In true saga style, this blockbuster weaves its spell across an international landscape. A breathless spin of romance.”—Kitty Kelley, Hollywood Reporter “Elegantly written, with verve and panache . . . a glamorous, extremely adult Cinderella story to delight millions of readers who relish nonstop entertainment. Rollicking wit, high drama, haute couture, and a fascinating cast of characters, who gallop from one sumptuous setting to the next.”—Ft. Worth Chronicle

Nearly 30 years ago, James wrote a refreshingly candid book that made no claims to be accurate, precise, or entirely truthful, only to entertain. Long unavailable in the U.S., "Unreliable Memoirs" is being made available to American readers.

“[A] collection of Clive James’s essays on a variety of literary topics . . . This is sanity, humor and acuity in the face of death” (The Wall Street Journal). In 2010, Clive James was diagnosed with terminal leukemia. Deciding that “if you don’t know the exact moment when the lights will go out, you might as well read until they do,” James moved his library to his Cambridge house, where he would “live, read, and perhaps even write.” James is the award-winning author of dozens of works of literary criticism, poetry, and history, and this volume contains his reflections on what may well be his last reading list. A look at some of James’s old favorites as well as some of his recent discoveries, this book also offers a revealing look at the author himself, sharing his evocative musings on literature and family, and on living and dying. As thoughtful and erudite as the works of Alberto Manguel, and as moving and inspiring as Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture and Will Schwalbe’s The End of Your Life Book Club, this valediction to James’s lifelong engagement with the written word is a captivating valentine from one of the great literary minds of our time. “These essays and poems are death-haunted but radiant with the felt experience of what it means to be alive, even when mortally sick, especially when mortally sick.” —Financial Times “Latest Readings is a plain demonstration that Mr. James remains as learned and as funny as any critic on earth.” —The New York Times

The BBC Radio 4 series, A Point of View, has been on the air since 2007. Over the years, it's had a variety of presenters - including the national treasure that is Clive James - talking for ten minutes about anything and everything that has captured their imagination, piqued their interest, raised their blood pressure or just downright incensed them that week. Of all the presenters, Clive James was a clear favourite, and now, for the first time, his original pieces - sixty in total - and all new postscripts are collected together in one volume. Read along with Clive as he reflects on everything from wheelie bins to plastic surgery, Elizabeth Hurley to the Olympics, 24 to Damien Hirst, Harry Potter to giving up smoking, car parks to Chinese elections, Britain's Got Talent to the expenses scandal - and plenty more besides.