I Must Collect Myself: Choice Cuts from a Long Shelf-Life

by Maureen Lipman

Maureen Lipman has the knack of making the everyday supremely entertaining, the ordinary absurd and unexpected. This new collection of pieces sparkles with her inimitable prose and pithy opinions. Encounters in the street, at the hairdresser, in the dressing room, on her travels at home and abroad, indeed wherever she goes, are sharply observed, joyfully and - at times - ruefully recorded. Included too are a selection of brilliant monologues which capture the many voices of Maureen in wonderfully diverse ways.

350 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2010

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought home for me by my library worker husband this was quite an interesting read. Mo throws everything in including the kitchen sink. It’s not too ‘lovely’ and she’s quite good at laughing at herself which was good. She wrote about the loss of her husband, jack Rosenthal, after many years and of finding a new love. It was a great book for the more mature lady in that Maureen loves clothes, eating, having a good time and life in general. All as it should be ! X

[Catrin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as her other books.

[anna woodhouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feelgood

Wonderfully funny, beautifully written and self-effacing. I feel so much better having read it without stopping. Make it a priority.

[Edmund Chattoe-Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel bad about this because she has had a rubbish time of late personally but I don't think this is up to the standard of her other books in this vein. The writing about her life is less witty and more polemical (really found the stuff on Israel hard to take as so one sided even countering other kinds of one sidedness) than it used to be. In places it verges on that "mildly amusing colour supplement article about showering my dog" thing she used to be so much better than (ditto Caitlin Moran). I was also disappointed overall by the monologues (a big chunk of the book) which I was expecting to be much funnier given how witty she is/was in almost other ways. Still several of them click or come close. Focus on seeking out the other six or so books she wrote in this style. You will be much better served.