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A Talent to Annoy
A collection of essays, articles, and reviews, written for "Vogue," "Atlantic Monthly," "The New York Times," and other publications, reflects the author's full range of interests and concerns
217 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1955
3 people are currently reading
360 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Mitford
111 books772 followersNancy Mitford, styled The Hon. Nancy Mitford before her marriage and The Hon. Mrs Peter Rodd thereafter, was an English novelist and biographer, one of the Bright Young People on the London social scene in the inter-war years. She was born at 1 Graham Street (now Graham Place) in Belgravia, London, the eldest daughter of Lord Redesdale, and was brought up at Asthall Manor in Oxfordshire. She was the eldest of the six controversial Mitford sisters.
She is best remembered for her series of novels about upper-class life in England and France, particularly the four published after 1945; but she also wrote four well-received, well-researched popular biographies (of Louis XIV, Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire, and Frederick the Great). She was one of the noted Mitford sisters and the first to publicize the extraordinary family life of her very English and very eccentric family, giving rise to a "Mitford industry," which continues.
She is best remembered for her series of novels about upper-class life in England and France, particularly the four published after 1945; but she also wrote four well-received, well-researched popular biographies (of Louis XIV, Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire, and Frederick the Great). She was one of the noted Mitford sisters and the first to publicize the extraordinary family life of her very English and very eccentric family, giving rise to a "Mitford industry," which continues.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 3, 2024
Enough with the nonsense that Tom Wolfe (and a few other NYers) started New Journalism in the 60s. Mitford began her journalistic reflections in 1929 and was always personal. But UK jlism has always been superior to US scribbles. Traveling around Europe, (but never to the US) she writes for the London Sunday Times: "Athens is probably the ugliest capital in Europe." Can you imagine that line appearing in the NYT? "Furthermore," she adds (1955), "it has the dreadful air of prosperous vulgarity that one does not expect to see this side of the Atlantic." Aw, Nancy, why didn't you visit the US?
Rome, she avers, "in fact and at heart is a small village with its single post office, single railway station and life centered around the vicarage." The Piazza di Spagna is the village green. She infuriated Romans (1952).
She also disses French, British, American chic in a hilarious essay, finds the stupidity of Marie-Antoinette monumental, and, in her famous tease about U and non-U words, reminds us that "wealthy" is non-U for "rich." (As "home" is for "house"). To the GR point she stresses, "As far as I am concerned, all reading is for pleasure."
Rome, she avers, "in fact and at heart is a small village with its single post office, single railway station and life centered around the vicarage." The Piazza di Spagna is the village green. She infuriated Romans (1952).
She also disses French, British, American chic in a hilarious essay, finds the stupidity of Marie-Antoinette monumental, and, in her famous tease about U and non-U words, reminds us that "wealthy" is non-U for "rich." (As "home" is for "house"). To the GR point she stresses, "As far as I am concerned, all reading is for pleasure."
August 20, 2013
A cleverly named compendium of Nancy Mitford's short works, I found this book best read in small doses-- not for a negative reason, but to allow her to sink in a bit.
This updated edition of Nancy's essays, reviews, and articles is edited by niece Charlotte Mosley, and includes snippets of Nancy's letters to Evelyn Waugh and similar luminaries to introduce each selection.
Because she was resident of France during the time she wrote this, many of the books she reviews deal in French Regency history. If you are not interested in the details, these parts may be slow going. But Nancy infuses French history with her own wit and sarcasm; plodding through it will reward you with a few gems of her sharp humor.
The famous "U and Non-U" is within; this introduced me to Nancy many years ago and started my great awakening to all things Mitford. I took it quite seriously on first reading (as did many who read it), and when I realized it was a tease from start to finish-- well, to put it in her own words, how I shrieked! If you enjoy a keen wit and sarcasm with your facts, don't miss Nancy Mitford.
This updated edition of Nancy's essays, reviews, and articles is edited by niece Charlotte Mosley, and includes snippets of Nancy's letters to Evelyn Waugh and similar luminaries to introduce each selection.
Because she was resident of France during the time she wrote this, many of the books she reviews deal in French Regency history. If you are not interested in the details, these parts may be slow going. But Nancy infuses French history with her own wit and sarcasm; plodding through it will reward you with a few gems of her sharp humor.
The famous "U and Non-U" is within; this introduced me to Nancy many years ago and started my great awakening to all things Mitford. I took it quite seriously on first reading (as did many who read it), and when I realized it was a tease from start to finish-- well, to put it in her own words, how I shrieked! If you enjoy a keen wit and sarcasm with your facts, don't miss Nancy Mitford.
December 15, 2018
I am besotted with the Mitfords. I will read anything about them or by them. It is good thing several of the sisters were prolific and worthwhile authors.
"A Talent To Annoy" is a collection of magazine essays by Nancy Mitford written between 1929 and 1968. Her intelligence, irreverent wit, love of history and attention to detail are all on display here.
Count me among the multitude who wish I had had the pleasure of knowing Miss Mitford. I am not that lucky, so I will read her instead.
"A Talent To Annoy" is a collection of magazine essays by Nancy Mitford written between 1929 and 1968. Her intelligence, irreverent wit, love of history and attention to detail are all on display here.
Count me among the multitude who wish I had had the pleasure of knowing Miss Mitford. I am not that lucky, so I will read her instead.
August 8, 2018
One of the more fun ones I've read recently. Some genuinely laugh out loud bits, plus you learn that Nancy was commissioned by Ian Fleming to write dispatches from Paris - o, to have been at that business lunch!!
August 17, 2021
The early pieces are simply not good enough. Mitford was published in The Lady, a woman's magazine of the late 1920s, early '30s, and it was too soon. It took The Pursuit of Love, written right at the close of World War II, before Nancy Mitford hit her stylistic stride. It coincided with her relocation to Mitford's beloved Paris, and the articles she published in London from France during the next 20 or so years immediately were better. At last she had found her métier, reporting to drab England from ever-delightful France. But the tone of the articles is less excessive than, say, Mitford's published letters to Evelyn Waugh. Waugh frequently chided her for the need to cast everything French in the best light, but as the articles here demonstrate, she was the equal of Janet Flanner and wrote with the humor that Flanner occasionally lacked.
A good read, even better if you are a fan
A good read, even better if you are a fan
December 23, 2023
Most of the subjects Nancy Mitford writes about in this collection of essays, articles, and reviews are not of primary interest to me, such as the modern fashions in clothes and the English Aristocracy. But I never wondered why I was reading about such things because the author herself consistently amuses, which I might have guessed would be the case from reading several of her novels. It’s not that she is an especially friendly author, and at times she goes quite into detail, such as in her critique of Carlyle’s book about Frederick the Great, but she has a biting wit and a sly sense of humor that combined with her idiosyncratic take on things causes the pages to turn for the better part intriguingly. My two favorite sections are her Paris Column in which she shrewdly observes the French, and her essay on Apsley Cherry-Garrard’s book The Worst Journey in the World about Captain Scott’s 1911 expedition to the South Pole. Writing in 1962, Mitford questions why with all the abundance of written material on their expedition she should bother adding to it. But all these years later, I had never heard of these early 20th century British explorers, and I was stunned and utterly fascinated by Mitford’s account of what they went through. Reading about their hardships was quite a long way from some of Mitford’s critiques in the early pages on English weddings and shooting parties. The first four entries are from 1929-30, when she was in her twenties. Mitford’s teasing is a bit over the top. It’s not to say that these entries are mean-spirited; but more just that in them she seems to be parading her wit. But thankfully very early on in the book we find ourselves in 1948, and Mitford’s voice has clearly matured. There are all sorts of little tidbits she offers up:
“However, since pearls lying in a museum only deteriorate …”
“Nothing shows the character of a town more clearly than the aspect and quantity of its bookshops … No town that I have ever seen has so many bookshops to the square mile as Paris. There seem to be two or three in every street.”
“A friendly concierge adds wonderfully to the amenities of life, and nobody who has lived in a house where there is one would willingly do without her again – I think personally that even a devil is better than no concierge at all.”
“Le Journal d’une femme de cinquante ans, by the Marquise de la Tour du Pin de Gouvernet, hitherto very difficult to come by, has just been reprinted. It is the most entertaining of the many memoirs written by aristocrats who survived the French Revolution.”
“Unfortunately, as every novelist knows, there is nothing so dull as goodness.”
“As far as I am concerned, all reading is for pleasure.”
I was interested to learn about her reading habits. When she was a girl, she read what was available to her in the family library, “French and English biography, history and belles lettres, with some German philosophy, out of my reach. There were no novels, no books of travel and very little poetry. I still read more biography, memoirs and letters than anything else.” Interesting coming from someone who is best known for her fiction. And she divulges her favorite book of all time, La Princesse de Cleves by Madame de La Fayette, which as it happens was also a favorite of her contemporary Somerset Maugham.
Mitford is on the defensive about the English language in modern society; she is worried that it is continuously being ruined. She also thinks that Proust, or any good book for that matter, should be read in its native tongue, and not to bother with translations. Some of the essays, like one on Carlyle’s book of Frederick the Great, or Cronin’s on Louis XIV, feel a bit long, perhaps because they feel just a bit pedestrian compared to the rest of the entries, in which Mitford’s prose engages due to her wit, charm, humor and idiosyncratic personality, all the same qualities which have led me to find her novels enjoyable.
The last fifteen pages of this 217-page book consist of her French Revolution diary from 1968 in which there was great political and social upheaval in Paris due to a worker’s strike. At the time Mitford was 63 years old. In her entry dated June 4 she writes, “I don’t think I’ve got the temperament of a diarist.” But her diary makes for some of the most touching parts of the book. The times are much different compared to the carefree days of the 1920’s - they sound rather like our own times – topsy turvy. And there can be traced in Mitford’s matter-of-fact diary a sense of bitterness toward a Parisian society which has lost its manners, and is being overrun by youth, who seem to think that anyone over thirty should be done away with. She writes, “If I am a conservative it is because I see so much worth conserving in French society. It seems a pity that all should have to go up in flames for the sake of a few reforms.” And she is unimpressed by the major news outlets of the day: “The wireless is terrifying. If the BBC were not always so utterly wrong about French affairs I would listen to it, but what is the good? They understand nothing.”
Mitford’s niece Charlotte Mosley edited this collection. She made many fine choices, but it would be interesting to see what she left out. What made the final cut covers a broad range of interests that make for a read as eccentric as its author. I wish there were more volumes of criticism by Nancy Mitford available than there currently are.
“However, since pearls lying in a museum only deteriorate …”
“Nothing shows the character of a town more clearly than the aspect and quantity of its bookshops … No town that I have ever seen has so many bookshops to the square mile as Paris. There seem to be two or three in every street.”
“A friendly concierge adds wonderfully to the amenities of life, and nobody who has lived in a house where there is one would willingly do without her again – I think personally that even a devil is better than no concierge at all.”
“Le Journal d’une femme de cinquante ans, by the Marquise de la Tour du Pin de Gouvernet, hitherto very difficult to come by, has just been reprinted. It is the most entertaining of the many memoirs written by aristocrats who survived the French Revolution.”
“Unfortunately, as every novelist knows, there is nothing so dull as goodness.”
“As far as I am concerned, all reading is for pleasure.”
I was interested to learn about her reading habits. When she was a girl, she read what was available to her in the family library, “French and English biography, history and belles lettres, with some German philosophy, out of my reach. There were no novels, no books of travel and very little poetry. I still read more biography, memoirs and letters than anything else.” Interesting coming from someone who is best known for her fiction. And she divulges her favorite book of all time, La Princesse de Cleves by Madame de La Fayette, which as it happens was also a favorite of her contemporary Somerset Maugham.
Mitford is on the defensive about the English language in modern society; she is worried that it is continuously being ruined. She also thinks that Proust, or any good book for that matter, should be read in its native tongue, and not to bother with translations. Some of the essays, like one on Carlyle’s book of Frederick the Great, or Cronin’s on Louis XIV, feel a bit long, perhaps because they feel just a bit pedestrian compared to the rest of the entries, in which Mitford’s prose engages due to her wit, charm, humor and idiosyncratic personality, all the same qualities which have led me to find her novels enjoyable.
The last fifteen pages of this 217-page book consist of her French Revolution diary from 1968 in which there was great political and social upheaval in Paris due to a worker’s strike. At the time Mitford was 63 years old. In her entry dated June 4 she writes, “I don’t think I’ve got the temperament of a diarist.” But her diary makes for some of the most touching parts of the book. The times are much different compared to the carefree days of the 1920’s - they sound rather like our own times – topsy turvy. And there can be traced in Mitford’s matter-of-fact diary a sense of bitterness toward a Parisian society which has lost its manners, and is being overrun by youth, who seem to think that anyone over thirty should be done away with. She writes, “If I am a conservative it is because I see so much worth conserving in French society. It seems a pity that all should have to go up in flames for the sake of a few reforms.” And she is unimpressed by the major news outlets of the day: “The wireless is terrifying. If the BBC were not always so utterly wrong about French affairs I would listen to it, but what is the good? They understand nothing.”
Mitford’s niece Charlotte Mosley edited this collection. She made many fine choices, but it would be interesting to see what she left out. What made the final cut covers a broad range of interests that make for a read as eccentric as its author. I wish there were more volumes of criticism by Nancy Mitford available than there currently are.
August 20, 2020
I really do believe one either loves or loathes Nancy Mitford. It is an aquired taste, and not everyone can tolerate her prose, which is girlish one moment and vicious the next, if not both at once. I am firmly in the camp which can, and which cannot get enough of it. Her essays and articles are characteristically opinionated and some may find them slightly inflammatory, so if you are easily outraged, give it a miss. I think it highly unlikely that Mitford ever gave a damn about outraging people, which is fotunate, because if she did we would be deprived of some truly funny 'teases' as she calls them.
December 28, 2021
I believe I would have enjoyed the essays so much more had I read them at the time they were written and had knowledge of the people and places referenced. Milford’s sharp tongue and wonderful writing style is enjoyable. The title of this book is perfection!
June 6, 2024
I didn't plan on reading all of these - I picked out those that interested me at first. But, in the end read every one. Mitford had a wonderful way with words. Also fun to see how some of her experiences were reimagined in her novels.
January 5, 2026
Nancy Mitford, as well as the England and France of her time, are utterly alive and well in these perfectly witty and deeply personal pieces!
December 19, 2017
Before reading this book I had only a fleeting knowledge of Nancy Mitford, so I took to Wikipedia to gain a little more of an insight. By all accounts she was a real fire-cracker of a lady. She was the life and soul of the party in her youth as one of the “Bright Young People” on the London scene, and with a kind of temerity and force of character that made her an irrepressible force to be reckoned with.
Mitford is best remembered for her novels about Upper-class life in England, but she also penned several biographies and had a very successful career as a columnist, book reviewer and journalist.
Often when I read collections of essays such as this I have to read it alongside a fiction book; the thought of facing so many essays in one go is too dry. I was extremely gratified to find that this is in no way the case with “A Talent to Annoy”. Nancy Mitford is hilariously honest and bold in sharing her feelings about the topics she writes about. She is unrepentant and her voice is so clear; if she didn’t like a book and felt the author was poor, she made her feelings known and consequences be damned!
Although she doesn’t sugar-coat her criticisms, there is no sense of bad feeling behind it. Her reviews balance enough humour alongside her honesty to make the overall tone of the piece good natured. She is never mean for the sake of being mean.
As well as conveying her wicked humour so deliciously (as perfectly demonstrated in the now infamous “The English Aristocracy” where she playfully expounds on the merits of U versus non-U speak), Mitford delivers thoughtful, emotional essays with just as much aplomb.
My favourite essay of the collection, “A Bad Time”, moved Mitford to tears as she was writing it, and very nearly caused me to shed a tear as a reader. In this essay, Mitford takes us through the ill-fated polar expedition of Captain Scott. Each of the key figures of the expedition are introduced wonderfully to the reader, intimate details of their days on their polar journey are shared and by the time the perilous and ultimately tragic end to their journey is described the reader is emotionally invested in the whole tale. Mitford’s own passion and sadness at the story is felt with every line written.
Nancy Mitford is one of the most gifted, effervescent and droll writers I have ever read, and this collection of essays is a must read.
This review was first published on Nudge-books.com on 25th May 2013.
Mitford is best remembered for her novels about Upper-class life in England, but she also penned several biographies and had a very successful career as a columnist, book reviewer and journalist.
Often when I read collections of essays such as this I have to read it alongside a fiction book; the thought of facing so many essays in one go is too dry. I was extremely gratified to find that this is in no way the case with “A Talent to Annoy”. Nancy Mitford is hilariously honest and bold in sharing her feelings about the topics she writes about. She is unrepentant and her voice is so clear; if she didn’t like a book and felt the author was poor, she made her feelings known and consequences be damned!
Although she doesn’t sugar-coat her criticisms, there is no sense of bad feeling behind it. Her reviews balance enough humour alongside her honesty to make the overall tone of the piece good natured. She is never mean for the sake of being mean.
As well as conveying her wicked humour so deliciously (as perfectly demonstrated in the now infamous “The English Aristocracy” where she playfully expounds on the merits of U versus non-U speak), Mitford delivers thoughtful, emotional essays with just as much aplomb.
My favourite essay of the collection, “A Bad Time”, moved Mitford to tears as she was writing it, and very nearly caused me to shed a tear as a reader. In this essay, Mitford takes us through the ill-fated polar expedition of Captain Scott. Each of the key figures of the expedition are introduced wonderfully to the reader, intimate details of their days on their polar journey are shared and by the time the perilous and ultimately tragic end to their journey is described the reader is emotionally invested in the whole tale. Mitford’s own passion and sadness at the story is felt with every line written.
Nancy Mitford is one of the most gifted, effervescent and droll writers I have ever read, and this collection of essays is a must read.
This review was first published on Nudge-books.com on 25th May 2013.
March 7, 2014
This is a great collection of articles and reviews written by the incomparable Nancy Mitford over a period of more than 40 years. Her unique voice shines through each of the items some of which are quite short and snappy while others have enough length to them to allow you to really get your teeth into something. I think my favourite articles are those relating to the oddity that is the English Aristocracy as well as the one which explains the 'U or non U' philosophy. Alongside these, which seem to come direct from one of Mitford's wonderful novels, there are others which seem to be almost preparations of her French history studies as well as others describing some of her travels often to somewhat unexpected places. Her sense of fun and unusual family circumstances crop up throughout the articles, and I cannot help but recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed her other work. The whole book makes for a brilliant and fascinating period piece.
March 7, 2015
I bought this second-hand paperback from DASA BookCafe, thinking there might be something worth reading since her essays, journalism, and reviews between 1929-1968 would reveal some interesting unread/unheard information or her unique ideas toward the past or contemporary issues to me, especially in the two decades before 1968. One of the reasons is that a few years ago I enjoyed reading a memoir “Hons and Rebels” by Jessica Mitford, the fifth daughter in the famous Mitford Family having six daughters and a son (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitford_...) and we know from this website that Nancy was the eldest sister.
June 14, 2014
While her writing (and her wit) is excellent (I love reading people who have a way with words), I didn't enjoy the book as much as I had hoped. I think she was writing for a more literate and better-educated audience than me (or I), so quite a few of her words were beyond me. Then again, that made it all the more gratifying when I did get an oblique (or maybe not so oblique) reference. There was a lot that I liked; the two essays I liked best were The Tourist, and A Bad Time, the agonizing story of Captain Scott's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole.
January 17, 2014
I had a good laugh on the last few chapters. What a character she was in real life. The characters in her novels are toned down version of hers. I might need to have the last three chapters (Views; 1968 France Revolution Diary I and II) photo copied for those dreary days here in Holland. It was such a treat.
Now off to reading her next masterpiece "Love in a Cold Climate".
Now off to reading her next masterpiece "Love in a Cold Climate".
June 21, 2009
Although this is now very dated it is still very light, humourous and accessible writing. It contains the essay on the British Aristocracy which is a 'good tease' with it pronouncements on U and non-U language.
December 3, 2010
I was going to give three stars, but there really wasn't bad one in the bunch, perhaps a couple that held my interest less than others (the last couple about the Paris in 1968 were likely au courant at publication, but seemed terribly dated); writing quality was consistently high.
December 30, 2012
I enjoyed this a lot. Of course it's dated now, but that's also part of the fun. Nancy Mitford is very self-aware, so even as she's writing, she's careful to make it clear that she's writing from her point of view, but it's an amusing one.
June 17, 2008
Oh, I liked this one. She can write! (And I'm sure she would have been *so* relieved to hear my opinion.)
June 22, 2009
This is a collection of newspaper articles by Nancy--including the funny and famous piece about U and non-U (Upper Class and non-Upper Class) speech.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews