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A Commonplace Book
When Sir Alec Guinness died in August 2000 at the age of 86, he left behind two exercise books filled with entries in his small, beautiful handwriting, together with a typed-up Introduction that suggests he planned to have the books published or broadcast in some way. Together they make up this commonplace book.
The entries include passages from favourite poems and plays, theatrical anecdotes, stories overheard on the street, and the occasional short musings or reminiscences on a subject that has simply taken his fancy. Inevitably certain writers recur. Shakespeare, of course, the subject of a lifetime's study and love. Pepys, Kipling, R.S. Thomas and religious writers like Cardinal Newman and Simone Weil. But here too are Woody Allen and John Updike, E.E. Cummings and Barry Humphries. And some acerbic comments on certain contemporary television stars.
The result is a charming book of wisdom and reflection, consolation and sheer pleasure, and one that offers an extraordinary insight into the mind of one of the great actors of the twentieth century.
The entries include passages from favourite poems and plays, theatrical anecdotes, stories overheard on the street, and the occasional short musings or reminiscences on a subject that has simply taken his fancy. Inevitably certain writers recur. Shakespeare, of course, the subject of a lifetime's study and love. Pepys, Kipling, R.S. Thomas and religious writers like Cardinal Newman and Simone Weil. But here too are Woody Allen and John Updike, E.E. Cummings and Barry Humphries. And some acerbic comments on certain contemporary television stars.
The result is a charming book of wisdom and reflection, consolation and sheer pleasure, and one that offers an extraordinary insight into the mind of one of the great actors of the twentieth century.
- GenresPoetry
173 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
1 person is currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Alec Guinness
41 books20 followersAmong extraordinary range of roles, known British actor Sir Alec Guinness won an academy award for
The Bridge on the River Kwai
(1957), his film.
After an early career of this Englishman on the stage, several of the Ealing comedies, including The Ladykillers, featured him, and he played eight different characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets. He also collaborated with David Lean as Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), as Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), as Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), as Yevgraf in Doctor Zhivago (1965), and as Professor Godbole in A Passage to India (1984); he won for best actor as Colonel Nicholson in Kwai. He also portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi in original Star Wars trilogy of George Lucas and received a nomination for best supporting actor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Gu...
After an early career of this Englishman on the stage, several of the Ealing comedies, including The Ladykillers, featured him, and he played eight different characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets. He also collaborated with David Lean as Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), as Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), as Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), as Yevgraf in Doctor Zhivago (1965), and as Professor Godbole in A Passage to India (1984); he won for best actor as Colonel Nicholson in Kwai. He also portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi in original Star Wars trilogy of George Lucas and received a nomination for best supporting actor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Gu...
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 3, 2017
A curious read. I enjoyed and appreciated that the editors opted to preserve the disordered format of the original Commonplace Book. I felt it easier to relate to the work, as, like many, I tend to make seemingly random notes an anecdotes too.
Certainly the thoughts of the author are more telling and easily the highlights of the book, though some of the sources he quotes from do provided open doorways to further reading.
Certainly the thoughts of the author are more telling and easily the highlights of the book, though some of the sources he quotes from do provided open doorways to further reading.
January 1, 2014
In these notebooks, published after his death, Guinness jotted down many of his favorite quotations and anecdotes, along with his own random thoughts, ideas, observations, and even dreams. (Interestingly, he dreamed about Shakespeare's plays quite often.) The result is a delightful look into a delightful mind. Jonny Hannah's illustrations are a bonus; not only do they complement the text perfectly, but they're also wonderful little drawings in themselves.
June 15, 2025
In his Introduction, Alec Guinness confesses to 'have been attracted by lovely, white sheets of virgin paper' which he admits he 'quickly and enthusiastically defaced them with elaborate drawings of fierce naval battles'. This led him to purchasing 'rather nice-looking large notebooks' into which he copied 'poems I intended to learn or pieces of prose that pleased me'. This became a lifetime obsession but sadly, almost of all them have been lost' [I know the feeling!]. But in later life he began again and he built up 'odds and ends that caught my eye ... in the cheapest school exercise books'. And it is from these that he has culled the items in this book in which he admits 'there is no theme or shape'. I do understand this for I have any number of such commonplace books with all sorts of material, intermingled within their covers!
Not surprisingly in Guinness' collection their is a preponderance of theatrical anecdotes and excerpts from the works of Shakespeare, the latter being 'the subject of a lifetime's study and love'. But he also covers such as quotations from diverse characters like Samuel Pepys, e.e. cummings, Rudyard Kipling, Woody Allen and Batty Humphries. And the blurb on the dust wrapper flap tells us 'And some acerbic comments on certain contemporary television stars.'
One entertaining entry is a pastiche on John Aubrey's 'Brief Lives' that must have amused him entitled 'Brief Lives in not so Brief' by the humourist Ogden Nash and some of Guinness' own writings include a surprising fact, 'I have only appeared in two plays in the West End in the past 15 years'. And he was partly perceptive when he noted, 'There is an ad - for tourist accommodation to be opened shortly at Hampton Court. How long before we can get a room at Buck House?' Well at least one can view certain rooms there nowadays!
He reports that a vet once said to actress Googie Withers, 'You should talk to an animal everyday for the good of your soul', that Sidney Lee said of Edward VII's gluttony, 'He had a splendid appetite and seldom toyed with his food', and perhaps bewilderingly, wonders himself, 'Are halcyon days only in winter?' No, Surely not! And amusingly he recalls an incident at The National Theatre in July 1989, 'I was accosted, when going into the auditorium by a gross, squat, American glittering woman, who shrieked, "Oh, My Guard! My Guard! Fancy seeing you here! And in your very own theatre, Mr Olivier!' [This reminds me of the story of W Somerset Maugham when returning from his home in his house on Cap Ferrat, the Villa La Mauresque, after WWII had ended and he had with him his large collection of great masters' paintings that he often used to receive in lieu of payment. The Custom's officer told him that he could not bring them into the country just like that so Maugham asked to see a senior officer. He duly arrived threw his hands in the air when he saw who he was to deal with and said, 'No problem, anything for the author of Gone with the Wind'!] Poor Margaret Mitchell!
Finally this quotation by the fat boy in Charles Dickens' 'Pickwick Papers' must have amused him, 'I wants to make your flesh creep.' Well there is nothing that will do that in this light-hearted and enjoyable look at Alec Guinness' fascinating commonplace book which is far from being ordinary.
Not surprisingly in Guinness' collection their is a preponderance of theatrical anecdotes and excerpts from the works of Shakespeare, the latter being 'the subject of a lifetime's study and love'. But he also covers such as quotations from diverse characters like Samuel Pepys, e.e. cummings, Rudyard Kipling, Woody Allen and Batty Humphries. And the blurb on the dust wrapper flap tells us 'And some acerbic comments on certain contemporary television stars.'
One entertaining entry is a pastiche on John Aubrey's 'Brief Lives' that must have amused him entitled 'Brief Lives in not so Brief' by the humourist Ogden Nash and some of Guinness' own writings include a surprising fact, 'I have only appeared in two plays in the West End in the past 15 years'. And he was partly perceptive when he noted, 'There is an ad - for tourist accommodation to be opened shortly at Hampton Court. How long before we can get a room at Buck House?' Well at least one can view certain rooms there nowadays!
He reports that a vet once said to actress Googie Withers, 'You should talk to an animal everyday for the good of your soul', that Sidney Lee said of Edward VII's gluttony, 'He had a splendid appetite and seldom toyed with his food', and perhaps bewilderingly, wonders himself, 'Are halcyon days only in winter?' No, Surely not! And amusingly he recalls an incident at The National Theatre in July 1989, 'I was accosted, when going into the auditorium by a gross, squat, American glittering woman, who shrieked, "Oh, My Guard! My Guard! Fancy seeing you here! And in your very own theatre, Mr Olivier!' [This reminds me of the story of W Somerset Maugham when returning from his home in his house on Cap Ferrat, the Villa La Mauresque, after WWII had ended and he had with him his large collection of great masters' paintings that he often used to receive in lieu of payment. The Custom's officer told him that he could not bring them into the country just like that so Maugham asked to see a senior officer. He duly arrived threw his hands in the air when he saw who he was to deal with and said, 'No problem, anything for the author of Gone with the Wind'!] Poor Margaret Mitchell!
Finally this quotation by the fat boy in Charles Dickens' 'Pickwick Papers' must have amused him, 'I wants to make your flesh creep.' Well there is nothing that will do that in this light-hearted and enjoyable look at Alec Guinness' fascinating commonplace book which is far from being ordinary.
August 22, 2018
Alec Guinness is a charming writer and his memoirs are well worth a read, being easy, entertaining, and funny. This commonplace book includes poetry, Shakespeare, incidents in his life, jokes, Biblical verses, and dreams. It's a very relaxing read and Guinness's selection of Shakespeare alone is worth the price. The poetry wasn't to my taste, but you can't have everything.
January 4, 2015
'A commonplace book' is actually a published notebook kept by Alec Guinness before his death. He scribbled poems and verses that caught his attention (a lot of Shakespeare and Rudyard Kipling) - these didn't interest me much since I am a philistine when it comes to poetry. Occasionally, he mentions something he watched on TV that he liked or loathed. He also jotted down couple of his dreams (couple of them about his plays) and minor amusing observations. There were also several quotes he captured in his notes that interested me.
'Something unpleasant is coming when men are anxious to tell the truth.' - Benjamin Disraeli
'To believe in God is not a decision we can make. All we can do is decide not to give our love to false Gods.' - Simone Weil
'Every morning I introduce myself to myself, and every night I tell myself that we have had a delightful day together, but the acquaintanceship remains experimental.' - Max Beerbohn
It was a quick read, one of the reasons why I picked this book from the library. What would your commonplace book be like if your notebook was published as a book?
'Something unpleasant is coming when men are anxious to tell the truth.' - Benjamin Disraeli
'To believe in God is not a decision we can make. All we can do is decide not to give our love to false Gods.' - Simone Weil
'Every morning I introduce myself to myself, and every night I tell myself that we have had a delightful day together, but the acquaintanceship remains experimental.' - Max Beerbohn
It was a quick read, one of the reasons why I picked this book from the library. What would your commonplace book be like if your notebook was published as a book?
July 12, 2014
Delightful book. Gives a wonderful peek into the mind of the great Sir Alec Guiness.
August 23, 2016
Wonderful, inspiring, quirky, self deprecating. Just fabulous.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews