A Life Discarded
148 Diaries Found in the Trash

This is the sort of book I would never have picked up or even heard of had I not come across it by chance – I found it in a secondhand bookshop, where it had been incorrectly shelved as fiction. I read the first couple of pages and found I couldn’t bring myself to leave it behind. It’s gripping from......more

Entertainment wise, I pretty much felt nothing during this true "story" told in such an insipid manner by Mr. Masters. When it ended, I was like, "Okay then, I guess." It's simply too scatterbrained and aimless that I don't even have the usual motivation to write a review explaining why I disliked it......more

Picked this up to read with a book group. Saw a video of the author being interviewed about the book. Liked the interview much more than the book itself. Found it difficult to enjoy reading the diary entries -- perhaps a portion of my disconnect is the British/American language barrier? Any which wa......more

I liked the idea to discover an unknown person by their diary and Alexander Masters discribes the process in an admirable way. My problem with this book is that the narrative around he diaries was much more interesting than the diary itself. The author of the diaries was neither likable nor fascinati......more

Hmm this was a funny old book! Half of the time I was completely intrigued and mesmerized, for the other half I was bored and skim reading! So I settled on an in between rating of 3 stars to allow for both good and bad. I first came to Alexander Masters by watching the TV movie adaptation of Masters......more