The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists (urspr publ 2000; utgåvan 2002)

This is a fabulous book! I really enjoyed reading the day's entries before bed. I'm afraid some nights I just couldn't put it down and had to read a few extra days. I met some wonderful people. I am happy that short bios of the writers is included in the back as well as a full bibliography. There are several diarists whose complete diaries I will want to track down. The index of diarists allowed me to search through for favorites. Very thoughtfully put together. I'm grateful that my terrific sister shared this great book with me. I highly recommend! ( )

While the format (a 'book of days' containing diary entries) is a good idea, I felt the selection was too heavily weighted in favour of diaries from the Second World War and from twentieth-century entertainers. ( )

Good book for the bedside table to dip into when you've got a minute. Some of the diarists are (admittedly) unknown to me but it doesn't detract from the enjoyment, after all - who could resist reading someone else's diary? ( )

With its broad remit and the engaging conceit of ordering it by days of the year, this anthology of diary extracts is by turns amusing, saddening, and exciting, but never dull. The format led me to read it daily over the course of a year, which emphasised the rhythm of the collection. It seems to me that the 20th century, particularly the middle years, is over-represented but this is cavilling. ( )

A good anthology of diary entries from a number of great diarists, arranged by day of the year, so that the section for, say, December 25, contains an 1860 entry by Henry David Thoreau, an 1870 entry by the Reverend Francis Kilvert, a 1924 entry by Evelyn Waugh and so on. I read it over a year, on the dates the entries were written, an approach the book's arrangement especially lends itself to, and which seems to me the ideal way to read such a book.

Some of the diarists are famous for their lives and works; others (such as the aforementioned Francis Kilvert) are remembered only for their diaries. Most of the diarists have more than one entry, and the selection provides a number of narrative threads that can be traced through the year.

Inevitably, the small number of selections from each author left me wanting more from many of them; I've since bought the more interesting ones that I've come across in bookshops.

My only criticism of the selection is that too many are from World War II -- there could have been more balance. ( )