I can make a strong argument that P.D. James is the world's greatest mystery writer, but she falls short in the realm of memoirs. Time To Be In Earnest: A Fragment Of Autobiography has an innovative structure: James wrote a diary that spans from her 77th birthday to her 78th, and used her day-to-day experiences as jumping off points to, sometimes, reflect on writing, past eras of her life, the modern era, and crime. This seems like a good idea, but the daily accounts sometimes feel like dull travelogues and James is too reserved to share much about the more personal aspects of her past. Furthermore, she interacts with a lot of people during the course of a year, but fails to really bring anyone to life on the page. That said, the book really shines when James writes about writing, her books, her thoughts on literature, writers, historic crimes, or her cat. In these passages, her dry wit and thoughtful analysis are a pleasure to read. Recommended for serious fans of James or crime fiction.

P D James is one of my favorite authors, I was enthralled with her 'Shroud for a nightingale', ' Devices and desires' and never did look back.
So when Sujata, a good old GR friend recommended this slice of her autobiography , I pounced upon it.
However I couldn't fully fathom the incidents, places and people mentioned herein. What I enjoyed most is description of other authors, other books and some real life crimes.
I was glad to know James and Rendell were good friends. But there is no personal mention of Agatha Christie at all, who would have been sort of a Contemporary, though an older one

I must preface this by saying P.D. James is my idol and role model, the author who most inspires me in my own writing. This autobiography, in which she journals her 77th year of life, allows her points of entry to talk about her childhood, her husband's mental illness and her work in the British government bureaucracy. Along the way, she talks about what makes a good mystery and the importance of literature in our culture. Reading this book was like sitting down with Ms. James for a good, long chat, something I'd absolutely love to do. She's a tough and opinionated lady, a formidable member of Britain's Greatest Generation. For those who read her uneven Austen homage mystery, Death at Pemberley, the book includes James's intriguing speech to the Austen society on Emma as a detective novel.

A fun read and interesting idea. P. D. James, my favorite "light" writer (I say light because she is a classic murder mystery writer, but she is anything but light in her ability to turn a sentence or plot), writes an autobiographical diary for a year, covering the mundane and anything else. Whether she's writing on her cat, the writing process, the politics of the Booker prize committee, being in the House of Lords, her childhood, or how much noise bothers her, she is always interesting. I particularly enjoyed her conservative openness in terms of life and government. we would do well to listen more to our elders. I fear the book wouldn't have enough to hold the reader unfamiliar with James, but for a fan like me it was a lot of fun.

I think I have read all of her books now. I really enjoy her mystery.

Reading about other people is always interesting but I found the format of this autobiography a bit tedious - day by day entries.
For me, reading this book (even though it was 15 years old) was special because I picked the book off the library shelf and thought 'PD James must be very elderly by now'. Checking this out on the internet I discovered she died a month earlier. It was almost a celebration of her life. RIP.

okay I didn't read the whole thing but I got the general idea...I'd ltike to inhabit her life for a couple of months...she goes to lots of parties given by famous people and meets many fascinating authors and thinkers and she gives speeches about the state of literature today and she signs her books and gets lots of adulation from all her fans...Sounds pretty sweet to me

An interesting glimpse into the personality behind the books. I admit to enjoying most the passages in which she talks about writing--her own books or the status of novelist in general.

This is an interestingly structured memoir based around her diary for a year between 1997/98 and frequently using thoughts or events to digress into detail of various key periods and episodes in her life. Her language is a real pleasure to read and, even in her late seventies, she led an extraordinarily full and varied life full of vigour and energy. She has a tendency to be opinionated at times and perhaps in the second half of the book, sometimes gets a bit carried away with her views on this and that. However, having spent some time with her in 1989 on a British Council tour of Italy, I have some direct experience of the warmth and generosity of her personality. It was very good to feel that again through her writing in this memoir.

I heard P.D. James being interviewed on NPR many years ago, and was intrigued. Not having been a "detective fiction" reader, it took me a while to pick up on of her books, but as soon as I did, I was hooked. So far, I have not been able to find murder mysteries that I like nearly as well as hers. Having read everything fictional she has written, I finally read this autobiography. If possible, I may have enjoyed it more than her fiction! She is an excellent writer, and the insights into not only her everyday life, but also her past that she includes in this book, are compelling and fascinating. I hope she continues to write for some time yet!

I am glad that I waited to read this after “Original Sin”. Yes this book has spoilers in it. So if you haven’t read the Dalgliesh series past “A Certain Justice” wait till after that to read this Autobiography. I read “A Certain Justice” a while ago so there were no spoilers for me.

From my perspective, this book, is that James was not afraid to mention that she was a Christian and attended C of E mass regularly. Also that she missed the use of “The Book of Common Prayer” and “The King James Bible” in modern services.

The thing that struck me the most was how her upbringing and faith influenced the way she wrote. And she used this plot device to a major effect in her novels. Which made them all the more intriguing and thought provoking.

She was open about things that happened in her life but still kept at a level of privacy that wouldn’t expose her and her family to any ill comments. She seemed like a very private person who did her best to share what she could of her life.

This book will give more of an insight to her writing style and keep you hooked for the rest of her books.

most enjoyable parts: the opinions on writing crime fiction as a woman and the interspersed anecdotes of her early life and later career within the government. Paints a lot of her even though it is mainly a 2-year diary.