Acerbic and absorbing. Not quite up to the standard of "THe naked civil servant" but sharp enough to engage those who enjoyed his first book. ( )

Quentin Crisp became fairly well known when he published his autobiography "The Naked Civil Servant," which I expect talks about his experiences as a gay man in Britain during the second third of the century, when the country was not particularly queer-friendly either legally or socially. I wouldn't really know, though - I haven't read that book.
I've read this one, which is his second autobiography and talks about what happened after he published and worked as a standup comedian and got a bit famous. As a biography, it lacks detail. As a collection of essays loosely positioned around his life, it is excellent. By turns self-deprecating and blithely uncaring about what others think of him, Crisp is intelligent, eloquent, mild, often quietly insightful, and frequently very funny. He is also refreshing in that he doesn't particularly discuss GLBT issues as separate from human issues, and he is never preachy.

Quentin Crisp hits America! ( )