[issybird]

Second Munthe.

I’d like to nominate Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self by Claire Tomalin.

Spoiler:

From The Guardian:

Sex, drink, plague, fire, music, marital conflict, the fall of kings, corruption and courage in public life, wars, navies, public executions, incarceration in the Tower: Samuel Pepys's life is full of irresistible material, and Claire Tomalin seizes it with both hands. She shapes it with a professional dexterity that would be the envy of Pepys the great administrator himself, into a fast, vivid, accessible story.

Squibs cited at Amazon:

"A magnificent triumph. . . . Absolutely stunning." --"The Atlantic Monthly "Invaluable. . . . [Tomalin] not only brings [Pepys] back to vibrant life, but makes a powerful case that he's more central, more 'relevant, ' than we ever imagined." --"The New York Times Book Review ""A magisterial book [written] with an elegance and concision that few historians could match. . . . You have to love Samuel Pepys. He is us." --"San Francisco Chronicle ""Exceptional. . . . Nuanced, moving. . . . A book teeming, like the diary, with clarity, momentum and great pleasure." --"Chicago Tribune ""Exemplary. . . . The perfect bookend to [Pepys's] own rollicking self-portrait." --"The New York Times ""Fine and engrossing. . . . Tomalin possesses a particularly graceful and pleasing diction, a proper sense of measure, and a piquant willingness to express her own views." --"The Washington Post Book World ""Excellent. . . . Remarkable and sympathetic. . . . One is not likely to think of Pepys in the same way again." --"St. Louis Post-Dispatch ""A superb biography by a writer at the height of her powers." --Whitbread Award Judges' Citation