The twinkling of an eye, or, My life as an Englishman - Brian W. Aldiss

THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE charts the life of writer Brian Aldiss from his first memories to his current status as cult writer and distinguished writer, both of general and science fiction. Born in 1925, Aldiss grew up in the Norfolk town of Dereham when his grandfather owned a huge old-fashioned department store; Brian attended several minor public schools (and has an affair with the matron at one) and when he leaves it is 1944. He is sent to India, then Burma where he joins the Forgotten Army. Returning to England he works in a bookshop, becomes a reviewer then a columnist, and the columns are turned into his first book. Fame through writing brings run-ins with Hollywood and psychoanalysis. Aldiss' memoir is as absorbing as admirers of his fiction would expect. A writer's life - but what a writer and what a life.