Trying to Please »

John Julius Norwich's life has reflected an appetite for living, enlivened by a sense of personal theater. Trying to Please is an engaging and amusing memoir that describes a glamorous but vanishing world. From the monasteries on Mt. Athos to a camel trek across the Sahara, the book shows how Norwich's passions for history, travel, and music have combined with simpler pleasures like friendship and a close family. A remarkable life and a thoroughly enjoyable read.

The Washington Post - Jonathan Yardley

…[a] thoroughly delightful memoir…Trying to Please is an absolutely delicious book, in part because Norwich writes so fluidly and engagingly, in part because he has been to so many places and done so many interesting things, and in no small part because he happens to be the only child of one of the most famous and mythologized couples of the first half of the 20th century.

1 Beginnings 1

2 Childhood 23

3 America and Eton 53

4 The Embassy 83

5 Strasbourg and the Navy 111

6 Oxford, Marriage and the Foreign Office 137

7 Belgrade 171

8 Beirut 197

9 Watershed 231

10 The Mountain and the Desert 253

11 The Stone Stops Rolling 269

12 The Moss Begins to Gather 295

13 The Pattern Fixed 313

14 Varied Pursuits 341

15 Work and Play 363

Index 399