{"product_id":"an-appetite-for-life-isbn-9780771075254","title":"An Appetite for Life","description":"Charles Ritchie’s first volume of diaries, \u003ci\u003eThe Siren Years\u003c\/i\u003e, created a sensation when  it was published in 1974. Besides winning the Governor General’s Award for Non-fiction,  it was hailed by reviewers on both sides of the Atlantic. \u003ci\u003eAn Appetite for Life\u003c\/i\u003e, his  second volume, first published in 1977, deals with his youth in Halifax and his career  at Oxford—the years when Charles Ritchie turned from a callow, blundering youth  into a callow, blundering young man.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e As these diaries show, Charles Ritchie had  a sharp eye, a keen ear, a highly developed sense of the absurd, and—despite his  unhappy knack of landing flat on his face —a thorough “appetite for life.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This  is not only a hilariously funny book, but it presents a vivid picture of two worlds—Halifax and Oxford in the mid-twenties—that are now long gone. It also introduces  us to an astonishing range of characters, but the most astonishing of all is the  young Charles Ritchie himself.“The lens of Ritchie’s sensibility, in all his writing, is itself so peculiarly and  sharply focussed, his use of language so beautiful and so lucid, that the diaries  and memoirs reshape and reorder experience and as a result transform into literature  the story of his own life.” \u003cbr\u003e —Jane Urquhart, \u003ci\u003eBrick \u003c\/i\u003emagazine\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “We can only be left  with the conclusion that, in Ritchie, Canada has found its very own Pepys.” \u003cbr\u003e –\u003ci\u003eHamilton  Spectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “He challenges comparison with the best diarists in the language. Indeed  I can think of none who excel him in grace of language and in fecundity of wit.”  \u003cbr\u003e –Claude BissellOne of Canada’s most distinguished diplomats, \u003cb\u003eCharles Ritchie\u003c\/b\u003e (1906–1995) had a brilliant career in Canada’s diplomatic corps, serving as Canada’s ambassador to Bonn, West Germany; as Canadian Permanent Representative to the United Nations; as ambassador to the United States during the presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson; and as High Commissioner to London.","brand":"McClelland \u0026 Stewart","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302891606245,"sku":"NP9780771075254","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780771075254.jpg?v=1767721492","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/an-appetite-for-life-isbn-9780771075254","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}