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Paper View: The Best of the "Sunday Times" Television Columns
A.A. Gill has been the must-read television critic in the SUNDAY TIMES 'Culture' section for more than ten years. This collection of some of the best writing from his columns is broken down into themes - Sport, Costume Drama, Detectives, Children's Television, and News. In barely a generation, the information from television has changed the way we see the world and everyone in it. That's no small achievement. Television really does make a difference... It can bring down walls, save lives and right wrongs. It can also tell you how to put a water feature on your patio...'
- GenresNonfiction
306 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
9 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
A.A. Gill
34Ìýbooks94ÌýfollowersAdrian Anthony Gill was an English journalist. He was the author of 9 books, including The Angry Island. He was the TV and restaurant critic and a regular features writer for The Sunday Times, a columnist for Esquire, and a contributor to Vanity Fair. He lived in London.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 2, 2017
lots of 1 star bits, often racist / sexist / etc to boot - but lots of 4 star bits too. and some 5 star bits. if all his stuff was this mixed of a bag, i wouldn't be mourning him by reading all of it... but it wasn't a waste of my time, either.
December 26, 2023
A mixed bag, a bit dated (by virtue of the medium) with references missing in the ether now but flashes of Gill's usual brilliance and wit shine through many of the columns.
February 19, 2011
Paper View has been sitting half read on my shelf for months and today I decided, dammit I'm going to finish it. So I did. As it turns out the second half (Facts) is far more engaging than the first (Fictions). I'm not sure if this is because Gill is better on factual programming or because I'm more interested in reading about politics, current events and history than I am about soaps, costume dramas and cop shows.
I used to read the Sunday Times ritualistically and now that I no longer do so A.A. Gill's columns are one of the things I miss the most. It should be said though that his television criticism is his least interesting work (which isn't to say it's not good) his travel columns and features are usually better but the restaurant reviews are where his true genius lies.
I used to read the Sunday Times ritualistically and now that I no longer do so A.A. Gill's columns are one of the things I miss the most. It should be said though that his television criticism is his least interesting work (which isn't to say it's not good) his travel columns and features are usually better but the restaurant reviews are where his true genius lies.
December 16, 2015
Started this one over the summer, I just forgot to add it my current reads.
I enjoyed the first half a good deal more than the second half, but maybe that's because the second half is so full of TV personalities (or non-personalities, as the case may be) that I simply don't know.
Still, Gill writes magnificently, which is far more than I can say about myself. Some of the descriptive insults were just fantastic.
I enjoyed the first half a good deal more than the second half, but maybe that's because the second half is so full of TV personalities (or non-personalities, as the case may be) that I simply don't know.
Still, Gill writes magnificently, which is far more than I can say about myself. Some of the descriptive insults were just fantastic.
August 21, 2013
A collection of hilarious, scabrous, ruthless yet now slightly dated television reviews from, to my mind, our best living journalist. Whether you agree with him or not, you can at least appreciate the quality of his writing and the harsh truth of his observations.
August 7, 2013
Not a nice guy but a very good writer.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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