I love reading diaries. I think its the voyeur in me.
This is the second installment of Michael Palin's diaries.
This volume covers the period post the Python television series. From when he was most prolifically involved in making movies, up until the eve of his departure for the first travel series. (Around the World in 80 Days).
Palin was always my favourite Python and these diaries just flow along seamlessly, with lots of gossip, none of it too nasty, but with enough detail to make it interesting.
We have the inside view of getting movies made and financed ,which appears to be a very hard business indeed.
The highlight for me in this volume is when he and fellow Python Terry Gilliam go on a short trip to Checkoslovakia. We have wonderful descriptions of what he observed under a communist regime. This augers well for later volumes when I presume the travel shows he has done for the last twenty years will dominate.
Its not all about the movies, we have lots about his family, who he is very close to, included is the sadness of his sister's suicide.
This is very funny in parts as you would expect from a Python and it shows how hard he works, he just never stops. As well as work for cash he is constantly hit upon for charity events and public works.
After two volumes Palin can not lay claim to being a great diarist yet,I believe he will get much better as we get more of his personal observations rather than a ball by ball account of film production and the like. He is a very good writer already and will only get better.
These are genuine diaries and not written for a contract and also there appears to be no hindsight editing, which keeps it real for me.
A very busy, interesting man and the good thing is there should be according to my admittedly very poor maths, at least another 4 volumes.
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