‘I don’t profess this tome to be one of deep reflection or profound, serious thinking,’ writes Miranda Hart, which may or may not come as a surprise to her readers. ‘I am nowhere close to one of them French philosophers; I basically lollop through life like an amiable hound.’
If self-knowledge tends to be hard won, Is It Just Me? (Hodder & Stoughton, £20) suggests that Hart has won it mainly by saying the wrong thing and falling over a lot. Whether you like this book, or even open it, probably depends on how much you enjoy her work on TV, although it’s unlikely you will have read even this far if you didn’t.
Less of a celebrity autobiography than a manifesto for the perfect world of Miranda-land, it’s a discursive, often rambling piece of work, but you forgive her everything because she is so funny and charming and full of terrific comic ideas.
And unlike most comedians, she can actually write. Bungee- jumping, for example, is one of those things people say you should do before you die. ‘I imagine you’d get there and realise that it could well be the thing you do immediately before you die.’ She is keen to avoid danger if at all possible. ‘You say hang-glider, I say flimsy bringer of instant and terrifying death.’
Every Christmas there is, at the very most, one celeb book that is genuinely worth buying and reading. Here is this year’s. Accept no substitutes.
Comments