Jonathan Cecil
A. N. Wilson's God's Funeral, now out in paperback (Abacus, £9.99) is a masterly book. Mr Wilson's unique combination of erudition and sly humour and his empathy with the 19th-century mind make this study of loss of religious faith among post-Dar- winian Victorians fascinating and moving. Wilson — an agnostic — never patronises believers.
The Diary of a Nobody (Prion Books, £7.99), reissued with an introduction by The Long Gallery at Adare Manor, Co. Limerick.
From The Big House in Ireland by Valerie Pakenham (Cassell, US, pp. 192) William Trevor, is an imperishable master- piece. Mr Pooter's mixture of self- importance and sense of injury are common to most real-life diarists though they are seldom as lovable. Two recent examples of Pooterism are found in Alan Clark's diary and John Drummond's mem- oirs. And I must admit to finding James Lees-Milne overrated. Popular among friends, he appears in cold — and I mean cold — print snobbish, bigoted and heart- less, with insufficient humour and human insight for compensation.
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