Nothing To Be Frightened Of

"It is a beautiful and funny book, still booming in my head." -- Garrison Keillor

‘I don’t believe in God, but I miss him.’ Julian Barnes’ new book is, among many things, a family memoir, an exchange with his brother (a philosopher), a meditation on mortality and the fear of death, a celebration of art, an argument with and about God, and a homage to the French writer Jules Renard. Though he warns us that ‘this is not my autobiography’, the result is like a tour of the mind of one of our most brilliant writers. When Angela Carter reviewed Barnes’s first novel, Metroland, she praised the mature way he wrote about death. Now, nearly thirty years later, he returns to the subject in a wise , funny and constantly surprising book, which defies category and classification – except as Barnesian. Vintage paperback edition is now available from the Vintage website or Amazon.com. The American edition is available from Knopf and the Canadian from Random House Canada. Order your copy online via Amazon.com, Knopf, Amazon.co.uk, Random House, Amazon.ca, or one of a number of local independent booksellers.

Editions

Nothing To Be Frightened Of. London: Jonathan Cape, 2008.

Nothing To Be Frightened Of. London: LRB Limited Editions, 2008.

Nothing To Be Frightened Of. Random House Canada, 2008.

Nothing To Be Frightened Of. New York: Knopf, 2008.

Niets te vrezen. Amsterdam/Antwerpen: Uitgeverij Atlas, 2008. Pp. 256.

Rien à Craindre. Mercure de France, 2009 [Trans. by Jean-Pierre Aoustin]. Pp. 304. ISBN 9782715228726.

Nothing To Be Frightened Of. London: Vintage, 2009

Reviews

Summerscale, Kate. 'Julian Barnes: Life as he knows it.' Telegraph, 1 March 2008 [Includes interview].

Taylor, Alan. 'Gone Tomorrow.' Sunday Herald, 1 March 2008.

Carey, John. 'Nothing To Be Frightened Of by Julian Barnes.' The Sunday Times, 2 March 2008.

Spurling, Hilary. 'Colder but wiser.' The Guardian, 2 March 2008.

Anderson, Hephzibah. 'Julian Barnes Ponders Wrung Chicken Necks, Death, God in Memoir.' Bloomberg.com, 3 March 2008.

Lawson, Mark. 'Julian Barnes.' Front Row, 3 March 2008 [Radio interview].

Dodd, Philip. 'Julian Barnes.' Night Waves, 4 March 2008 [Radio interview].

Barber, Lynn. 'Julian Barnes Dances around Death.' Telegraph, 5 March 2008.

Beresford, Lucy. 'Intimations of Mortality.' New Statesman, 6 March 2008.

Shilling, Jane. 'Julian Barnes: Nothing to be Frightened of.' Sunday Times, 7 March 2008.

Tayler, Christopher. 'Into the Void.' Guardian Review, 8 March 2008.

O'Connell, John. 'Julian Barnes: Interview.' TimeOut, 13 March 2008 [Interview].

Hennessy, Val. 'Sorry but dying's a dead cert.' Mail on Sunday, 14 March 2008.

Herbert, Susannah. 'Julian Barnes: not dead yet, just dying.' Sunday Times, 16 March 2008 [Interview].

Gartner, Zsuzsi. 'Death be not proud, or maybe just ... be not.' The Globe and Mail (Canada), 19 April 2008: D5.

Bradley, James. 'The mother of all issues: Memoir.' The Age, 19 April 2008: 23.

Donaldson, Emily. 'An argument with God, a discussion about death.' The Toronto Star, 20 April 2008: ID06.

Yanofsky, Joel. 'Memoir.' National Post, 3 May 2008: WP17; See also 'The final sting.' Ottawa Citizen, 6 July 2008: B2.

Hoffman, Tod. 'Contemplating Death and Dying.' The Gazette (Montreal), 3 May 2008: I4.

Parks, Tim. 'Death in the Family.' The Australian, 7 May 2008: 4.

Wiersema, Robert. 'A Healthy Scrutiny of Death.' Vancouver Sun, 10 May 2008: C11.

Barrett, Emily. 'Death Becomes Him.' Herald Sun (Australia), 10 May 2008: 25.

Rankin, Bill. 'Scattered thoughts on a morbid subject.' Edmonton Journal (Alberta) , 8 June 2008: E10.

Davis, Laura. 'We made up the Bible as a good novel.' Daily Post (Liverpool), 11 June 2008: 18 [Includes interview during the Julian Barnes Conference at Liverpool Hope University].

Smirke, Richard. 'Five Questions for ... Julian Barnes.' Metro UK (LIVA Edition), 12 June 2008: 28 [Short interview].

Reynolds, David L. 'Nothing To Be Frightened Of.' Library Journal, 15 July 2008: 31 [Short review].

Christie, David. 'The long haul that is family.' Newcastle Herald (Australia), 19 July 2008: 31 [Short review].

'On being shit scared of extinction.' Sunday Independent (South Africa), 24 August 2008: 17.

Dirda, Michael. 'Memento mori.' Washington Post (Book World), 31 August 2008: BW10.

Eder, Richard. 'Darkness visible.' Boston Globe, 31 August 2008: C5.

Minervini, John. 'Tome Raider.' Willamette Week, 31 August 2008.

Passaro, Vince. 'Reading Room.' O: The Oprah Magazine, 1 September 2008: 217.

Johri, Vikram. 'In Memoir, Novelist Faces His Mortality.' St. Petersburg Times (Florida), 7 September 2008: 1.

Wils, Esther. ' "Oh no Oh No OH NO".' Trouw, 27 September 2008 [Review of the Dutch translation].

Keillor, Garrison. 'Dying of the Light.' New York Times Book Review, 3 October 2008: 1.