Julian Barnes's Nothing to be Frightened of is, among many things, a family memoir, an exchange with his brother (a philosopher), a meditation on morality and the fear of death, a celebration of art, an argument with and about God, and homage to the French writer Jules Renard.

Though he warns us that 'this is not my autobiography', the result is a tour of the mind of one of our most brilliant writers.

Available from BBC Audiobooks at http://www.audible.co.uk/, which also has a short excerpt available online. Julian Barnes reads his book in its entirety, complete & unabridged.

Be sure to visit BBC Audiozone for additional audiobooks of Julian Barnes's works.

Julian Barnes on Frank O'Connor

The most generous one-volume collection ever published of short stories, autobiographical writings, poetry, and essays by the writer Yeats called "Ireland's Chekhov."

Selected and arranged thematically by Julian Barnes, the rich mix of writings in The Best of Frank O'Connor starts off with his most famous short story, "Guests of the Nation," set during the Irish War of Independence; chronicles his childhood with an alcoholic father and protective mother; and traces his literary influences in brilliant essays on Joyce and Yeats. O'Connor's wonderfully polyphonic tales of family, friendship, and rivalry are set beside those that bring to life forgotten souls on the fringes of society. O'Connor's writings about Ireland vividly evoke the land he called home, while other stories probe the hardships and rewards of Irish emigration. Finally, we see O'Connor grappling, in both fiction and memoir, with the largest questions of religion and belief.

The Best of Frank O'Connor is a literary monument to a truly great writer.

Read Barnes's introduction in The Spectator.

Julian Barnes on John Updike's final works

Julian Barnes writes about John Updike's final works in "Flights" for The New York Review of Books, 11 June 2009.

From the Essay:

Hearing of John Updike's death in January of this year, I had two immediate, ordinary reactions. The first was a protest—"But I thought we had him for another ten years"; the second, a feeling of disappointment that Stockholm had never given him the nod. The latter was a wish for him, and for American literature, the former a wish for me, for us, for Updikeans around the world.

Though it was not as if he hadn't left us enough to read. For years now his lifelong publishers at Knopf have been giving back-flap approximations. In the mid-1990s, in a cute philoprogenitive linking, he was "the father of four children and the author of more than forty books." By the time of The Early Stories (2003) they had him, in a hands-in-the-air sort of way, as "the author of fifty-odd previous books." Now, with Endpoint, they award him "more than sixty books".

My Father's Tears and Other Stories is available from Knopf and Hammish Hamilton. The Maples Stories is published by Everyman's Library.

Jay McInerney

Julian Barnes and Jay McInerney have been friends for many years (close readers of Barnes's work may have noted that Letters from London is dedicated to McInerney). In 2001 the two authors sat down together to discuss Barnes's work. It's a lively conversation, and a recording is available online at the New York Times website.

Jay McInerney's latest collection of short stories has been published as How It Ended.

Ian Hamilton: Collected Poems

Ian Hamilton: Collected Poems
Edited with an introduction by Alan Jenkins (Faber and Faber, 2009)

Julian Barnes writes about his relationship with Ian Hamilton in Another Rounds at the Pillars, and the text of Barnes's essay is available online at the Ian Hamilton Website.

Synopsis from the Publisher:

"A professional man of letters -- critic, editor, biographer -- though never a professional poet, Ian Hamilton (1938-2001) referred to his poems as 'miraculous lyrical arrivals', and he bided their time with exemplary patience and humility. His widely praised first collection, The Visit, published by Faber in 1970, was incorporated into Fifty Poems in 1988, itself expanded to Sixty Poems in 1998. In a preface to the former collection, he wrote: 'Fifty poems in twenty-five years: not much to show for half a lifetime, you might think. And in certain moods, I would agree.' Readers of Hamilton's condensed and immaculate oeuvre have felt otherwise: the poems of his youth and middle years (there was to be no opportunity for a late flowering) acquired talismanic significance for his contemporaries, and their combination of terseness and emotional intensity continues to set an example to younger poets. Edited by Alan Jenkins, this authoritative Collected Poems contains all of the poetry that Ian Hamilton chose to publish, together with a small number of uncollected and unpublished poems; it also supplies an illuminating introduction, and succinctly helpful apparatus. The result is an edition whose thoroughness and tact are themselves a moving tribute, restoring to view one of the most disinctive bodies of work in twentieth-century English poetry."

Purchase from Faber & Faber.

Nothing To Be Frightened Of (French Edition)

In February 2009, Mecure de France published the French translation of Julian Barnes's Nothing to be Frightened of (translated by Jean-Pierre Aoustin). To order, please visit the Mercure de France website or Amazon.fr.

Barnes scholar Vanessa Guignery (co-editor with Ryan Roberts of Conversations with Julian Barnes and author of The Fiction of Julian Barnes: A Reader's Guide to Essential Criticism) has generously provided the following list of reviews and notices:

Chaudey, Marie. "Rien à craindre, de Julian Barnes." La vie 3311 (12-18 février 2009) : 76.

Clavel, André. "Barnes, flâneur d'outre-tombe." L'Express 3006 (12-18 février 2009) : 96.

Ozouf, Mona. "Julian Barnes sous la torture." Le Nouvel Observateur 2228 (12-18 février 2009) : 80.

Simon, Geneviève. "Julian Barnes en homme qui craint la mort." La Libre Belgique 13 février 2009.

Solé, Robert. "Julian Barnes à cache-cache avec la mort." Le Monde des livres 13 février 2009 : 1.

Lire 1974 (février 2009) : 72-75. (extract from the beginning of the
book)

Delorme, Marie-Laure. "La mort en chantant." Le Journal du Dimanche 22 fév. 2009 : 31.

Nothing To Be Frightened Of (Vintage Paperback)

'I don't believe in God, but I miss him.' Julian Barnes' Nothing To Be Frightened Of 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.co.uk. 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.

Read the first chapter online at the New York Times website.