Centenary …

… A Garland for Muriel Spark | The Weekly Standard. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I think that over the years I have read all (or almost all) the books on Spark published in English—biographical, critical, etc., including collections of academic essays (some of which, as it happens, are excellent). Appointment in Arezzo is the best of the lot, hands-down. For her longtime readers, it will be ambrosia, but it would also be a good gift for a friend who has never tried Spark. Taylor, cofounder and editor of the Scottish Review of Books, has given us what Hugh Kenner called a “mimetic homage,” in a style cunningly suitable to its subject: a memoir that’s concise, elliptical, often very funny, affectionate but never gushing. (Spark hated gush.) And it’s a well-made book, too, lovely to hold, with some excellent photos. I do wish it had an index.