Confessions of a Conjuror

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I pictured them tumbling to the floor, myself bending over to gather them up, and the embarrassed derision of the silent diners as they watched me carry out the apologetic, uncomfortable process. All that being so, I was really looking forward to this book and to finding out more about the man behind the TV personality, or maybe some insight into what he enjoys about his career, or how he feels about possessing such unique skills, the problems and perks. Those observations of people and situations are illuminating, and he has the imagination to dive into another world whether it be the thoughts of the inebriated man at the bar or his own past. This was okay – not brilliant, not deeply philosophical – and even occasionally quite funny. The story about The Sun ‘outing’ him as homosexual was very amusingly told. (Now, Murdoch is someone who has a lot to answer for). I often found myself agreeing with Derren on many issues concerning...ear plugs, elevator awkwardness, and battery operated toys. He is very funny, but he might only appeal to certain people, as his humor is a bit different. (But maybe that is just how British humor is, I don't know, I'm American.)

Derren's really waffling on about nothing here. Is this padding or is it priming the reader for something?" urn:lcp:confessionsofcon0000brow:epub:45622e84-4799-47ee-8944-5b795b3c1e71 Foldoutcount 0 Grant_report Arcadia #4281 Identifier confessionsofcon0000brow Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t70w79b11 Invoice 2089 Isbn 9781905026586 I can't imagine what possessed the publisher to agree to printing this, or why, given how his other books are so good, he ever thought that this would be of any interest to anyone. It does not disappoint. Derren's writing style which I loved in his previous book has continued here - but in many ways is more refined. I had to look a couple of words up in a dictionary - but as I've commented on someone else's review - it's good to be challenged. Derren's prose is so elegant, funny (at times) and flows so well, this book is almost impossible to put down. There are several laugh out loud moments too!

I came away going 'oh my god' Derren is just a man. You put these people on pedestals and then now and then you realise they are just like everyone else and it's our perception of them that we see. I was conscious that the grey eyes of the French barman, who had now seen me emerge from the disabled toilet three times in the last fifteen minutes, were resting on me with an appropriately mixed signal of curiosity, admonishment and condescension. I tried to recreate these sensations mentally, and considered, as I tensed and shifted in microcosm, that that was what he was feeling right now; that for him the experience of all life revolved in this instant around those sensations, and that I was (with my annoyance and self-hatred and reluctance to work) at most a blur in the corner of his vision. He relates his anxiety about losing his pens and dots them around his flat but still cannot find one when he needs it before dashing out of the door. I can relate to his 'slight' OCD and his curiosity about what would happen if chose to crash his car. In fact, I can relate to many of his observations. On the language: one of my language betes noires is a reluctance to reuse the same word, to look for convoluted synonyms to avoid repetition, in a way that drags the eye and seems more clumsy than repetition would have. Derren does this throughout and it isn’t just okay, it’s a central part of the pleasure. It’s obviously tongue in cheek, and the joy he takes in finding comically wordy alternatives (again, I can’t find a better example than his discussion of Monster Munch) is transmitted without dilution to the reader.

If you haven’t heard, Derren has a new book out called “Confessions Of A Conjuror”. Here’s a recent review from the Sunday Times: Vanishing Inc. UK Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 09430707. Prices shown excluding UK VAT.

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The one criticism I have I shall get out of the way pronto. (Though doubtless, in the unlikely event that Derren does ever read this, he would say that he had focused on this paragraph and this one only. Sorry!)

Fascinating, wide-ranging and amusing (commuters who suffer from embarrassing giggle-outbursts on buses and trains, beware!) - I really enjoyed this. Derren’s underlying message is that happiness is really found by having that fundamental awareness that our stories aren’t always accurate, having the freedom to laugh at the negatives in life, worrying less about what others think of us (because they seldom do), and being able to both work hard and find enjoyment in all areas of our lives. From the start, he declares that it is the minutiae of life which reveals the person which he puts into practice to reveal himself and we are granted a dip into his thought processes. I loathed myself again. My heart pounded beneath my stupid blousy gay shirt, and as ever, I found it absurd that I had done this a thousand times yet still battled with the same weary desire to be veiled in the shadows of a corner, to keep out of everyone’s way and let them enjoy themselves in peace. It's not just the audience who are under the microscope though, he becomes more and more self-analytical:

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Blimey, he's so pompous! / He's clearly bragging but pretending he's casually mentioning something." If nothing else, I could listen to Derren talk for hours without growing bored of his voice. Perhaps it is that soothing quality that makes him such an able hypnotist, but whatever it is, I was happy to listen to him narrate his own audiobook.

Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.17 Old_pallet IA18103 Openlibrary_edition His Comments on the World in General., such as the best way to boil an egg or opinions of Parmesan cheese. A bit like one of Jeremy Clarkson’s books, though just a bit more intelligently written. Here's the thing. I love Derren Brown. I love his shows, his performances, his personality. I've seen him live twice and met him once (he's also a lovely guy) but this book is not it. I'm a big Derren Brown fan. I watch him on TV, I've seen him live, I've read stuff he's written and even – fleetingly – met him. So I was pleased to find a copy of this book under the Christmas tree.he also admits, “means nothing.” For Brown, this is not a cause for despondency. His punters experience “surprise and delight”, and the “trivial nature of the variables is irrelevant”. And that, it seems, is the message of this strange, postmodern book. Brown elevates seemingly insignificant moments in his life and imbues them with drama. “To really know someone,” he suggests, is to “gently trace their dreamy associations”. He may be right. In Confessions of a Conjuror, Brown takes us on a meandering pleasure cruise downriver. It is worth the journey.”” And, above all, he stresses the point that one of the things which ultimately makes life worth living is bringing other people joy.