Slavery and the Cultures of Abolition: Essays Marking the Bicentennial of the British Abolition Act Of 1807 Book

This is the best book of Paul Theroux in my view. It is about his 30-year long friendship - literary friendship - with the Nobel laureate V.S.Naipaul, starting from 1966 and ending abruptly around 1996. Though most commentators castigated Theroux as being bitchy and catty in this book, I feel that they have not read his book with an open mind at all. What comes off in the book is Theroux's anguish at the end of the friendship by Naipaul. He gives due credit to naipaul for being his early mentor. His records of the events over such a long period are precise and detailed. He suggests the contrasts between his own libido-driven personality and Naipaul's low-key sexual life. He gives credit to Naipaul being uncannily perceptive in assessing the possibilities of Uganda's future correctly as compared to all the other artists with whom he used to interact in Uganda in the 1960's.
This is one of the finest books I have read on 'friendship' and I for one, feel sorry for the agony Naipaul caused him by ending the friendship with a 'take it on the chin and move on'. Naipaul is known as a difficult man to be friendly with though there is no doubt about his great accomplishments as a writer.
Though 'enjoyed' is not the right word to use in the book's context, I enjoyed reading the book thoroughly. It was gripping reading as only Paul Theroux can produce. A must for all people who love reading Theroux.