I enjoyed Myself When You as a way of getting to know the personality of one of my favourite authors! Even from the offset with the introduction, you can’t help but like this reclusive writer, self-professing to enjoying her own company above others’ (except that of her dogs - relatable), determined to claim her writing as a career and not merely a hobby as other women of her time were wont to do, and more than a bit headstrong.
.
I loved the parts when du Maurier was reminiscing about what she was reading at the time, and especially when she finally got to grips with novels and she detailed writing her first, The Loving Spirit, at 22, and then the fever that took her and compelled her to write one and a bit more before The Loving Spirit was even published! Her love for the craft is clear and she almost made me want to go live in an isolated house alone and sit down to write every morning.
.
I also enjoyed her candidness about her lack of conventional femininity in the 20s and 30s - from playing Peter Pan instead of Tinkerbell to her love for sailing and wearing trousers and shorts, she’s comfortable expressing her own identity.
.
Unfortunately a few of the other parts fell a bit flat for me. I would have liked more introspective musings or more detail on her distant relationship with her mother, but it was more a log of all of her trips to France, a cruise, and her desire to simply stay in Cornwall alone - Her passion for Cornwall is interesting but the other parts felt a bit, frivolous maybe?
.
But I do think it’s worth a read if you’re a du Maurier fan or if you have ambitions to be a writer, as her struggles and determination are very relatable!