Some Hitchensian readings

I said earlier that I was marking the tenth anniversary of Christopher Hitchens’s death quadruply. But then I had a whim to do some readings, so here they are, thus extending my celebration into the quintuple. Be warned: this was all done in one take, with very brief breaks, so it is hardly a pristine piece of audio. I’ll take the opportunity to mention a couple of things. First, I have, obviously, set up the podcast/audio feature of my Substack. I don’t know exactly how this will evolve, and it’s not a podcast as such, but I might use it more frequently in future for readings, conversations, musings, and the like. Second, the aforementioned future: as I wrote a while back, I’ve been on a bit of a Substack hiatus. But I’m planning on a reboot in the new year, with a renewed sense of purpose and more of a focus. I might publish sporadically until then, and will let you know my new year plans as soon as I know them in more detail myself. Anyway, I hope you enjoy my readings. I quite like reading aloud, and I like to inflict my readings on others regardless of their (my readings’) quality. But I don’t think I’m too bad at it… Timestamps below for convenience. 1:00 Introduction (the podcast I mention, on which I appeared with Iona Italia, Ben Burgis, and Matt Johnson can be found here). 1:20 I discuss and read the introduction to Hitchens’s first essay collection, Prepared for the Worst (1988). 11:49 I discuss and read from Hitchens’s introduction to the 2008 paperback edition of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s memoir, Infidel (originally published 2007). 13:48 I read and discuss Hitchens’s introduction to the 2011 paperback edition of his memoir, Hitch-22 (first published 2010). The Areo piece by Matt Johnson that I mention can be found here. 25:37 I read and discuss Hitchens’s widow Carol Blue’s afterword to Hitchens’s posthumously released book, Mortality (2012). 38:44 I read and discuss a passage on Hitchens from Martin Amis’s 2020 book Inside Story. 40:09 I read and discuss Hitchens’s introduction to his final essay collection, Arguably (2011). 57:38 I read and discuss a passage from Hitchens on the history and nature of the b*****b (from a 2006 Vanity Fair essay, collected in Arguably). Get full access to Daniel's Den at danieljamessharp.substack.com/subscribe