Moab Is My Washpot

by Stephen Fry

In Brief

Stephen Fry's recollections of his earliest years are as open and frank as anyone could wish. He describes the emotional travails, awakening sexuality, dishonesty and thievery that marked his school days, culminating in his arrest and imprisonment for credit card fraud. But the memoir is also a profound reflection on subjects as diverse as literature, religion, corporal punishment and love.

Why you should read it

To understand the complex man behind the phenomenon that is Stephen Fry you will need to do a lot more than read this book. But it's a good start, and great fun into the bargain, delivering everything you would expect of a Fry book – wit, humour, heart, precosity, percipience, perspicuity, as well as a self-conscious revelling in the medium in which it is written.