As I Was Saying is a swirling conversation with the reader on everything from travel to dogs and cats, from sports and swearing to the pleasures of idleness. Punctuated at regular intervals by talks Dessaix has given on a wide range of subjects, as well as by some of his most incisive journalism, the conversation invites the reader to join a leisurely guided tour of his chamber of curiosities, featuring pieces collected all over the globe from across the centuries. Whether writing home from Vladivostock or Damascus, discussing what makes for good conversation, or thinking aloud about the paintings, poems, and books he loves, Dessaix always writes with an intimacy and attentiveness that beguile, entertain, and make his readers eager for new discoveries.