"a red-hot, propulsive book..."

"Rushdie is overly drawn to low-hanging fruit in this smug collection of criticism, speeches and essays..."

"Timely and compelling..."

"A former special forces soldier’s hair-raising life story, from military high-jinks to heroin addiction..."

"Crowther’s book is an admirable dissection of the way Plath and Sexton rebelled against the values of Fifties American womanhood..."

"this moving and unusual memoir also speaks of the pleasure and privilege that leaven the heavy burden of caring..."

"Paula Byrne brings the author’s fascinating story to life..."

"This is a brisk, impudent, utterly immersive novel that also wants to answer questions about Jews and history ..."

"Julia Copus captures the hard times and brilliance of an impoverished, independent woman who was ‘the greatest poetess’ Hardy ever knew..."

"Part of this book’s appeal is that Vickers is so genuinely star-struck. ..."

"This is a remarkable first-hand account of life inside a secret and brutal regime..."

"This memoir needs more of that punchy stuff...."

"(A) glimpse into the real cost of the global obsession with gold..."

"It will not delay you long, but what it leaves will stay with you..."

"A sensitive investigation challenges our understanding of what it means to be missing, and how it feels for those left behind..."

"I’d say Taylor deserves the keys to the city...."

"hums with voracious curiosity..."

"A moving and clear-eyed history of bodily freedoms that takes as its central character Wilhelm Reich, inventor of the orgone accumulator..."

"A learned and readable picture of Renaissance medicine with less comic eccentricity than Robert Burton’s 1621 magnum opus..."

"A highly complex woman pared down..."

"...deep, subtle grace...A Blood Condition has a dignity that honours the past without indulging in any overflow of personal feeling. ..."

"(A) concise and remarkable book...."

"a fresh approach to The Birds director’s life..."

"Elizabeth Miki Brina’s memoir about coming to terms with her Japanese-American heritage is warm and affecting..."

"Franny Moyle’s ambitious, sumptuously illustrated book..."

"Brandreth explores a temperament on the brink of anger and agitation with immense tact, even affection...."

"This tale of a wealthy widow and her Mayfair inheritance is a historical romp..."

"Geoffrey Marsh’s diffuse yet fascinating new book ..."

"Ruth Scurr approaches Bonaparte from an entirely novel angle..."

"This memoir needs more of that punchy stuff...."

"In the space available to me here, I cannot hope to capture all that this extraordinarily generous and roomy book contains..."

"In his punchy new book Stop Bloody Bossing Me About, Quentin Letts superbly ridicules 'the bossocracy'..."

"hits you right in the feels..."

"Pantomime misanthropy is tempered with bursts of sweetness in the secondhand bookseller’s latest dispatches from Wigtown..."

"plenty to applaud but easy to get lost..."

"This scientific analysis of humour says it may have evolved to boost sex appeal..."

"The juggle is familiar, but the take is fresh. ..."

"this celebration of amateur dramatics shows we've always been a theatre-loving country..."

"Jilly always makes the reader see through her eyes..."

"(a) fascinating portrait of a comedy genius..."

"Bloom’s memoir is somewhat hit-and-miss despite entertaining moments...."

"Hornby has built a career on capturing emotional nuance..."

" this charming, warm-hearted book proves just what an intelligent, quick-witted woman Claudia is..."

"The line between obsession and addiction is as thin as rolling paper. ..."

"Beautifully observed and full of swipes at the inhabitant of the White House, it is hugely entertaining...."

"essential reading for fans of the Big Yin..."