Books in the Media

Here is the latest Books in the Media newsletter:

Including Robert Macfarlane's Underland, Toby Faber's Faber & Faber, Andrea Lawlor's Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl and many, many more... Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review 7th May 2019 Robert Macfarlane's Underland charms the critics Good afternoon Karen, Acclaimed nature writer Robert Macfarlane charmed the critics this week with his latest offering, Underland: A Deep Time Journey (Hamish Hamilton), dubbed a "startling and memorable book" by the New Statesman's Erica Wagner and "well worth reading" by the Times' David Aaronovitch. Macfarlane, who scooped a British Book Award last year for his collaboration with illustrator Jackie Morris on children's poetry title The Lost Words (Hamish Hamilton), was praised for his "effective and compelling" exploration of the world underground—"It would be difficult to imagine a  richer or more stirring response to the strange landscapes hidden beneath us"—and secured a string of five star ratings from the Guardian, the Spectator and the Daily Telegraph. Faber & Faber celebrated its 90th anniversary last week, with the publication of Faber & Faber: The Untold Story proving another popular choice in the press. The Sunday Times declared Toby Faber's "inside story of Britain’s most illustrious publishing house" a "striking drama", while the Spectator's DJ Taylor said "for an official history [it's] agreeably even-handed". Finally, Andrea Lawlor's moving debut Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl (Picador) transports Virginia Woolf's Orlando to 90s San Francisco to great effect. The New Yorker praised Lawlor for "successfully mixing pop culture, gender theory, and smut", while the Guardian's Hannah Jane Parkinson said this is "a book that deserves to break out of the LGBT speciality bookshops". By Francesca Pymm, Online Editor, The Bookseller Book of the Week Underland Robert Macfarlane 4.06 out of 5 | 10 reviews "I admire his values and his gusto but find his company wearying over the long haul" Financial Times " this is a book well worth reading" The Times "I turned the last page with the unusual conviction of having been in the company of a fine writer" The Daily Telegraph "Some unsettling notes from the underground," Evening Standard Read all reviews Latest Reviews Machines Like Me Ian McEwan 3.79 out of 5 | 14 reviews "The book is full of free-floating fears" London Review of Books One Hundred Miracles TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "a compelling story of terrible suffering surmounted by incredible bravery" The Daily Telegraph She-merchants, Buccaneers & Gentlewomen Katie Hickman 3.75 out of 5 | 5 reviews " a surprising history of British women in India" The Sunday Times Who Owns England? Guy Shrubsole 2.70 out of 5 | 4 reviews "a wasted opportunity" The Daily Telegraph Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps Ursula Buchan 3.58 out of 5 | 6 reviews "Buchan reveals truth duller than fiction" The Guardian The Heavens Sandra Newman 3.57 out of 5 | 3 reviews "it’s a shame these idealistic millennials are so unlikeable" The Sunday Times The Porpoise Mark Haddon 3.67 out of 5 | 4 reviews "weird tale of time travel and incest" The Times The Professor and the Parson Adam Sisman 3.89 out of 5 | 5 reviews "This is a truly wonderful story" The Spectator The Tunnels Below Nadine Wild-Palmer, Ellen Shi 4.00 out of 5 | 3 reviews "a zippy and captivating read" Book Trust Best Reviewed The Flatshare Beth O'Leary 4.60 out of 5 | 3 reviews "uproariously funny" Woman & Home Airhead Emily Maitlis 4.40 out of 5 | 5 reviews "Airhead is a compilation of her greatest hits. And boy there are many." Evening Standard This is Shakespeare Emma Smith 4.40 out of 5 | 3 reviews "a brilliantly lighthearted guide to the Bard" The Daily Telegraph Our Man George Packer 4.38 out of 5 | 4 reviews "a deeply affecting and ultimately tragic biography " Financial Times The Last Leonardo Ben Lewis 4.25 out of 5 | 3 reviews "(a) fascinating and persuasive account" The Sunday Times Days in the Caucasus Banine, Anne Thompson-Ahmadova 4.00 out of 5 | 3 reviews "Banine’s exquisite, prose and unremitting eye for comic absurdity even amid the profoundest personal tragedy" The Spectator A Stranger City Linda Grant 3.86 out of 5 | 4 reviews "The novel is busy with sights, sounds and people but, like the city, it occasionally proves exhausting and confusing" The Times The Doll Factory Elizabeth Macneal 3.83 out of 5 | 3 reviews "a remarkably strong debut" The Times Michael Tippett: The Biography Oliver Soden 3.78 out of 5 | 5 reviews "(a) searching and beautifully written biography" The Daily Telegraph Most Reviewed Machines Like Me Ian McEwan 3.79 out of 5 | 14 reviews "The book is full of free-floating fears" London Review of Books Spring Ali Smith 4.03 out of 5 | 10 reviews "Ali Smith is, I think, a life-enhancer" The Scotsman Things in Jars Jess Kidd 4.13 out of 5 | 8 reviews "Kidd still manages to surprise, summoning up a sprawling, vibrant Victorian London" The Herald The Parisian Isabella Hammad 4.00 out of 5 | 7 reviews "[a] breathtaking debut." Irish Times Metropolis Philip Kerr 4.31 out of 5 | 7 reviews "a magnificent tribute to both character and author" Daily Mail Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps Ursula Buchan 3.58 out of 5 | 6 reviews "Buchan reveals truth duller than fiction" The Guardian © 2019 Bookseller Media Ltd.

Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review 8th April 2019 Clanchy's teaching memoir gets top marks from the critics Good morning, Kate Clanchy's Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me (Picador) has chalked up a 4.29 rating on Books in the Media, with Bryan Appleyard in the Sunday Times describing it as "superbly well written, the stories beautifully paced and elegantly punctuated by thoughts about education policy and society". The Times' Alex O'Connell added, "Her classroom anecdotes are inspiring, mortifying, energising and moving. I’d give her an A*," and Lara Feigel in the Guardian was similarly enthused, writing, "She successfully evokes the full sensorium of school life." Jess Kidd's Things in Jars (Canongate) was among The Bookseller previewer Alice O'Keeffe's picks for the month—describing the historical title as "a treat"—and the rest of the critics have followed suit, with Andrew Billen of the Times praising it as "astonishingly satisfying" and the Sunday Times' Nick Rennison writing, "This is an arresting, funny and well-written novel." Tim Bouverie's Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War (The Bodley Head) also pleased reviewers, though many pointed out this area of history has already been well-trodden. However, Dominic Sandbrook of the Sunday Times wrote that Bouverie "retells it with gusto", adding, "Nothing here will come as remotely surprising to anybody familiar with the story. But he has done his homework and has a nice eye for revealing anecdotes." Susan Pedersen in the Guardian praised it as "pacy, personality-driven, self-consciously writerly and ever so slightly moralistic", stating "As this is an anything-but-untold story, does Bouverie retell it in an interesting, readable way? The answer is yes." By Kiera O'Brien, charts editor, The Bookseller Book of the Week Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me Kate Clanchy 4.29 out of 5 | 3 reviews "For those of us who haven’t been in a classroom for some time, she successfully evokes the full sensorium of school life" The Guardian "one of the most inspiring books about teaching you’ll ever read" The Sunday Times "Her classroom anecdotes are inspiring, mortifying, energising and moving. I’d give her an A*" The Times Read all reviews Latest Reviews Michael Tippett: The Biography Oliver Soden TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "exhaustively researched, lovingly detailed" The Guardian West Carys Davies 4.13 out of 5 | 4 reviews "Davies has produced something quite wonderful in West." The Sunday Times Kaddish.com Nathan Englander 3.14 out of 5 | 3 reviews "comic potential with a moral edge" The Sunday Times The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin Jonathan Phillips 4.17 out of 5 | 3 reviews "charges along like battle scenes from Game of Thrones" The Sunday Times Dictator Literature: A History of Despots Through Their Writing Daniel Kalder TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "Kalder has selflessly ploughed his way through the written works of pretty much every dictator from Lenin onwards." The Sunday Times The Flatshare Beth O'Leary 4.60 out of 5 | 3 reviews "uproariously funny" Woman & Home Circe Madeline Miller 4.03 out of 5 | 5 reviews "a remarkable achievement" The Sunday Times The Way We Eat Now Bee Wilson 3.20 out of 5 | 5 reviews "a food writer whose appetite for research seems to know no bounds" The Guardian Philosopher of the Heart Clare Carlisle 3.17 out of 5 | 4 reviews "the portrayal of her protagonist (aided by telling quotations) is so vivid that it transcends her own opinion and feelings about him." The Daily Telegraph Best Reviewed A History of the Bible John Barton 4.63 out of 5 | 4 reviews "This warts-and-all history of the Bible is essential reading" The Daily Telegraph The Flatshare Beth O'Leary 4.60 out of 5 | 3 reviews "uproariously funny" Woman & Home The Other Americans Laila Lalami 4.56 out of 5 | 5 reviews "The multiple voices are handled with restrained mastery by Lalami, who eschews drama to focus on nuance and detail" The Guardian Metropolis Philip Kerr 4.50 out of 5 | 4 reviews "this is a bittersweet ending to a superb series" The Guardian What Dementia Teaches Us About Love Nicci Gerrard 4.44 out of 5 | 4 reviews "moving mixture of philosophy and anecdote" Literary Review Reasons to Be Cheerful Nina Stibbe 4.29 out of 5 | 4 reviews "Nina Stibbe is one of the great comic writers of our time" Irish Times Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me Kate Clanchy 4.29 out of 5 | 3 reviews "one of the most inspiring books about teaching you’ll ever read" The Sunday Times Things in Jars Jess Kidd 4.22 out of 5 | 4 reviews "Her descriptions of [London] ring rich and poetic, with seamless pockets of elegance" Irish Times A Fabulous Creation David Hepworth 4.14 out of 5 | 3 reviews "readers’ enjoyment of this book will probably stand or fall by how far their own musical taste coincides with that of the author." The Spectator Most Reviewed Memories of the Future Siri Hustvedt 3.53 out of 5 | 13 reviews "This is a book that merits rereading, not least because it’s trying to build something new" The Daily Telegraph The Parade Dave Eggers 2.97 out of 5 | 11 reviews "For all Eggers’s stylistic brilliance, this parable about western assistance in a strange land fails to properly explore the ideas it raises" The Observer Spring Ali Smith 4.03 out of 5 | 10 reviews "Ali Smith is, I think, a life-enhancer" The Scotsman An Impeccable Spy Owen Matthews 4.06 out of 5 | 9 reviews "With this book as our evidence, we can say that Sorge was an impeccable spy, and also that Matthews is an impeccable biographer. " The Scotsman Arabs: A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes and Empires Tim Mackintosh-Smith 3.93 out of 5 | 7 reviews "a rich, exotic history" The Spectator How Was It For You? Virginia Nicholson 3.80 out of 5 | 7 reviews "It is her enthusiasm as much as her scholarship that makes this such a beguiling read" The Spectator © 2019 Bookseller Media Ltd.

Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review 28th March 2019 Spring has sprung: reviewers shower Smith's third Seasonal title with praise Good afternoon, The critics were full of the joys of Spring last week, as Ali Smith's third title in her Seasonal Quartet (Hamish Hamilton) burst into bloom. Alex Preston in the Guardian praised the title as "a dazzling hymn to hope," adding, "In this series of novels she is doing something more than merely anatomising the iniquities of her age. She’s lighting us a path out of the nightmarish now." Melissa Katsoulis in the Times agreed, writing, "Despite the stark indictment of humanity’s evils that this bubbling, babbling brook of a book contains, the real story is the eternal, deep pulse of nature doing its thing, oblivious to our sordid ways." However, while Jon Day in the Financial Times described the "collage" structure of Spring as "a Modernist prose poem of the now", Johanna Thomas-Corr in the Sunday Times was the only critic to splash any rain on Smith's parade. She was left unimpressed with the "madcap" and "scattergun" storyline—but adds that, with Spring, "at last, a shape begins to emerge" to the quartet. Barry Lopez's Horizon (The Bodley Head), made an Editor's Choice for March by The Bookseller's non-fiction previewer Caroline Sanderson, also had reviewers reaching for stratopheric levels of acclaim. Robert Macfarlane wrote in the Guardian that the travel memoir "is magnificent; a contemporary epic, at once pained and urgent, personal and oracular", while Adam Weymouth in the Sunday Times described it as "breathtaking in its ambition".  Fleur Hitchcock's The Boy Who Flew (Nosy Crow) was also buffeted by praise, with Emily Bearn in the Daily Telegraph claiming that "even the more reluctant" of young readers will be "swept along by the cliffhanger chapters and simple, suspenseful prose", and the Financial Times' James Lovegrove writing, "It’s a spirited, suspenseful adventure yarn, and its breathless action scenes and multicultural characters present a very un-Austen-like vision of Bath." By Kiera O'Brien, charts editor, The Bookseller Book of the Week Spring Ali Smith 4.10 out of 5 | 5 reviews "The third book in Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet is her best yet, a dazzling hymn to hope" The Guardian "She tells stories in a voice you can’t help but listen to." The Times "It’s still scattergun, but events are coming into focus at last" The Sunday Times "Smith is proving to be a woman for all seasons" Evening Standard Read all reviews Latest Reviews The Parade Dave Eggers 2.90 out of 5 | 9 reviews "It feels as though this book didn’t get quite as much of Eggers's famous energy as it needed" The Daily Telegraph Socrates in Love Armand D'Angour 3.83 out of 5 | 4 reviews "...the details of D’Angour’s account are pure speculation." The Spectator A Woman of No Importance Sonia Purnell 3.83 out of 5 | 3 reviews "excellent... meticulous research into Hall's life and work" The Spectator The Fourth Reich Gavriel D. Rosenfeld (Fairfield University, Connecticut) TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "confusing, but at times entertaining" The Spectator Reasons to Be Cheerful Nina Stibbe 4.33 out of 5 | 3 reviews "(a) pitch perfect vintage comedy" The Guardian Adele Leila Slimani 3.74 out of 5 | 17 reviews "One admires Slimani's bravery in creating a deeply unsympathetic character " The Daily Telegraph Pie Fidelity: In Defence of British Food Pete Brown TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "His lack of scepticism may be generous, but it’s a handicap" The Guardian Winners Take All Anand Giridharadas 3.60 out of 5 | 4 reviews "So much of what Giridharadas writes is almost self-evidently true and urgently in need of addressing," The Observer The Other Americans Laila Lalami 4.33 out of 5 | 4 reviews "...engrossing. Its structure so mirrors the quiet power of oral histories that one wonders who these characters are addressing" A.V. Club Best Reviewed The Boy Who Flew Fleur Hitchcock 4.33 out of 5 | 3 reviews "Hitchcock’s readers expect a white-knuckle ride, and her latest novel... will not disappoint" The Daily Telegraph Joe Quinn's Poltergeist David Almond, Dave McKean 4.25 out of 5 | 3 reviews "the thought-provoking tale is brought vividly to life by McKean’s powerful illustrations." Daily Mail The Man Who Was Saturday Patrick Bishop 4.25 out of 5 | 4 reviews "Patrick Bishop recalls the fascinating life of British Army lieutenant Airey Neave" Daily Mail Before She Knew Him Peter Swanson 4.25 out of 5 | 3 reviews "deliciously good – dry, intelligent, perfectly paced... Swanson’s best thriller yet" The Guardian A Fabulous Creation David Hepworth 4.14 out of 5 | 3 reviews "readers’ enjoyment of this book will probably stand or fall by how far their own musical taste coincides with that of the author." The Spectator An Impeccable Spy Owen Matthews 4.09 out of 5 | 7 reviews "a vividly told story, thoroughly researched and well-crafted" Financial Times Arabs: A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes and Empires Tim Mackintosh-Smith 4.08 out of 5 | 5 reviews "Too narrow in its focus" Irish Times 'Cherry' Ingram: The Englishman Who Saved Japan’s Blossoms Naoko Abe 4.08 out of 5 | 5 reviews "a meticulously researched book" The Daily Telegraph Invisible Women Caroline Criado Perez 4.00 out of 5 | 10 reviews " as Criado Perez systematically shows, women are still considered the second sex, if they are considered at all." Times Literary Supplement Most Reviewed Memories of the Future Siri Hustvedt 3.49 out of 5 | 12 reviews "manages to be quite moving and unconvincing at the same time" The New York Times Invisible Women Caroline Criado Perez 4.00 out of 5 | 10 reviews " as Criado Perez systematically shows, women are still considered the second sex, if they are considered at all." Times Literary Supplement The Uninhabitable Earth: A Story of the Future David Wallace-Wells 3.61 out of 5 | 9 reviews "The crumpled carcass of a bee on the cover tells you only some of what you need to know" The New York Times The Snakes Sadie Jones 3.75 out of 5 | 8 reviews "A nuanced and propulsive exploration of the poisonous effects of wealth — with a pitiless shock ending" Financial Times An Impeccable Spy Owen Matthews 4.09 out of 5 | 7 reviews "a vividly told story, thoroughly researched and well-crafted" Financial Times Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli 3.56 out of 5 | 7 reviews "This ambitious, experimental book blends a family road trip with the child-migration crisis in the US" The Times © 2019 Bookseller Media Ltd.

Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review 4th April 2019 An Impeccable Spy earns an immaculate score Good morning, Owen Matthews' An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge, Stalin's Master Agent (Bloomsbury), the "superbly researched" biography of the man John Le Carre called "the spy to end all spies", has enamoured the critics, with Dominic Sandbrook in the Sunday Times calling it "gloriously readable" and the Guardian's Oliver Bullogh praising it as a "magnificently-written" book, "packed with humour and insight and all served up with a rare lightness of touch". Matthews drew from newly-available Soviet military intelligence archives and many reviewers commended his insight into Sorge's mindset: Saul David in the Daily Telegraph praised the author's "convincing portrayal" and "clear-eyed [...] portrait", while William Boyd in the New Statesman believed it to be "richly authentic", told with "tremendous verve and expertise". On the other side of the Iron Curtain, Laila Lalami's The Other Americans (Bloomsbury Circus) garnered acclaim. The Guardian's Aminatta Forna praised the multiple viewpoints, handled with "restrained mastery" by Lalami, as Johanna Thomas-Corr in the Times described it as "one of the most affecting novels I have read about race and immigration post-9/11". Lee Langley in the Spectator said the title had "the breadth of a family saga with the suspense of a mystery and, finally, the satisfying resolution of a thriller". Nina Stibbe's Reasons to be Cheerful (Viking) gave reviewers something to smile about, with Helen Cullen in the Irish Times enjoying the "pitch perfect dialogue and acute observations of behaviour", and Sam Leith in the Guardian praising Stibbe for envoking the spirit of Victoria Wood in the way she "generates tender human sympathy through an accumulation of mundane provincial detail".  Thursday update: The April edition of The Bookseller Podcast is here featuring the Book Doctors, an interview with Maggie and Me author Damian Barr and Sara Collins reading extracts from her novel The Confessions of Frannie Langton. By Kiera O'Brien, charts editor, The Bookseller Book of the Week An Impeccable Spy Owen Matthews 4.07 out of 5 | 8 reviews "So much for the myth but, as ever, the truth – or as close as we can get to the truth – is infinitely more compelling, " New Statesman "his study of Sorge’s extraordinary, though far from impeccable, espionage is vivid and revealing." Literary Review "Matthews tells ‘for the first time’ the Soviet side of this eye-rubbing story" The Spectator "[a] clear-eyed, deeply researched and finely judged portrait" The Daily Telegraph Read all reviews Latest Reviews How Was It For You? Virginia Nicholson 3.80 out of 5 | 7 reviews "It is her enthusiasm as much as her scholarship that makes this such a beguiling read" The Spectator Our Man Down in Havana Christopher Hull TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "It is the kind of obsessive book I like best — a full-body immersion into Greeneland" The Spectator Amritsar 1919 Kim Wagner 3.86 out of 5 | 4 reviews "gets as close as we are ever likely to get to the truth of what happened in Jallianwalla Bagh" The Spectator When the Dogs Don't Bark Professor Angela Gallop 3.67 out of 5 | 3 reviews "a fascinating memoir of a scientist’s career, but also the history of a field’s technological transformation" The Spectator Memories of the Future Siri Hustvedt 3.53 out of 5 | 13 reviews "This is a book that merits rereading, not least because it’s trying to build something new" The Daily Telegraph Constellations Sinead Gleeson 3.75 out of 5 | 3 reviews "These intimate essays about the author’s chronic bodily ailments are full of hard-won insights" The Guardian The Friends of Harry Perkins Chris Mullin 2.53 out of 5 | 7 reviews "The Friends of Harry Perkins is a far bleaker book than its predecessor." London Review of Books A Massacre in Mexico Anabel Hernandez 3.63 out of 5 | 4 reviews "Hernández took very real risks to produce this book" London Review of Books The Darksome Bounds of a Failing World Gareth Russell TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "attention to detail is astonishing" The Sunday Times Best Reviewed The Other Americans Laila Lalami 4.56 out of 5 | 5 reviews "The multiple voices are handled with restrained mastery by Lalami, who eschews drama to focus on nuance and detail" The Guardian The Boy Who Flew Fleur Hitchcock 4.33 out of 5 | 3 reviews "Hitchcock’s readers expect a white-knuckle ride, and her latest novel... will not disappoint" The Daily Telegraph Reasons to Be Cheerful Nina Stibbe 4.29 out of 5 | 4 reviews "Nina Stibbe is one of the great comic writers of our time" Irish Times Joe Quinn's Poltergeist David Almond, Dave McKean 4.25 out of 5 | 3 reviews "the thought-provoking tale is brought vividly to life by McKean’s powerful illustrations." Daily Mail The Man Who Was Saturday Patrick Bishop 4.25 out of 5 | 4 reviews "Patrick Bishop recalls the fascinating life of British Army lieutenant Airey Neave" Daily Mail Before She Knew Him Peter Swanson 4.25 out of 5 | 3 reviews "deliciously good – dry, intelligent, perfectly paced... Swanson’s best thriller yet" The Guardian A Fabulous Creation David Hepworth 4.14 out of 5 | 3 reviews "readers’ enjoyment of this book will probably stand or fall by how far their own musical taste coincides with that of the author." The Spectator 'Cherry' Ingram: The Englishman Who Saved Japan’s Blossoms Naoko Abe 4.08 out of 5 | 5 reviews "a meticulously researched book" The Daily Telegraph New Daughters of Africa Margaret Busby 4.00 out of 5 | 3 reviews "A remarkable anthology shines a light on the overlooked interior lives of black women who have faced decades of political struggle" Financial Times Most Reviewed Memories of the Future Siri Hustvedt 3.53 out of 5 | 13 reviews "This is a book that merits rereading, not least because it’s trying to build something new" The Daily Telegraph Invisible Women Caroline Criado Perez 4.00 out of 5 | 10 reviews " as Criado Perez systematically shows, women are still considered the second sex, if they are considered at all." Times Literary Supplement The Parade Dave Eggers 2.97 out of 5 | 10 reviews "It feels as though this book didn’t get quite as much of Eggers's famous energy as it needed" The Daily Telegraph The Snakes Sadie Jones 3.75 out of 5 | 8 reviews "A nuanced and propulsive exploration of the poisonous effects of wealth — with a pitiless shock ending" Financial Times Gingerbread Helen Oyeyemi 3.67 out of 5 | 8 reviews "a reworking of fable and an incisive look at class, migration, exclusion and loss" The Scotsman Arabs: A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes and Empires Tim Mackintosh-Smith 3.93 out of 5 | 7 reviews "a rich, exotic history" The Spectator © 2019 Bookseller Media Ltd.

Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review 1st April 2019 An Impeccable Spy earns an immaculate score Good morning Karen, Owen Matthews' An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge, Stalin's Master Agent (Bloomsbury), the "superbly researched" biography of the man John Le Carre called "the spy to end all spies", has enamoured the critics, with Dominic Sandbrook in the Sunday Times calling it "gloriously readable" and the Guardian's Oliver Bullogh praising it as a "magnificently-written" book, "packed with humour and insight and all served up with a rare lightness of touch". Matthews drew from newly-available Soviet military intelligence archives and many reviewers commended his insight into Sorge's mindset: Saul David in the Daily Telegraph praised the author's "convincing portrayal" and "clear-eyed [...] portrait", while William Boyd in the New Statesman believed it to be "richly authentic", told with "tremendous verve and expertise". On the other side of the Iron Curtain, Laila Lalami's The Other Americans (Bloomsbury Circus) garnered acclaim. The Guardian's Aminatta Forna praised the multiple viewpoints, handled with "restrained mastery" by Lalami, as Johanna Thomas-Corr in the Times described it as "one of the most affecting novels I have read about race and immigration post-9/11". Lee Langley in the Spectator said the title had "the breadth of a family saga with the suspense of a mystery and, finally, the satisfying resolution of a thriller". Nina Stibbe's Reasons to be Cheerful (Viking) gave reviewers something to smile about, with Helen Cullen in the Irish Times enjoying the "pitch perfect dialogue and acute observations of behaviour", and Sam Leith in the Guardian praising Stibbe for envoking the spirit of Victoria Wood in the way she "generates tender human sympathy through an accumulation of mundane provincial detail".  By Kiera O'Brien, charts editor, The Bookseller Book of the Week An Impeccable Spy Owen Matthews 4.07 out of 5 | 8 reviews "So much for the myth but, as ever, the truth – or as close as we can get to the truth – is infinitely more compelling, " New Statesman "his study of Sorge’s extraordinary, though far from impeccable, espionage is vivid and revealing." Literary Review "Matthews tells ‘for the first time’ the Soviet side of this eye-rubbing story" The Spectator "[a] clear-eyed, deeply researched and finely judged portrait" The Daily Telegraph Read all reviews Latest Reviews The Darksome Bounds of a Failing World Gareth Russell TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "attention to detail is astonishing" The Sunday Times Philosopher of the Heart Clare Carlisle 3.25 out of 5 | 3 reviews "'compelling'" The Guardian The Friends of Harry Perkins Chris Mullin 2.53 out of 5 | 7 reviews "The Friends of Harry Perkins is a far bleaker book than its predecessor." London Review of Books The Old Drift Namwali Serpell 3.33 out of 5 | 3 reviews "...a dazzling debut, establishing Namwali Serpell as a writer on the world stage" The New York Times Spring Ali Smith 4.03 out of 5 | 9 reviews "an energetic, tricksy novel – for better and worse" The Daily Telegraph Lost Dog: A Love Story Kate Spicer TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "‘already one of my books of the year’" The Sunday Times What Dementia Teaches Us About Love Nicci Gerrard 4.50 out of 5 | 3 reviews "This poignant look at dementia will hopefully encourage some hard, but necessary family conversations" The Times The Way We Eat Now Bee Wilson 3.29 out of 5 | 4 reviews "refreshing to read" The Spectator 1776: A London Chronicle TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "a readability that cuts to the chase" The Sunday Telegraph Best Reviewed The Other Americans Laila Lalami 4.56 out of 5 | 5 reviews "The multiple voices are handled with restrained mastery by Lalami, who eschews drama to focus on nuance and detail" The Guardian The Boy Who Flew Fleur Hitchcock 4.33 out of 5 | 3 reviews "Hitchcock’s readers expect a white-knuckle ride, and her latest novel... will not disappoint" The Daily Telegraph Reasons to Be Cheerful Nina Stibbe 4.29 out of 5 | 4 reviews "Nina Stibbe is one of the great comic writers of our time" Irish Times Joe Quinn's Poltergeist David Almond, Dave McKean 4.25 out of 5 | 3 reviews "the thought-provoking tale is brought vividly to life by McKean’s powerful illustrations." Daily Mail The Man Who Was Saturday Patrick Bishop 4.25 out of 5 | 4 reviews "Patrick Bishop recalls the fascinating life of British Army lieutenant Airey Neave" Daily Mail Before She Knew Him Peter Swanson 4.25 out of 5 | 3 reviews "deliciously good – dry, intelligent, perfectly paced... Swanson’s best thriller yet" The Guardian A Fabulous Creation David Hepworth 4.14 out of 5 | 3 reviews "readers’ enjoyment of this book will probably stand or fall by how far their own musical taste coincides with that of the author." The Spectator 'Cherry' Ingram: The Englishman Who Saved Japan’s Blossoms Naoko Abe 4.08 out of 5 | 5 reviews "a meticulously researched book" The Daily Telegraph New Daughters of Africa Margaret Busby 4.00 out of 5 | 3 reviews "A remarkable anthology shines a light on the overlooked interior lives of black women who have faced decades of political struggle" Financial Times Most Reviewed Memories of the Future Siri Hustvedt 3.49 out of 5 | 12 reviews "manages to be quite moving and unconvincing at the same time" The New York Times Invisible Women Caroline Criado Perez 4.00 out of 5 | 10 reviews " as Criado Perez systematically shows, women are still considered the second sex, if they are considered at all." Times Literary Supplement The Parade Dave Eggers 2.97 out of 5 | 10 reviews "It feels as though this book didn’t get quite as much of Eggers's famous energy as it needed" The Daily Telegraph The Snakes Sadie Jones 3.75 out of 5 | 8 reviews "A nuanced and propulsive exploration of the poisonous effects of wealth — with a pitiless shock ending" Financial Times Gingerbread Helen Oyeyemi 3.67 out of 5 | 8 reviews "a reworking of fable and an incisive look at class, migration, exclusion and loss" The Scotsman Arabs: A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes and Empires Tim Mackintosh-Smith 3.93 out of 5 | 7 reviews "a rich, exotic history" The Spectator © 2019 Bookseller Media Ltd.