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Includes Sunday Times best literary fiction books of the year, Lydia Davis' Essays, Leo McKinstry's Attlee and Churchill and Dave Eggers' The Captain and the Glory Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review: 9th December 2019 Critics write home about Lydia Davis' Essays Good morning Karen, Lydia Davis' Essays (Hamish Hamilton) has won acclaim among reviewers, with the author declared "the peerless exponent of what has come to be known as 'flash fiction'", and the collection "a treasure trove of wisdom" and "hugely enjoyable". Philip Hensher in the Spectator wrote, "Next to her, many acclaimed critics seem only concerned by the morals literature draws, or its relationship to huge and serious subjects such as religious belief. Davis is interested in the quality of writing," while the Guardian's Tim Adams praised the "long book in praise of brevity" by saying, "The voice of these essays never forgets its own limitations, or the inherent comedy of passing critical judgment." Mia Levitin of the Financial Times also loved it, writing, "At a party after an afternoon immersed in the book, I found every conversation cast in enchantment and I wished, like Davis, that I had a notebook in my pocket to jot it all down", adding, "Although that’s probably like heading to Home Depot for cans of paint after seeing a Jackson Pollock exhibition." Leo McKinstry's Attlee and Churchill (Atlantic) also enamoured the critics, with Tony Rennell in the Daily Mail declaring it "superb" and Colin Kidd in the New Statesman noting its "dewy fondness for a world we have lost". Reviewers couldn't help but compare McKinstry's book to the current political climate, with Andrew Rawnsley in the Observer writing, "Surveying the stunted political leadership that blights contemporary Britain, there is some consolation in remembering a time when giants guided the destiny of this sceptred isle." Dave Eggers' The Captain and the Glory, a Trump-inspired satire about a ship and its new "vulgar, bumbling and inexplicably confident" captain, was another stand-out, with Sandra Newman in the Guardian writing that, despite the well-trodden subject matter, Eggers, "nonetheless makes his story engaging, disturbing and sometimes genuinely funny". The Times' Johanna Thomas-Corr wrote, "Eggers doesn’t have to exaggerate, he just has to pick and choose his details. The Captain and the Glory is funny because it’s true," with Martin Chilton describing it as "bitingly funny" in the Independent. Book of the Week Essays Lydia Davis 4.50 out of 5 | 3 reviews "She writes short stories or texts of unsettling wit and invention" The Guardian "Essays is a treasure trove of wisdom on the pleasures of reading and writing" Financial Times "should do a great deal to remind us how complex the pleasures we take in literary expression can be" The Spectator Latest Reviews The Reinvention of Humanity Charles King 4 out of 5 4 reviews "...A brilliantly written account of how pioneering anthropologists radically changed the study of humankind" The Guardian Endland Tim Etchells, Jarvis Cocker 3.7 out of 5 3 reviews "...There are no happy endings in this nastily funny phantasmagoria set in a warped version of England" The Guardian On Swift Horses Shannon Pufahl TBC out of 5 2 reviews "...On Swift Horses is worth reading for the poetry alone" The Sunday Times The Contender William J. Mann 3.6 out of 5 3 reviews "...As Hollywood biographies go, this is as nice and as intelligent as can be" The Times The Beautiful Ones Prince 3.6 out of 5 4 reviews "...These pages will only enhance the enigmatic pop star’s mystique" The Sunday Times India in the Persianate Age Richard M Eaton TBC out of 5 2 reviews "...Richard Eaton’s brilliant book stands as an important monument to this almost forgotten world" The Spectator Lady in Waiting Anne Glenconner 4 out of 5 5 reviews "...This memoir of consorting with Princess Margaret and the royal family is remarkable." The Sunday Times James Baldwin: Living in Fire Bill V. Mullen TBC out of 5 2 reviews "...A brisk account of the African American writer’s insights on race, class and sexuality, which are more relevant than ever" The Guardian Will Will Self 2.8 out of 5 12 reviews "...a well-worth-struggling-for drugalogue" New Statesman Travellers Helon Habila 4.3 out of 5 5 reviews "...(a) bravura exploration of the refugee crisis" The Guardian El Norte Carrie Gibson TBC out of 5 2 reviews "...paints an extremely broad canvas over eight centuries" The Guardian Island Stories David Reynolds 3.2 out of 5 5 reviews "...Reynolds provides a very useful primer on the delusions of an English mentality" The Guardian Books of the Year The Sunday Times Best Literary Fiction of 2019 The Sunday Times has once again picked its best books of the year - and we focus on its selections for the best fiction books of 2019 - headed up by Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout.  Best Reviewed The Siberian Dilemma Martin Cruz Smith 3.9 out of 5 3 reviews Bowie's Books John O'Connell 3.6 out of 5 3 reviews The Captain and the Glory Dave Eggers 3.5 out of 5 4 reviews Who Loses, Who Wins: The Journals of Kenneth Rose, Volume Two 1979-2014 Kenneth Rose 2.8 out of 5 3 reviews Attlee and Churchill Leo McKinstry (Author) 4.8 out of 5 3 reviews Endland Tim Etchells, Jarvis Cocker 3.7 out of 5 3 reviews The Contender William J. Mann 3.6 out of 5 3 reviews The Reinvention of Humanity Charles King 4 out of 5 4 reviews Most Reviewed Will Will Self 2.8 out of 5 12 reviews Christmas in Austin Benjamin Markovits 3.9 out of 5 7 reviews The Letters of Cole Porter Cole Porter, Cliff Eisen, Dominic McHugh 2.6 out of 5 5 reviews Find Me Andre Aciman 3.3 out of 5 6 reviews May at 10 Anthony Seldon 3.5 out of 5 5 reviews A House in the Mountains Caroline Moorehead 4 out of 5 5 reviews Grandmothers Salley Vickers 3.3 out of 5 5 reviews Disturbance Philippe Lancon, Steven Rendall 4 out of 5 5 reviews Gigs of the Week Ian Rankin: Westwind St Andrews, 14 Dec Adam Kay: Twas the Nightshift... Liverpool, 15 Dec Robin Stevens Book Signing Oxford, 14 Dec An Evening with Salley Vickers Ely, 10 Dec © 2019 Bookseller Media Ltd.

Including The Times best books of the year, Celia Paul's Self Portrait and Martin Cruz Smith's The Siberian Dilemma Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review: 5th December 2019 Reviewers find Paul's Self-Portrait picture perfect Good afternoon  Karen, Critics have painted the town red over Celia Paul's Self-Portrait (Jonathan Cape), declaring it "fascinating", a "myth about the misuse of fame and the male ego", and "pitilessly honest". Her turbulent relationship with Lucien Freud is a centre point of the memoir, with Ysenda Maxtone Graham stating in the Daily Mail, "You watch a woman being gradually eviscerated by love-torture," and the Spectator's Honor Clerk writing, "Among Freud’s myriad relations, lovers and friends, none can have brought a reader so close to him, none can have detailed so tellingly the fluctuating dynamic of magnetism and despair, the assertion of will in the face of domination." The Guardian's Frances Spalding described Self-Portrait as "fresh", and "comes as a surprise", adding, "Her views, both intimate and yet more distant and independent, enable her to recall hidden aspects of Freud’s life, his vulnerability, vanity, tenderness and undoubted need of her, as well as his brutality towards women." Philippe Lancon's Disturbance: Surviving Charlie Hebdo (Europa), translated by Steven Rendall, also won acclaim, with the Evening Standard's David Sexton describing it as "engrossing, beautifully written book" and "not just a remarkable document but an inspiration to others in quite different plights," adding, "Nothing else has touched me in quite the same way this year." In the Spectator, Douglas Murray declared it "a magnificent tribute. Not just to Lançon’s murdered journalistic colleagues, but to the whole threatened tribe," and Andrew Anthony in the Observer felt similarly, writing, "Without resorting to polemic, it’s an argument in favour of the intellectual life, of ideas as beautiful abstractions, weaponised only as satire, never as terror. It feels reassuringly rarefied, like an old-fashioned French talking-heads movie." Martin Cruz Smith's The Siberian Dilemma (S&S) brought the reviewers in from the cold, with Adam LeBor in the Financial Times writing that the novel was "Cruz Smith at his best: ace storytelling with dry, laconic dialogue and a crumpled but courageous hero," and the New York Times' Marilyn Stasio praising the author's "lucid prose, surprising imagery and realistic dialogue", which "all serve his engrossing storytelling". By Kiera O'Brien Book of the Week Self-Portrait Celia Paul 3.80 out of 5 | 4 reviews "it turns into a sort of myth about the misuse of fame and the male ego, about the struggles faced by creative women, about the body in all its guises" Financial Times "Paul writes of her ten-year relationship with Freud without rancour; but only after they parted could she concentrate on her own career as a painter" The Spectator "an enthralling examination of female self-esteem: how it can be slowly destroyed and, eventually, rescued" Daily Mail "Her views, both intimate and yet more distant and independent, enable her to recall hidden aspects of Freud’s life" The Guardian Latest Reviews The Fortress Alexander Watson 4.5 out of 5 4 reviews "...a marvellously readable, though tragic, story of its time and of how the clock can be made to turn backwards under siege conditions" The Daily Telegraph Hostile Environment Maya Goodfellow TBC out of 5 2 reviews "...this archival critique and collection of interviews is one of the most profound deconstructions of UK immigration policy that exists" The Guardian The Eighth Life Nino Haratischvili, Charlotte Collins, Ruth Martin TBC out of 5 2 reviews "...Astonishing... a landmark epic" The Guardian They Will Have to Die Now James Verini 4 out of 5 3 reviews "...When war isn’t being loud and boring, most modern accounts agree, it’s being loud and surreal. Verini’s book is exceptionally rich in this vein." The Spectator Supreme Ambition Ruth Marcus TBC out of 5 2 reviews "...Marcus’s book is impressively reported, highly insightful and a rollicking good read" The New York Times The Topeka School Ben Lerner (Y) 4.3 out of 5 14 reviews "...A novel so good our critic expects to be recommending it for the rest of her life" The Sunday Times Grandmothers Salley Vickers 3.4 out of 5 4 reviews "...This moving novel celebrates the bonds between generations" The Times Agatha Anne Cathrine Bomann, Caroline Waight TBC out of 5 2 reviews "... a shrewd, skilful tale of loneliness, the search for meaning and a place in the world, and the problems of truly relating to another human being" The Independent Hitler: A Life Peter Longerich (Former Professor of Modern German History, Royal Holloway, University of London) 2.8 out of 5 3 reviews "...a fine-grained and generally very persuasive account of Hitler’s rise to power" Irish Times Books of the Year The Times Best Books of the Year 2019 The Times has unveiled its annual round-up of the best books of the year - and for your convenience we've listed their picks... Best Reviewed The Siberian Dilemma Martin Cruz Smith 3.9 out of 5 3 reviews "...Smith’s lucid prose, surprising imagery and realistic dialogue, as well as his wonderfully quirky characters, all serve his engrossing storytelling" The New York Times Christmas in Austin Benjamin Markovits 3.8 out of 5 6 reviews "...This is up there with the best contemporary Christmas novels " Daily Mail Bowie's Books John O'Connell 3.6 out of 5 3 reviews "... O’Connell’s splendid book provides plenty of evidence of Bowie’s restless, rummaging intelligence" The Times Oligarchy Scarlett Thomas 3 out of 5 3 reviews "...It sounds in bad taste, but Scarlett Thomas has written a riotously enjoyable novel about a boarding school full of girls with eating disorders" The Spectator A House in the Mountains Caroline Moorehead 4 out of 5 4 reviews "...Their transformation from studious, dutiful daughters into daring, scruffy, exhausted combatants is brilliantly and subtly told" The Guardian Don't Be Evil Rana Foroohar 4 out of 5 3 reviews "...(a) masterful critique of the tech giants that now dominate our world" The Observer Self-Portrait Celia Paul 3.8 out of 5 4 reviews "...Paul writes of her ten-year relationship with Freud without rancour; but only after they parted could she concentrate on her own career as a painter" The Spectator Grandmothers Salley Vickers 3.4 out of 5 4 reviews "...This moving novel celebrates the bonds between generations" The Times An Economic History of the English Garden Roderick Floud 3.6 out of 5 3 reviews "...A fascinating history of gardening reveals our expensive passion for all things green" The Times Most Reviewed The Man in the Red Coat Julian Barnes 4.1 out of 5 12 reviews Will Will Self 2.6 out of 5 10 reviews Christmas in Austin Benjamin Markovits 3.8 out of 5 6 reviews Find Me Andre Aciman 3.3 out of 5 6 reviews The Letters of Cole Porter Cole Porter, Cliff Eisen, Dominic McHugh 2.6 out of 5 5 reviews May at 10 Anthony Seldon 3.5 out of 5 5 reviews © 2019 Bookseller Media Ltd.

Including new reviews for Martin Cruz Smith's Siberian Dilemma, Celia Paul's Self-Portrait and Philippe Lancon's Disturbance: Surviving Charlie Hebdo Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review: 2nd December 2019 Reviewers find Paul's Self-Portrait picture perfect Good morning  Karen, Critics have painted the town red over Celia Paul's Self-Portrait (Jonathan Cape), declaring it "fascinating", a "myth about the misuse of fame and the male ego", and "pitilessly honest". Her turbulent relationship with Lucien Freud is a centre point of the memoir, with Ysenda Maxtone Graham stating in the Daily Mail, "You watch a woman being gradually eviscerated by love-torture," and the Spectator's Honor Clerk writing, "Among Freud’s myriad relations, lovers and friends, none can have brought a reader so close to him, none can have detailed so tellingly the fluctuating dynamic of magnetism and despair, the assertion of will in the face of domination." The Guardian's Frances Spalding described Self-Portrait as "fresh", and "comes as a surprise", adding, "Her views, both intimate and yet more distant and independent, enable her to recall hidden aspects of Freud’s life, his vulnerability, vanity, tenderness and undoubted need of her, as well as his brutality towards women." Philippe Lancon's Disturbance: Surviving Charlie Hebdo (Europa), translated by Steven Rendall, also won acclaim, with the Evening Standard's David Sexton describing it as "engrossing, beautifully written book" and "not just a remarkable document but an inspiration to others in quite different plights," adding, "Nothing else has touched me in quite the same way this year." In the Spectator, Douglas Murray declared it "a magnificent tribute. Not just to Lançon’s murdered journalistic colleagues, but to the whole threatened tribe," and Andrew Anthony in the Guardian felt similarly, writing, "Without resorting to polemic, it’s an argument in favour of the intellectual life, of ideas as beautiful abstractions, weaponised only as satire, never as terror. It feels reassuringly rarefied, like an old-fashioned French talking-heads movie." Martin Cruz Smith's The Siberian Dilemma (S&S) brought the reviewers in from the cold, with Adam LeBor in the Financial Times writing that the novel was "Cruz Smith at his best: ace storytelling with dry, laconic dialogue and a crumpled but courageous hero," and the New York Times' Marilyn Stasio praising the author's "lucid prose, surprising imagery and realistic dialogue", which "all serve his engrossing storytelling". By Kiera O'Brien, charts editor, The Bookseller Book of the Week Self-Portrait Celia Paul 3.80 out of 5 | 4 reviews "it turns into a sort of myth about the misuse of fame and the male ego, about the struggles faced by creative women, about the body in all its guises" Financial Times "Paul writes of her ten-year relationship with Freud without rancour; but only after they parted could she concentrate on her own career as a painter" The Spectator "an enthralling examination of female self-esteem: how it can be slowly destroyed and, eventually, rescued" Daily Mail "Her views, both intimate and yet more distant and independent, enable her to recall hidden aspects of Freud’s life" The Guardian Latest Reviews An Economic History of the English Garden Roderick Floud 3.6 out of 5 3 reviews "...A fascinating history of gardening reveals our expensive passion for all things green" The Times The DIvers' Game Jesse Ball TBC out of 5 2 reviews "...Ball’s dystopian world in which citizens are allowed to kill refugees with impunity is a critique on our past and present" The Guardian The Letters of Cole Porter Cole Porter, Cliff Eisen, Dominic McHugh 2.6 out of 5 5 reviews "...What these letters really reveal is not Porter’s process or his productions but his longing " London Review of Books Crime in Progress Glenn Simpson, Peter Fritsch TBC out of 5 2 reviews "...an entertaining and readable account " The Guardian Grandmothers Salley Vickers 3.4 out of 5 4 reviews "...This moving novel celebrates the bonds between generations" The Times Hitler: A Life Peter Longerich 2.8 out of 5 3 reviews "...a fine-grained and generally very persuasive account of Hitler’s rise to power" Irish Times The Five Hallie Rubenhold 4.2 out of 5 8 reviews "...an outstanding work of history-from-below" The Spectator Make It Scream, Make It Burn Leslie Jamison 3.5 out of 5 3 reviews "...Leslie Jamison covers a wide range of subjects but always with empathy and intelligence" Irish Times Me: Elton John Official Autobiography Elton John 4.4 out of 5 12 reviews "...The lurid parts will get all the headlines. But the man’s hard-won self-knowledge is what the book’s really about." The New York Times Books of the Year The Times Best Books of the Year 2019 The Times has unveiled its annual round-up of the best books of the year - and for your convenience we've listed their picks... Best Reviewed A House in the Mountains Caroline Moorehead 4 out of 5 4 reviews "...Their transformation from studious, dutiful daughters into daring, scruffy, exhausted combatants is brilliantly and subtly told" The Guardian Don't Be Evil Rana Foroohar 4 out of 5 3 reviews "...(a) masterful critique of the tech giants that now dominate our world" The Observer The Siberian Dilemma Martin Cruz Smith 3.9 out of 5 3 reviews "...Smith’s lucid prose, surprising imagery and realistic dialogue, as well as his wonderfully quirky characters, all serve his engrossing storytelling" The New York Times Disturbance Philippe Lancon, Steven Rendall 3.9 out of 5 4 reviews "...More than an account of a semi-recovery, it is also a magnificent tribute. Not just to Lançon’s murdered journalistic colleagues, but to the whole threatened tribe" The Spectator Christmas in Austin Benjamin Markovits 3.8 out of 5 6 reviews "...This is up there with the best contemporary Christmas novels " Daily Mail Self-Portrait Celia Paul 3.8 out of 5 4 reviews "...Her views, both intimate and yet more distant and independent, enable her to recall hidden aspects of Freud’s life" The Guardian Bowie's Books John O'Connell 3.6 out of 5 3 reviews "... O’Connell’s splendid book provides plenty of evidence of Bowie’s restless, rummaging intelligence" The Times An Economic History of the English Garden Roderick Floud 3.6 out of 5 3 reviews "...A fascinating history of gardening reveals our expensive passion for all things green" The Times Grandmothers Salley Vickers 3.4 out of 5 4 reviews "...This moving novel celebrates the bonds between generations" The Times Most Reviewed The Man in the Red Coat Julian Barnes 4.1 out of 5 12 reviews "...a riveting dissection of an era that was “decadent, hectic, violent, narcissistic and neurotic”." The Independent Will Will Self 2.6 out of 5 10 reviews "...there is little to admire in this book" The Times Christmas in Austin Benjamin Markovits 3.8 out of 5 6 reviews "...This is up there with the best contemporary Christmas novels " Daily Mail The Letters of Cole Porter Cole Porter, Cliff Eisen, Dominic McHugh 2.6 out of 5 5 reviews "...What these letters really reveal is not Porter’s process or his productions but his longing " London Review of Books Find Me Andre Aciman 3.3 out of 5 6 reviews "...André Aciman’s unpredictable new novel is almost the brazen antithesis of fan service" Irish Times May at 10 Anthony Seldon 3.5 out of 5 5 reviews "...This extraordinary account of Theresa May’s time in office shows a woman paralysed by self-doubt" The Times © 2019 Bookseller Media Ltd.