Books in the Media newsletter

With details of gigs and book reviews, here is the latest Books in the Media newsletter for my followers to peruse:

Including new reviews for Anne Tyler's Redhead by the Side of the Road, Oliver Craske's Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar and Lamorna Ash's Dark, Salt, Clear: Life in a Cornish Fishing Town. Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review 6th April 2020 Anne Tyler's Redhead by the Side of the Road praised as an extraordinary masterpiece Good morning, Anne Tyler's Redhead by the Side of the Road connected with reviewers this week, who called the novel "beautifully crafted", "extraordinary" and "supremely sophisticated". Alice O'Keeffe chose the book as her Book of the Month in The Bookseller, saying "this short (177pp) masterpiece is the very definition of great writing." At the Times, Janice Turner called Tyler's work "a fully realised world of dry humour". Clare Clark gave the novel a stellar review in the Guardian, saying that Tyler's "gift" is "not only to create characters that struggle valiantly towards goodness. It is to leave her readers wanting to do the same." Julie Myerson called Redhead by the Side of the Road Tyler's "best novel in some time - slender, unassuming almost cautious in places, yet so very finely and energetically tuned."  Oliver Craske's Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar had shining reviews over the weekend. Neil Spencer at the Observer named the biography Book of the Day, saying "Craske handles the niceties of Shankar’s personal life with diplomacy while staying focused on his subject’s musical mission and lifelong hunger for spiritual fulfilment." At the Guardian, Ammar Kalia mirrored Spencer's high praise, commenting that Craske "paints a fascinating picture of what Shankar has termed his ensuing “butterfly lifestyle” of promiscuity." Richard Morrison in the Times said that Craske's "superlative biography" was able to explain Ravi Shankar's "astonishing" transformation into a global superstar. Lamorna Ash's Dark, Salt, Clear: Life in a Cornish Fishing Town made critics fall hook, line and sinker this weekend. At the Sunday Times, Lucy Knight said that "the book brings alive a section of the country that many people overlook." Tanya Gold marks Ash as a "once-in-a-generation novelist" in the Spectator. Oliver Batch in the Financial Times gave the debut high praise: "In what began as a thesis, Lamorna Ash delivers a bracing account of discovery"  adding that it is written with "graceful lyricism and endearing humility".  By Tamsin Hackett, Books Co-ordinator, The Bookseller Book of the Week Redhead by the Side of the Road Anne Tyler 4.39 out of 5 | 9 reviews "characters who almost leap off the page with authenticity, speech and body language wonderfully caught" The Sunday Times "Tyler rarely disappoints, but this is her best novel in some time" The Observer "Personally, I find great writing "uplifting", regardless of subject matter, and this short (177pp) masterpiece is the very definition of great writing." The Bookseller "Her quirkily inconsequential dialogue is never inconsequential. It is perhaps why some critics continue to underestimate her" The Guardian Latest Reviews The Life and Times of Malcolm McLaren Paul Gorman TBC out of 5 2 reviews "...This excellent biography of Sex Pistols boss shows he was nasty, cruel, unpleasant — but never dull. " The Sunday Times The Stonemason Andrew Ziminski 4.2 out of 5 6 reviews "...an infectious quest for English history through its architecture" The Daily Telegraph Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell 4.2 out of 5 15 reviews "...Nobody writes more movingly about intimate family relationships, especially children, than O'Farrell, who is that rarest of writers; a genuine literary/commercial crossover" The Bookseller Our Bodies, Their Battlefield Christina Lamb 4.6 out of 5 9 reviews "...one of the saddest, most shocking and devastatingly authentic books I’ve read" The Times How Contagion Works Paolo Giordano, Alex Valente TBC out of 5 2 reviews "...an instant book about how contagion spread in Italy" The Times The Bass Rock Evie Wyld 4.2 out of 5 11 reviews "...Written with blistering force and righteous anger, this outstanding novel will stay with me for a long time." The Bookseller Notes from an Apocalypse Mark O'Connell 4.3 out of 5 3 reviews "...a fidgety, fretful but very funny book with which to while away the days in self-isolation" The Times A Theatre for Dreamers Polly Samson TBC out of 5 2 reviews "...A Theatre for Dreamers is at once a blissful piece of escapism and a powerful meditation on art and sexuality" The Observer Silver Sparrow Tayari Jones 4.3 out of 5 5 reviews "...Silver Sparra story of bigamy and secrets becomes a shrewd coming-of-age tale of two sisters" The Sunday Telegraph Endell Street Wendy Moore TBC out of 5 2 reviews "...Rarely is a book so important, so timely" Evening Standard Broken Greek Pete Paphides 4.1 out of 5 7 reviews "...The beauty of this book, like a good moussaka, is layered" New Statesman Nightshade Annalena McAfee 3.8 out of 5 3 reviews "...There is unease as the work progresses" The Guardian Book of the Month: Children's Viper's Daughter Michelle Paver Paver pulls off the tricky task of satisfying those existing fans while offering new readers a thrilling introduction. You could happily read Viper's Daughter as a standalone, but I am certain children will be lured further into this rich world. Best Reviewed The Voice in My Ear Frances Leviston 4.3 out of 5 3 reviews "...a stunning exercise in perceptivity" Financial Times Silver Sparrow Tayari Jones 4.3 out of 5 5 reviews "...Silver Sparra story of bigamy and secrets becomes a shrewd coming-of-age tale of two sisters" The Sunday Telegraph Notes from an Apocalypse Mark O'Connell 4.3 out of 5 3 reviews "...a fidgety, fretful but very funny book with which to while away the days in self-isolation" The Times Lives of Houses Hermione Lee, Kate Kennedy 4.2 out of 5 3 reviews "...the essays remind us how much experiences of home have changed across the centuries" The Spectator Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell 4.2 out of 5 15 reviews "...Nobody writes more movingly about intimate family relationships, especially children, than O'Farrell, who is that rarest of writers; a genuine literary/commercial crossover" The Bookseller Britain's War Daniel Todman 4.1 out of 5 4 reviews "...probably the most accomplished history of Britain during the Second World War published in the last decade" Literary Review A Thousand Moons Sebastian Barry 4.1 out of 5 13 reviews "...One of Sebastian Barry’s extraordinary gifts as a writer is his boundless capacity for empathy" Irish Times Keeper Jessica Moor 4 out of 5 3 reviews "...Violence against women is at the heart of Jessica Moor’s disturbing first novel" The Sunday Times Most Reviewed The Mirror and the Light Hilary Mantel 4.5 out of 5 22 reviews "...superb, right to the last crimson drop" The Independent Actress Anne Enright 3.9 out of 5 17 reviews "...this novel deserves a standing ovation" The Sunday Telegraph Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell 4.2 out of 5 15 reviews "...Nobody writes more movingly about intimate family relationships, especially children, than O'Farrell, who is that rarest of writers; a genuine literary/commercial crossover" The Bookseller Weather Jenny Offill 4.3 out of 5 15 reviews "...Short (201pp), expertly crafted and so, so funny. Offill is such a surprising writer and this is an absolute joy." The Bookseller A Thousand Moons Sebastian Barry 4.1 out of 5 13 reviews "...One of Sebastian Barry’s extraordinary gifts as a writer is his boundless capacity for empathy" Irish Times The Bass Rock Evie Wyld 4.2 out of 5 11 reviews "...Written with blistering force and righteous anger, this outstanding novel will stay with me for a long time." The Bookseller House of Glass Hadley Freeman 4.6 out of 5 11 reviews "...From the moment I began it, I could not put this superb book down" The Bookseller The Death of Jesus J.M. Coetzee 3.3 out of 5 11 reviews "...Franker and more oblique than anything he has written" The Sunday Telegraph Gigs of the Week Don Winslow in conversation with Lee Child (Online) Web, April 7 YA Book Prize talks to Malorie Blackman and Dean Atta Twitter, April 8 Julia Donaldson and Friends Facebook, April 9 Dialogue Book Lounge: Niven Govinden Instagram, April 9 © 2020 Bookseller Media Ltd.