Which Books Should You Be Buying This Week?
Your digest of the weekend's newspaper book reviews Nov 18/19
A couple of years ago I found myself ghosting a memoir of a duchess. We got along famously, and she absolutely loved the book that I produced for her, there were some brilliant — and hilarious — anecdotes. The only problem were her kids who decided that her life could do with a little more… sanitising.
I didn’t want to change the book, I thought it was perfect and complete, and so someone else was drafted in at the last minute to take all the good bits out.
That clearly wasn’t the case by the sound of our first book this week.
THE UNLIKELY DUKE received a four-star review in The Sunday Telegraph which promises it is a memoir packed with ‘the sort of aristocratic gossip usually reserved for the society pages of Tatler.’
Harry Beaufort is the 12th Duke of Beaufort and the publisher has billed his memoir as ‘the story of an ordinary man facing up to his extraordinary inheritance.’
The pages are filled with anecdotes of the rich and famous, including him serving up leftovers for Princess Diana.
“Beaufort has rubbed shoulders with celebrities from Eric Clapton, Roger Waters and Ronnie Wood to Kate Moss and Jerry Hall. In one embarrassing anecdote, Beaufort recalls walking out of Hall’s hotel room “beaming with pride”, and waiting three weeks to tell a “couple of friends in strictest confidence”, knowing that “it was important to be totally discreet about the evening”. Nonetheless, Hall “must have got wind of my boasting as, when somebody asked Jerry about me, she is reputed to have replied in her famous twang, ‘If that boy’s c--k was as big as his mouth, he’d be one hell of a lay.’”
Sounds like a rip-roaring present to open on Christmas Day and read whilst everyone else is snoozing after dinner.
You can buy AN UNLIKELY DUKE here.
Next up, another big mouth, it’s James O’Brien’s new book HOW THEY BROKE BRITAIN.
Reviewing for The Observer Rachel Cooke found little to disagree with in O’Brien’s take down of ten people who are to blame for this country’s demise. Cameron, Corbyn, Johnson, Truss all get hauled across the coals, as well as my old boss Paul Dacre (naturally I’m still deep in Stockholm Syndrome and won’t hear a word against him).
“Naturally I don’t disagree with the substance of HOW THEY BROKE BRITAIN. No decent or sane person possibly could. As O’Brien writes, not only has Brexit been a disaster; much of Britain’s infrastructure now appears to be broken. We are indeed led by donkeys. The press is frequently a disgrace. In public life, facts no longer matter. Shame is extinct.”
People are angry, and this book sounds like a good place to put that anger, nod long, shake your head at the ridiculous of it all, O’Brien will be your bloke down the pub in book form to help you put the world to rights.
You can buy HOW THEY BROKE BRITAIN here.
Barbra Streisand’s new book MY NAME IS BARBRA got a whole page to itself in The Observer’s New Review. This 1,000-page tome looks perfect for any fan. The anecdotes might be cleaner than the grand old Duke of Beaufort’s a few paragraphs up, but no less compelling.
Streisand no longer sings but Peter Conran reviewing says at least we still have her voice. “It is some compensation to read her silent but eloquent and vociferous writing.”
Any fan will thank you for it.
You can buy MY NAME IS BARBRA here.
I’m going to round things up by telling you about three new cookbooks that I’ve fallen head over heels in love with, and what with Christmas just 36 days away (I know, I know… but what can I say, I live with an 11 year old!) you might want to start thinking of gifts.
First up it’s Julius Roberts THE FARM TABLE. I only learnt about this man’s existence in the summer and have since been glued to his instagram channel. I’ve made his recipes time and time again so it’s nice to have them all in one place in his first book.
One of my favourite writers, Sabrina Ghayour, has a new book out, FLAVOUR and I am obsessed with it! I have only had it six days and have so far made three recipes and have dozens more bookmarked. It is simply brilliant.
And finally, another favourite cookery author of mine, Diana Henry has reissued ROAST FIGS, SUGAR SNOW: FOOD TO WARM THE SOUL with a gorgeous new cover. I made her Leek and Smoked Haddock Risotto on the day the book arrived and I’ve been thinking about it ever since… maybe again this week…
Don’t forget for more cookbook inspiration, Debora Robertson, author of NOTES FROM A SMALL KITCHEN ISLAND, and I chatted this time last year and she recommended her four favourite cookbooks. You can watch that again here.
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