Tag Archives: Book Reviews

Podcast Interviews: Irish-British Author Maggie O’Farrell On Her New Novel “Hamnet” (BBC)

BBC Radio 4 Books and AuthorsBBC Radio 4 “Books And Authors” Talks To Maggie O’Farrell on her new novel, “Hamnet”

 

Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell March 31 2020On a summer’s day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home?

Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that one of the children will not survive the week.

Hamnet is a novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright. It is a story of the bond between twins, and of a marriage pushed to the brink by grief. It is also the story of a kestrel and its mistress; flea that boards a ship in Alexandria; and a glovemaker’s son who flouts convention in pursuit of the woman he loves. Above all, it is a tender and unforgettable reimagining of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.

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Podcast Interviews: GQ Creative Director Jim Moore – His Four Decades Of “Hunks & Heroes”

Monocle 24 The StackMonocle 24 “The Stack” speaks with creative director Jim Moore about his latest book ‘Hunks and Heroes: Jim Moore – Four Decades of Fashion at GQ’.

GQ is revered globally as the ultimate style guide for modern men, and Hunks and Heroes is an epic journey into the world of men’s style as told and edited by Jim Moore. Hunks & Heroes Jim Moore Four Decades of Fashion at GQHe began his career at GQ as an intern in 1979 and has since played a pivotal role in reshaping men’s fashion during his nearly forty-year tenure at the magazine. From discovering new designers, distilling the latest men’s trends, and extolling fashion advice and critiques in his popular online video series GQ Rules, to Channing Tatum wearing a “JIM F&%#ING MOORE” T-shirt, Moore’s influence and impact on men’s style is unequivocal.

In these pages, Moore takes us through forty years of men’s fashion: featuring the most iconic GQ fashion looks, the magazine’s unforgettable covers and editorial shoots, essential styling tips like how to dress up denim or style a khaki suit, insights on developing your own personal style, and stories showcasing Moore’s knack at reworking the look of everyday men the magazine literally pulled off the street. This volume features 250 of Moore’s iconic men’s fashion photographs produced with internationally renowned image makers like Peggy Sirota, Craig McDean, and Inez & Vinoodh, and includes seminal GQ images of cultural icons such as celebrities, athletes, and politicians. This is the must-have style bible for all readers interested in men’s fashion, style, culture, and celebrity.

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Archaeology Lectures: “The Scythians – Nomad Warriors Of The Steppe” Author Barry Cunliffe

Brilliant horsemen and great fighters, the Scythians were nomadic horsemen who ranged wide across the grasslands of the Asian steppe from the Altai mountains in the east to the Great Hungarian Plain in the first millennium BC.

Their steppe homeland bordered on a number of sedentary states to the south – the Chinese, the Persians and the Greeks – and there were, inevitably, numerous interactions between the nomads and their neighbours. The Scythians fought the Persians on a number of occasions, in one battle killing their king and on another occasion driving the invading army of Darius the Great from the steppe.

Barry Cunliffe, Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology, University of Oxford.

Barry Cunliffe taught archaeology at the Universities of Bristol and Southampton and was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2008, thereafter becoming Emeritus Professor. He has excavated widely in Britain (Fishbourne, Bath, Danebury, Hengistbury Head, Brading) and in the Channel Islands, Brittany, and Spain, and has been President of the Council for British Archaeology and of the Society of Antiquaries, Governor of the Museum of London, a Commissioner of English Heritage, and a Trustee of the British Museum.

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Book Interviews: “Out Of Darkness, Shining Light” Author Petina Gappah

BBC Radio 4 Books and AuthorsBBC Radio 4 speaks to Petina Gappah on her new book, “Out of Darkness, Shining Light”.

 

“This is how we carried out of Africa the poor broken body of Bwana Daudi, the Doctor, David Livingstone, so that he could be borne across the sea and buried in his own land.” 

Petina Gappah Author
Author Petina Gappah

So begins Petina Gappah’s powerful novel of exploration and adventure in nineteenth-century Africa—the captivating story of the loyal men and women who carried explorer and missionary Dr. Livingstone’s body, his papers and maps, fifteen hundred miles across the continent of Africa, so his remains could be returned home to England and his work preserved there.

Narrated by Halima, the doctor’s sharp-tongued cook, and Jacob Wainwright, a rigidly pious freed slave, this is a story that encompasses all of the hypocrisy of slavery and colonization—the hypocrisy at the core of the human heart—while celebrating resilience, loyalty, and love.

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Podcasts: The “Brilliance” Of Hilary Mantel’s Trilogy On Thomas Cromwell

Monocle on Culture Monocle 24 logoRobert Bound, John Mitchinson and Ted Hodgkinson review the final – and rather hefty – instalment of Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy.

Best New Fiction Books: 57-Year Old Author Lily King’s “Writers & Lovers” – On The Road To Happiness

Writers & Lovers Lily King March 2020Writers & Lovers follows Casey―a smart and achingly vulnerable protagonist―in the last days of a long youth, a time when every element of her life comes to a crisis. Written with King’s trademark humor, heart, and intelligence, Writers & Lovers is a transfixing novel that explores the terrifying and exhilarating leap between the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another.

Following the breakout success of her critically acclaimed and award-winning novel Euphoria, Euphoria Lily KingLily King returns with another instant New York Times bestseller: an unforgettable portrait of an artist as a young woman.

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Lily King is the author of five award-winning novels. Her most recent novel, Writers & Lovers, will be published on March 3rd, 2020. Her 2014 novel Euphoria won the Kirkus Award, The New England Book Award, The Maine Fiction Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Award. Euphoria was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times Book Review. It was included in TIME’s Top 10 Fiction Books of 2014, as well as on Amazon, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, and Salon’s Best Books of 2014.

Lily’s website

 

 

New Wine Books: “The 100 Burgundy” – Building A “Dream Cellar” (Assouline)

The 100 Burgundy Jeannie Cho Lee AssoulineAn exceptional Burgundy is not only well crafted and well balanced, it also must have essential qualities reflecting its own terroir as well as those unique to the particular vintage, distilling the very essence of the vine itself and the earth from which it springs.

Essential reading for all fine wine aficionados, whether curating a dream cellar or selecting the best Burgundy wines to experience with friends and family, The 100 Burgundy: offers a fresh perspective by a dedicated professional who visits the region regularly and recognizes the best it has to offer.

For wine enthusiasts discovering Burgundy—and those already smitten with the region’s seductive wines—The 100 Burgundy: is the first guide of its kind to the region’s best wines and makers, detailing the domaines and highlighting each chosen wine with tasting notes. Considering factors such as a wine’s quality, its ability to evolve and improve over time, and its ability to evoke emotion, Master of Wine Jeannie Cho Lee invites readers to explore 100 memorable Burgundy wines of the Côte d’Or, from benchmark domaines to rising stars.

The 100 Burgundy Exceptional Wines to Build a Dream Cellar Jeannie Cho Lee Assouline 2020

With a foreword by Lalou Bize-Leroy, owner of Domaine Leroy and co-owner of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, this enlightening volume is a journey through the countryside of Burgundy, capturing the context, people, and history that inspire the creation of these masterful wines.

Jeannie Cho Lee is the first Asian Master of Wine (MW), an award-winning author, wine critic, judge, and educator. Currently a professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where she helped launch the Master of Science program in International Wine Management, she is also a consultant for Singapore Airlines since 2009.

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New Culture & Food Books: “Cooking In Marfa” – Fine Dining “In The West Texas Desert” (Phaidon)

The Capri Restaurant in Marfa TexasCooking in Marfa introduces an unusual small town in the West Texas desert and, within it, a fine-dining oasis in a most unlikely place. The Capri excels at serving the spectrum of guests that Marfa draws, from locals and ranchers to artists, museum-board members, and discerning tourists.

Featuring more than 80 recipes inspired by local products, this is the story of this unique community told through the lens of food, sharing the cuisine and characters that make The Capri a destination unto itself.

Cooking In Marfa Book Phaidon April 2020

Marfa, the remote desert town in West Texas, might be small, but its cultural capital is far greater than its city limits suggest. “There are multigenerational families that were here when this was still Mexico, ranchers of European descent, artists, patrons, collectors, railroad workers, border patrol, fashion designers, builders, social workers, photographers, tomato factory workers, cultural travelers, intrepid travelers, and transient hipsters all existing in 1.6 square miles, at ‘about a mile high’ [elevation] with a population of 1,800 people, more or less,” writes the entrepreneur, philanthropist, restaurateur and Texas native Virginia Lebermann in our new book, Cooking in Marfa: Welcome, We’ve Been Expecting You.

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Best New Food Books: “Ana Roš – Sun And Rain” -Essays, Recipes And Stories From The Top Slovenian Chef

Ana Roš - Sun and Rain Food and Cooking Book 2020A personal chef monograph, and the first book, from globally-acclaimed chef Ana Roš of Hiša Franko in Slovenia

Set near the Italian border in Slovenia’s remote Soča valley, in the foothills of mountains and beside a turquoise river full of trout, Ana Roš tells the story of her life. Through essays, recollections, recipes, and photos, she shares the idyllic landscape that inspires her, the abundant seasonal ingredients from local foragers, the tales of fishing and exploring, and the evolution of her inventive and sophisticated food at Hiša Franko – where she has elevated Slovenian food and become influential in the global culinary landscape.

Ana Roš Sun and Rain Monograph book kitchen

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New Books On Ageing: “The Changing Mind” By Daniel Levitin (February 2020)

The Changing Mind A Neuroscientist's Guide To Ageing Well Daniel Levitin Feb 2020Challenging widely held assumptions about the diminishing abilities of an ageing brain, leading neuroscientist Daniel Levitin argues that we should view getting older as a beneficial experience rather than a form of cognitive entropy. Persuasively argued and consistently surprising, The Changing Mind will alter your perception of the relationship between age and intellect.

We have long been encouraged to think of old age as synonymous with deterioration. Yet, recent studies show that our decision-making skills improve as we age and our happiness levels peak in our eighties. What really happens to our brains as we get older?

More of us are living into our eighties than ever before. In The Changing Mind, neuroscientist, psychologist and internationally-bestselling author Daniel Levitin invites us to dramatically shift our understanding of growing older, demonstrating its many cognitive benefits. He draws on cutting-edge research to challenge common and flawed beliefs, including assumptions around memory loss and the focus on lifespan instead of ‘healthspan’.

Levitin reveals the evolving power of the human brain from infancy to late adulthood. Distilling the findings from over 4000 papers, he explains the importance of personality traits, lifestyle, memory and community on ageing, offering actionable tips that we can all start now, at any age.

Featuring compelling insights from individuals who have thrived far beyond the conventional age of retirement, this book offers realistic guidelines and practical cognition-enhancing tricks for everyone to follow during every decade of their life. This is a radical exploration of what we all can learn from those who age joyously.

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