Book Choice - March 2016

This happy hour: Andrew Marjoribanks, Wordsworth Books, finds fine reads for fine minds, while we raise our glasses to two connoisseusr du vin – the great and glorious John Platter on his new book 'My Kind of Wine', and Caro Feely who tells of the Feely family’s ultimately successful venture into a French vineyard in 'Grape Expectations' and 'Saving Our Skins'. Peter Soal finds provocation and stimulation in Ferrial Haffajee’s 'What if There Were no Whites in South Africa?' while Philip Todres finds a new monograph Sue Williamson – 'Life and Work' edited by Mark Gevisser a seriously handsome overview of Sue’s work. In 'The Secret Chord' by Geraldine Brooks, Cindy Moritz finds a biblical King David ecstatic, visceral and virile. Beverley Roos Muller checks Churchillian financial facts and figures in 'No More Champagne – Churchill and his money' by David Lough. RC Sturgis writes rivetingly and revealingly on 'The Mammals that Moved Mankind – A History of the Beasts of Burden'. If we've time, Jon Geidt reviews David Byrne’s multi-headed, prolific and reflective discourse 'How Music Works'.