Walter Bell was a British Cold War spy recruited to espionage in the 1930s. His biography sizzles with fascinating portraits of key historical figures in his drama, including J. Edgar Hoover, Russian spies Donald Maclean and Kim Philby, and Bill Stephenson, allegedly Ian Fleming’s inspiration for James Bond. Written with the pace of a thriller, it’s a riveting story of a flawed individual trying to navigate a murky, morally compromised world.
In August 2022, author Salmon Rushdie – who spent several years in hiding because of a fatwa – was stabbed violently at a public lecture. His book about the incident, in which he lost an eye, and its aftermath, is already a bestseller.
Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg work for the Wall Street Journal. They’ve authored two excellent football books, including The Club about the evolution of the English Premier League. Their latest trick is an investigation into Formula 1 racing’s rise in popularity.
Stephen de Bastion lived a gilded life as a celebrated pianist – full of cocktail parties and concerts – in 1930s Hungary. In 1939, his world turned upside down. As a Jew he spent World War Two in labour camps and ultimately Auschwitz. Using a cassette recording he made, along with other research, his granddaughter has pieced together a remarkable story about his life.
Rhee Kun Hoo was born in 1935. After an impressive career in psychiatry, and having been imprisoned for his political activism, he decided to put the lessons he learned about a life well lived into a book, which became a bestseller in South Korea, and is now published in English.
Tom Bowyer, a noted investigative biographer, peeks behind the curtains at the lives of David and Victoria Beckham. His book examines how the power couple created a multi-billion dollar global brand and, given he provides revelations about David Beckham’s sex life, seeks to answer the question: “Are their lives really as perfect as the Beckhams would like the world to believe?”
When retired investigative reporter and newspaper editor Peter Murtagh, 69, told his doctor he planned riding his motorbike up the Americas, the response was succinct: “Ballsy.” Murtagh took nine months to complete his journey. Reading his adventures would put anyone middle-aged (or older) in the mood for hitting the road like him.
8. The Racket: On Tour with Tennis’s Golden Generation – and the other 99%, by Conor Niland
Conor Nijland grew up in Limerick. He spent much of his career as Ireland’s top tennis player, once defeating Roger Federer as a junior, but he never reached Federer’s heights. His account of his time as a journeyman on the tennis circuit provides insight into a hidden world, which includes loneliness, doping and gambling.
9. You Never Know: A Memoir, by Tom Selleck
Best known for his distinctive moustache, and his roles in TV shows Magnum P.I. and Friends, Tom Selleck’s memoir has walk-on parts for Frank Sinatra, James Garner, Sam Elliott and plenty of Hollywood anecdotes, although it’s not a salacious read.
10. Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, by Crystal Hefner
When Crystal Harris was 21 years old she attended a party at the Playboy mansion. It changed her life, as she was sucked into Hugh Hefner’s harem, becoming one of his “girlfriends” and ultimately his wife. Her book offers a look into a toxic world from a survivor.
11. Does My Dog Love Me?: Understanding how your dog sees the world, by Graeme Hall
Graeme Hall is a dog trainer and television presenter. In his latest book, which draws on his own experiences and research, he provides secrets into understanding how our canine friends see the world around them – and their owners.
12. The Trading Game: A Confession, by Gary Stevenson
Gary Stevenson is a former Citibank trader, retired aged 27. He grew up in working class east London. His memoir about his time on the stock exchange – which has echoes of the Michael Lewis classic Liar’s Poker – is a captivating read about a mad, mad greedy world.
13. The House of Hidden Meanings, by RuPaul
The drag icon, RuPaul, has coughed up an intimate autobiography: growing up gay and black in San Diego to an irritable mother and absent father, eventually escaping to drag scenes in Atlanta and New York and global fame and fortune.
14. Walled In By Hate: Kevin O’Higgins, His Friends and Enemies, by Arthur Mathews
Father Ted co-creator Arthur Mathews has rich terrain to plough in a biography of Kevin O’Higgins, the natural heir of Michael Collins, a man with a sharp political mind and nerves of steel who was also assassinated, aged 35, on his way to mass in Booterstown, Co Dublin.
15. Missing Persons, Or My Grandmother’s Secrets, by Clair Wills
Clair Wills has pieced together an extraordinary family history that has resonance in every Irish home, for every family harbours secrets. In a journey over a century that takes her from West Cork to England and the United States, and inevitably a mother-and-baby home in 1950s Ireland, she tells her own story and all our stories.
Music Book Highlights
1. Under a Rock: A Memoir, by Chris Stein: Debbie Harry’s memoir from five years ago was a brilliant read. Now it’s the turn of her bandmate, and former lover, Chris Stein, to tell his version of the story of their time together in Blondie and at the heart of an extraordinary artistic scene in New York in the 1970s and ’80s.
2. Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell, by Ann Powers: Joni Mitchell is the conversation for best lyricist in the history of popular music. She’s also kind of unknowable. Through interviews with her peers, Ann Powers tries to get the nub of what makes the legendary Canadian troubadour special.
3. Tales from the Dancefloor, by Sacha Lord with Luke Bainbridge: During the rave scene over the last 30 years, Sacha Lord worked with greats, including New Order, Prodigy and Fat Boy Slim, and at clubs like the Hacienda. His memoir reveals some of the wild goings-on that went on behind the scenes.
4. Tax, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll: The decade that went whoosh! Brits, hits and Ireland's cultural revolution, by Damian Corless: Music journalist Damian Corless has taken an interesting tack for his latest book, asking himself the question: how did an invasion of British pop stars in the early 1980s – including Def Leppard’s Joe Elliot, Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Holly Johnson and the Thompson Twins – lead to a cultural revolution in Ireland?
5. Guitar: A rock 'n' roll tell-all autobiography from David Bowie's sideman, by Earl Slick: Earl Slick rode shotgun with David Bowie for 40 years, beginning with Bowie’s 1974 Diamond Dogs tour. He also played with John Lennon, New York Dolls, The Cure and others. This is the story of his amazing ride.