TV
David Freeman presents a veritable pot pourri of writers and books this week: there's a smattering of politics, a little autobiography and a new novel from a well established Irish author.
Jon Ronson's non-fiction work Them takes a wry look at those with views from the fringes of society: the religious fundamentalists, the conspiracy theorists, the out-on-a-limb thinkers.
Isabel Losada treads similar ground, but from a different starting point. She has written the wonderfully entitled The Battersea Road To Enlghtenment, an amusing look at the whole New Age thing - religions, health, healers, crystals. Ommmm...
Lalita Tademy's Cane River is altogether more sombre. Lalita is a black woman who has made it big in the male WASP world of computer businesses. Coming across a Bill of Sale for one of her ancestors, she recognised just how short a distance lies between slavery and today's world. Her novel is a fictionalised account of what she discovered when she investigated her family's history - and it's a cracking good read.
Back to the humour - albeit with an edge - and Mark Steel's Reasons To Be Cheerful. The stand-up comic turned Independent columnist and left-wing activist purveys a unique blend of hilarity and politics. Why don't cabinet ministers have him write their lines, instead of settling for the chuckle-free zone that is the Conference podium joke today?
Finally, Nuala O'Faillan's novel My Dream Of Youth has been David's bedtime reading of late, and he tells us how much he's enjoyed it.
The Book Show, Sunday 15 April at 11.30 on Sky News
Jon Ronson's non-fiction work Them takes a wry look at those with views from the fringes of society: the religious fundamentalists, the conspiracy theorists, the out-on-a-limb thinkers.
Isabel Losada treads similar ground, but from a different starting point. She has written the wonderfully entitled The Battersea Road To Enlghtenment, an amusing look at the whole New Age thing - religions, health, healers, crystals. Ommmm...
Lalita Tademy's Cane River is altogether more sombre. Lalita is a black woman who has made it big in the male WASP world of computer businesses. Coming across a Bill of Sale for one of her ancestors, she recognised just how short a distance lies between slavery and today's world. Her novel is a fictionalised account of what she discovered when she investigated her family's history - and it's a cracking good read.
Back to the humour - albeit with an edge - and Mark Steel's Reasons To Be Cheerful. The stand-up comic turned Independent columnist and left-wing activist purveys a unique blend of hilarity and politics. Why don't cabinet ministers have him write their lines, instead of settling for the chuckle-free zone that is the Conference podium joke today?
Finally, Nuala O'Faillan's novel My Dream Of Youth has been David's bedtime reading of late, and he tells us how much he's enjoyed it.
The Book Show, Sunday 15 April at 11.30 on Sky News
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