Some books have good titles. Many books, sadly, have terrible titles. But a few rare books have the perfect title – the one that tells you briefly what the book is about, and also whether you want to own it. Richie Benaud’s Blue Suede Shoes is one such. If that title grabs you, you should go out and buy it now, because the book is brilliant. If it doesn’t, you have probably stopped reading this review already and turned over to Melissa Kite.
Either you love Blofeld’s ‘My Dear Old Thing’ eccentricities or you want him slowly roasted over an open fire
Harry Ricketts is a poet and critic who was born in London but has lived in New Zealand since 1981. David Kynaston is probably best known as the author of doorstop social histories about the 1950s and 1960s, with titles like Family Britain 1951-57 and Modernity Britain 1957-62. My mother, who died late last year aged just 92, loved them and read them all several times.
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