the devil is a gentleman

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Steve Whatley
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Post by Steve Whatley »

Just in case anyone is interested, there's a review of Phil Baker's biography in the Culture supplement of today's Sunday Times.
Jim
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Post by Jim »

Steve Whatley wrote:Just in case anyone is interested, there's a review of Phil Baker's biography in the Culture supplement of today's Sunday Times.
Interested? I immediately Googled it, and sat down to devour its every word. It certainly seems to be fair enough, and there are lots of people who'd have been unaware of the book's existence without it...
Garry Holmes
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Post by Garry Holmes »

'Sour and vulgar reactionary'? As a review, the Sunday Times does come across as rather sneering. Still, at least it's getting reviewed.
Charles
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Post by Charles »

Nice review in today's Observer if you haven't seen it.

Quite racey in fact ...
Charles
Jim
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Post by Jim »

Charles wrote:Nice review in today's Observer if you haven't seen it.

Quite racey in fact ...

It's a very strange review: it hardly talks about the book at all...

At least it ends "terrific read."
Cibator
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Post by Cibator »

The Spectator also has a nice positive review.
Fas est et ab hoste doceri
ken68
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Post by ken68 »

after reading the reviews from yesterday i have to ask myself if they have actually read the book or just flipped through it. the reveiws are much like the book itself imo in that they go off topic very easily. as for jokes they are few and far between.
Jim
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Post by Jim »

Cibator wrote:The Spectator also has a nice positive review.
That's probably the best review of the three I've read.

It's interesting that reviewers keep harping on DW's "poor prose style." He's certainly no worse than Dan Brown, and I've always found his sentences clear and easy to read.
ken68
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Post by ken68 »

i have read the book and the reveiws bare little resmbelance to the book i read. i have also just read a customer reveiw on amazon and was a little suspicious of the 5 stars so i googled the authors name. and guess what he to is an an auther of biographies! one way to get 5 stars i suppose.
davehibb
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Post by davehibb »

Well I gave up on my efforts to actually find a copy in a local bookstore and ordered via the internet on Sunday.

It was despatched Monday so hopefully I should have it any day now.

While I wasn't entirely surprised not to find a copy in my local WH Smith's and smaller bookshops I was disappointed not to find a copy on the shelves at a rather large Borders store not far from where I live.

Maybe I was expecting too much to see it on display in high street bookstores? :(

I also found this whilst browsing the net looking for reviews.

I don't know if there's any way to find the article online?
duncanpaul17
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Post by duncanpaul17 »

Maybe some of you are already aware of this, but author Phi Rickman also has a show on BBC Radio Wales called 'Phil the Shelf'
and on the 22nd November has an interview with Phil Baker about 'The Devil is a Gentleman'

Phil Rickman has advised that this show is availavle on line for upto one week after it has been broadcast.

As an aside I E-mailed Phil Rickman to ask him if DW was one of his influences, but although he read some of DW's books as a teenager he wouldn't say he was an influence

Duncan
Jim
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Post by Jim »

duncanpaul17 wrote: Maybe some of you are already aware of this, but author Phil Rickman also has a show on BBC Radio Wales called 'Phil the Shelf'
and on the 22nd November has an interview with Phil Baker about 'The Devil is a Gentleman'. Rickman has advised that this show is available on line for up to one week after it has been broadcast.
Thanks! I'll be looking forward to that--I hope I can download it off the web onto my mp3 player.
duncanpaul17
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Post by duncanpaul17 »

Not a review as such but 'The Devil is a Gentleman' is included in the Independent Information magazine's 50 best winter reads.

The book appears to be getting quite a lot of publicity. Lets hope it may lead to old readers returning, like I did three years ago, or new readers taking an interest in DW's work.
Charles
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Post by Charles »

Dear All,

In case you missed it, Rowan Pelling in yesterday's Daily Telegraph listed 'The Devil is a Gentleman' as one of his 'Books for the Year'.

Best as always !
Charles
Charles
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Post by Charles »

As you'll no doubt have seen, since release, Phil's book has had a large number of reviews - mostly good.

The latest was a full page spread in the Daily Mail last Friday (Jan 8th).

They made a few typos ("Duke de Richleaux") and said the book was too long, but all in all, they devoted considerable space to the book.

Many thanks to Colin McCourt for pointing it out !
Charles
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