Reading: RIOT DAYS, by #PussyRiot member MariaAlyokhina. A women's prison memoir like no other! One tough cookie!

A future cult classic

In oppressive political systems, some of the most effective weapons are sarcasm and dark humour. It is exactly these weapons that are employed by Masha Alyokhina in the brilliantly written Riot Days. Once you begin reading, you are completely disarmed, unable to put it down until the last page

Riot Days could so easily have been a straightforward, from-the-horse's-mouth confessional account of one of the most publicised political protests of recent years. Alyokhina takes on a far greater challenge: creating a text that is not just a reflection on a piece of art, but becomes one itself, and one that, in many places, lives up to her own criteria of protest: that it must be "desperate, sudden, and joyous"

The literary equivalent of guerrilla street art

Urgent and bold

[An] energetic and enjoyable prison diary ... A search for meaningful protest in an age in which presidents often appear to be playful performance artists

Alyokhina's eye for surreal detail gives Riot Days a welcome dose of dark humor ... Through the chinks in the abusive system, Alyokhina glimpses human beings

Strong, brave, honest, touching, bitter and sad

One of the most brilliant and inspiring things I've read in years. Couldn't put it down. This book is freedom

Accessible and inspiring

Fascinating and important ... What's most striking is its universality

Iconoclastic

A magisterial compilation of startling insights

One of the most colourful and intimate portraits yet painted of Bowie

A vivid catalogue of anecdote, opinion, gossip and memoir

There is literally no better way to spend your time than by reading about the late, great, beautiful and brilliant David Bowie, brought to you by fellow superfan and GQ editor Dylan Jones

This oral history is by far the best … It’s gossipy, fascinating stuff

The perfect accompaniment to roaring fires and languid winter evenings, this book
guarantees to see any man through the festive period

A must-have for Bowie fans

Revelatory and surprising – perfect for the Ziggy completist

Beguiling … the fabulosity of Bowie’s life and times lends itself extraordinarily well
to the oral history form

An affectionate, sometimes surprising, always fascinating picture of a Star Man in the real world

Of all the volumes to appear since Bowie’s death last year, this is perhaps the most useful

A treat for enthusiasts […] it bulges with essential and telling Spinal Tappish gossip

An intimate, detailed and gossip-spangled survey of the life of the great enigma

There are sixty-two and a half million books written about David Bowie; this is the one that has been unanimously praised. Indeed, David Bowie: A life might be the only one that you really need.

You can go to any page and read something really interesting. It’s the only book about another artist that I’ve really enjoyed.