The best book ever written

The greatest work of prose of the greatest period of English prose-writing

Burton's masterpiece. It is one of the finest prose works in English . . . it is funny, a laugh-aloud book, one that seems to convey the character of its writer with a rare clarity. It is an ode to reading that overflows with allusions and quotations, making it a book that feels, at times, as if it is about the whole of human knowledge. In its wonderfully capacious digressiveness, it pulsates with a life force that is, in itself, a charm against the terrors, the fears and the loneliness of melancholy

This is the best popular edition ever produced of one of the most amusing books in our language, a masterpiece of scholarship. It belongs on the shelves of everyone who loves English literature and all those who aspire to do so

A wonderful book in which Veronica O'Keane distils what she has learned about people in her life as a psychiatrist and neuroscientist. The reader will appreciate Dr O'Keane's beautiful prose and her caring attitudes, and will effortlessly pick up knowledge about how the brain determines our behaviour.

A roving, riverine inquiry into memory, experience, the brain...O'Keane does not try to dazzle us with interpretations and cures, but dazzle she does with the science, the clarity with which she can conjure something as ordinary, as bafflingly complex and beautiful, as a memory forming in the brain. . . O'Keane evokes a robin in her backyard with a vividness that would shame a good many novelists I've encountered this year

O'Keane draws from her clinical experiences to offer a comprehensive tour of the current state of knowledge about how memory operates in the brain . . . what makes O'Keane's book engaging is how she incorporates references to literature and folklore

Searching, thoughtful . . . at once scientific, philosophical, medical and literary . . . rich, revelatory and, in the best way, unsettling.

This memoir is going to change a lot of people's lives, and I think it's going to change the conversation

Insightful and wise, generous and kind

A brave, thoughtful and timely book -- calming and inspiring on our different relationships with our bodies, and vitally compassionate on trans rights

It took my breath away . . . It's such a beautiful book, so full of compassion and kindness even in its furious honesty . . . You are going to love it

A book about how a personal crisis caused someone to open up rather than shut down . . . really admirable and carefully done . . . on bodies, families, gender identity, bravery

Wise, kind, funny, sad and beautifully written. Everyone who occupies a human body should read it

Fabulous . . . Sensitively and cleverly written . . . remarkable

The most moving and real account of a person's relationship with their body I have ever read... A book with a wild, deep, joyous, tender love of people at its heart

A much needed clarion call for greater empathy, compassion and respect for humanity

A sensitively written, wise and joyful look at the way that families can crack apart and then reconfigure... [Heminsley's] telling of their family tale is so warm, observant, and kind, and perfectly illustrates how malleable love can be

A gorgeous open-hearted read but also a vital, instructive one

A raw, heartbreaking, uplifting memoir about reinvention, being a woman and love in all its forms. An important book, beautifully written

Alexandra Heminsley understands what it is to be a woman in a world that judges us, our bodies, and the experience of these bodies, in every way and at all times... Charting her journey to her own body through loss, heartache and trauma, alongside love, friendship and hope, she suggests that each of us might find our own way to embody our deepest truths, and that we might do so with generosity to others on their own journey

[Heminsley] writes with unflinching clarity

[An] insightful memoir

Bracingly honest...big-hearted... [and] page-turningly compelling

Some Body To Love is an honest and thoughtful memoir that touches on difficult contemporary topics . . . Incredibly moving and very, very powerfu

A powerful treatise on pain and love, this is an honest, moving and authentic examination of the end of a relationship, and the way our lives can fracture and recover from sudden, seismic shifts. Heminsley's writing is sharply resonant - you don't have to share her experiences to be struck by her observations about letting go with love, and how we can find strength in self-love too

I wish I had saved The Shapeless Unease to read in isolation but Samantha Harvey’s book about insomnia, time, death and so many unknowable things is a blessing to have in lonely times. It is a profound and stunning book but funny, too.

A beautiful, jagged little book about insomnia and so many unknowable things: life and death, Buddhism, and how language alters our thinking. But I was most struck by its form and structure.

[Samantha Harvey's] cerebral, startlingly clear account of somehow pulling through [from insomnia] carries an electric charge and meditates on not only the mystery of sleep but also writing, swimming and dreams.

[The Shapeless Unease] is beautifully crafted and its achievement makes itself more apparent on a second reading.

A masterpiece, so good I can hardly breathe. I'm completely floored by it.

This book seems appropriately messy-haired and wild-eyed... Anyone who has lain awake the night before a big test will recognize such manic flourishes. Harvey captures the 4 a.m. bloom of magical thinking; stories proliferate within stories... To read Harvey is to grow spoiled on gorgeous phrases.