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

Hytner is, he says, never happier than sitting at the edge of his own party. Well, this memoir is his party. He may keep to the fringe, but it’s quite a do, with a wonderful guest list… His revelatory interrogations of Hamlet and Othello and even Timon of Athens, in which he had a go at fatcats who fund the arts, should be circulated in schools... Hytner is a lucid and urbane stylist and a pithy sketch-writer… This debonair defence of theatre - subsidised or otherwise - and all who toil in her is a rare and succulent treat.

We are lucky… that people with Hytner’s intelligence, enlightenment and defiance operate on behalf of dressing up, showing off, treading the boards, despite official opposition… Hytner is also a first-class Shakespearean.

A good gander behind the curtain of the National Theatre… From Alan Bennett to Mike Leigh, Daniel Day Lewis to Michael Gambon and Helen Mirren – Hytner tells stories of directing some of the most celebrated actors of our time. Lunatic failures and spectacular successes – all are here.

This is extremely even-handed, but still pleasingly gossipy account of that time, from Harold Pinter calling him “a f***ing liar and a f***ing shit” to the time James Corden smacked Donald Trump on the bottom.

Sir Nicholas Hytner was arguably the best Artistic Director that the National Theatre has had in its 50-year history… Balancing Acts is a most enjoyable series of memoirs recalling the highs and lows of the period. For those like this reviewer who saw almost all of the theatre’s output, it recalls many happy memories… this is also a reminder of so many more high points across all three auditoria, building to both the Golden Jubilee celebrations and the refurbishment and reconfiguration of the venue… Along the way, readers will learn a great deal about the art of directing plays as well as running a big business and getting along with those sometimes very touchy arty types who inevitably end up making a director’s life hell sometimes just for the fun of it… Balancing Acts is simultaneously a highly informative portrait of a wonderful institution, a fitting tribute to a great man who did his job brilliantly and a really good read. It comes highly recommended.

Hytner takes us, fascinatingly and often wittily, through many of the plays he himself directed and he writes warmly of some of the actors who have become National Theatre “regulars” and personal friends… The book is a joyful reminder of the excitement of some of this work. If you missed some or all of these shows, then this is a chance to learn about some pretty iconic productions.

Balancing Acts is an apt title, conveying the books attunement to the fine calculations of leadership while also capturing the author’s personal and professional style, a coolly judicious manner that can look like suavity, discretion, or aloofness… Hytner is both an enthusiastic and a rethinker, nimble and smoothly articulate yet capable of delivering a gimlet-sharp judgement… His prose has the kind of crisp specificity one might expect of an exacting civil servant… A memoir of this kind will tend to feel like an envoi. But this one resembles an advertisement. It presents a blueprint for artistic directors.

Hytner’s book is the ultimate insider’s view… Hytner gives his readers an access-all-areas pass to the meetings, lunches, crises and rehearsals that propel a play to the stage… His talent as a memoirist is that he can be funny without being frivolous, revealing about his actors without being indiscreet, and high-minded without ever being pompous, all of which is itself an impressive high-wire balancing act.

Engaging… Hytner proves an erudite chronicler of his notable successes, while not being afraid to acknowledge some of the more egregious failures on his watch. A must-read for anyone interested in theatre.

Hytner chronicles the highs – and occasional lows – of running the National with crisp wit and deep affection

Book of the day

A sensitive, sweetly melancholic story of music, connection and community

BOOK OF THE WEEK: An uplifting read…full of humour and authentic characters

Breezily written, heart-warming and unashamedly sentimental… [a] modern fairy tale

Rachel Joyce returns to some of the themes in her bestselling debut The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: loss, the past and the bonds that can be forged with strangers. This time the pilgrimage is through music.

A quirky, romantic fairy tale perfect for summer.

My Christmas pick: I love any novel by Rachel Joyce, whose The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was a huge success. Now she has created another Pied Piper of the heart in Frank, the proprietor of The Music Shop...This bewitching love story sings out the unique beauty of every human being, leaving you uplifted.

The Music Shop is a one gulp, super-satisfying read. Love it, love it, love it.

Joyce, a British actress and playwright, whose first novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, was longlisted for the Man Booker, continues to enchant and break hearts with her lovable misfits trying to survive in a modern world determined to pass them by. Irresistible.

An unforgettable story of music, loss and hope. Fans of High Fidelity, meet your next quirky love story. Vinyl fans, hold onto your turntables - Joyce's latest is a buoyant homage to the healing power of music well-played.

‘The Music Shop’ is an unabashedly sentimental tribute to the healing power of great songs, and Joyce is hip to greatness in any key…. [The novel] captures the sheer, transformative joy of romance — ‘a ballooning of happiness.’ Joyce’s understated humor…offers something like the pleasure of A.A. Milne for adults. She has a kind of sweetness that’s never saccharine, a kind of simplicity that’s never simplistic…. I wouldn’t change a single note. Rachel Joyce, if music be the food of love, write on!

Rachel Joyce’s charming and deceptively simple fourth novel chronicles an offbeat love story between a mystery woman and an ardent, if lonely, collector and gently explores the power of memory and music and the certainty of change…. love, friendship, and especially the healing powers of music all rise together into a triumphant crescendo…. This lovely novel is as satisfying and enlightening as the music that suffuses its every page.

Magnificent…. Joyce’s novel is intellectually and emotionally satisfying on every possible level. If you love words, if you love music, if you love, this is 2018’s first must-read, and it will be without question one of the year’s best.

Joyce has a knack for quickly sketching characters in a way that makes them stick…. This is a touching, sometimes funny book about surviving change, the power of music and the importance of having a community — wacky or not. As with all of Joyce’s books, it will surprise you.

Joyce…continues to enchant and break hearts with her lovable misfits trying to survive in a modern world determined to pass them by. Irresistible.

Magical…. [Rachel] Joyce has a winner in this deceptively simple love story…. Joyce’s odes to music…and the notion that the perfect song can transform one’s life make this novel a triumph.

Whether on foot, as in her novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, or track by track, on this unlikely musical odyssey, Joyce excels in enveloping readers in epic journeys of lost connections and loving reunions.

[Rachel] Joyce sets up a charming cast of characters, and her spirals into the sonic landscapes of brilliant musicians are delightful, casting a vivid backdrop for the quietly desperate romance between Frank and Ilse. From nocturnes to punk, this musical romance is ripe for filming.