It's Always Summer Somewhere: A Matter of Life and Cricket - A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK & SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLE

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His debut book, ‘It’s Always Summer Somewhere’, a memoir on a life lived through the love of cricket and music while processing young grief, is a Sunday Times Bestseller and has received widespread praise and plaudits from revered names across the arts and sports worlds, including Stephen Fry, Pete Paphides and Toby Jones.

Rickie Lee’s stories are rich with the infamous characters of her early songs – ‘Chuck E’s in Love,’ ‘Weasel and the White Boys Cool,’ ‘Danny’s All-Star Joint’ and ‘Easy Money’ – but long before her notoriety in show business, there was a vaudevillian cast of hitchhikers, bank robbers, jail breaks, drug mules, a pimp with a heart of gold, and tales of her fabled ancestors. A beautifully written book, ostensibly about cricket and music (you really do need to love cricket to read this) but really about death and grief and moving on. A deeply moving book on both the large and the small of life, and how each is used to help survive the other. I also enjoyed the interviews he did with former test players from across many cricket playing nations. To be able to weave these three topics together so beautifully and seamlessly is quite a skill - there’s something here for everyone, and don’t be put off if you don’t watch cricket!

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A great book which will appeal to fans of cricket or The Macabees but way beyond that it will resonate with people with any lifelong passion. He co-presents BBC podcast Tailenders with Greg James and England's most successful ever fast bowler Jimmy Anderson, which has proved a 'safe space' in which to channel his enthusiasm for it regularly. So many of us want to be a rockstar, date a rockstar and have famous friends on their phone and Felix has had all that.It’s a manifesto for anyone who has ever stood on the margins, and anyone who wants to make their mark on history. After more than fifty years out of print, Talking to Women is still as sparkling, honest, profound, funny and wise as when it was first published.

I don't know cricket at all - I don't understand any of the terminology or players and I really struggled with this book because of that. I should have realised after trying 'The Tailenders' Podcast and finding it extremely irritating that this just wasn't going to be the book for me. Because while this is a book about cricket, it isn’t a book about cricket, it’s about loss, and grief, and learning and living. I can't imagine what it is like to lose a parent prematurely and at a relatively young age, however these raw and emotional sections are insightful, honest and beautifully written. Articulate, intensely personal at times and a beautiful reflection of life’s trials, tribulations and personal neuroses.Really enjoyed this and in many ways I could relate to the duality… in the sense that this book was about cricket and about coping with the premature death of one’s mother. Not that it's a bad book; on the contrary, it's interesting and quite well written, but the other two main strands in the narrative heavily outweigh that concerning his erstwhile band. And, through the prism of her extraordinary experiences, she offers vital insights into the nature of race, class, feminism, sexuality and ageing in modern Britain.