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. The show recorded 9 million listens/downloads in 2020 and won Best Live Show at the British Podcast Awards.

For example, the lessons about life you can take from Alan Wells and the other snippet interviews with Tuffers, Trott etc are intertwined nicely into the book. His passion for the game is at the fore on the BBC ‘s number one cricket podcast and 5Live show, Tailenders, which he co-presents with Greg James and Jimmy Anderson. Felix takes us through his life growing up in South West London and describes how his story is forever punctuated and given meaning by cricket. Felix White's beautifully, elegantly and passionately written book reminds me why I love cricket so much. 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.If I had one criticism of this book it would be that it is too short, if I had two it would be that it lacks Sylvain Legwinski. I felt a real connection to Felix whilst reading this book as the beautiful fusion of both music and cricket is embedded within the grief of his mother.

I knew from the introduction that this would go straight into my list of favourite books, driven in part by my pre-existing bias based on my love for The Maccabees. Felix meets them at each signposted moment to find out what was really behind those moments that gave cricket fans everywhere sporting memories that would last forever, sending the book into an exploration of grief, transgenerational displacement and how the people we’ve known and things we’ve loved culminate and take expression in our lives. 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. An autobiography of Felix White that features interviews with cricketers who featured in games or just moments that impacted his life. Not only is this book well written, poetic and captivating, with its threads running between subjects and moments in time that intertwine in a beautiful way, it is also deeply personal and heartfelt.It offers a sense of genuine empathy and understanding not just with cricket fans, but sports and music fans across the world, in articulating our reasons for pouring so much meaning into something that we simply cannot control. The Pop artist Pauline Boty reveals she married ‘the first man I could talk very freely to’ ten days after meeting him. Felix explores the grief of losing his mother too young, and the security blanket that cricket provided and continues to provide, all the while striving to emulate his heroes by achieving greatness with his band.

A deeply moving book on both the large and the small of life, and how each is used to help survive the other.

Through his own exploits as a slow left arm spinner of 'lovely loopy stuff', to the tragic illness of his mother, life with The Maccabees and his cricket redemption, Felix touches on both the comedic and the tragic in equal measure.

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. The best book I've read about cricket - although it's not about cricket really - rather an essay on grief and how cricket and music helped the author both and cope and avoid the tragic loss of his mum. This is a moving and funny account about the highs and lows of growing up, slowly replacing an ambition to be a left arm spinner in his school team with the dazzling realities of being a guitarist in world renowned band.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Nothing is delved into with any real insight and the entire book paints a picture of a man frankly looking for excuses for being a bit of a bell-end to those around him, whether his romantic relationships or family.