BETWEEN THE STOPS

THE VIEW OF MY LIFE FROM THE TOP OF THE NUMBER 12 BUS

SANDI TOKSVIG

Virago, 432pp, £20

Toksvig’s ‘enduring self-doubt extends to a get-out clause in the book’s foreword, in which she suggests the reader “change seats now” if they think her book is not for them. “Life is too short to read a book that upsets you”,’ Jackie Annesley quoted in the Sunday Times. ‘Ignore her self-effacement,’ Annesley continued, ‘Hop on this bus, grab a seat up top and prepare yourself for a fun-filled, fact-packed, memorable ride.’

‘The celebrity memoir is a format that requires constant reinvention,’ Stephanie Merritt wrote in the Guardian. ‘Toksvig, who balks at the idea of “celebrity”, has found a fittingly idiosyncratic vehicle for her reflections on her life and career. Quite literally: it’s the number 12 bus, which winds through London from her family home in Dulwich to her professional home of Broadcasting House at Oxford Circus.’

‘No one who has heard Toksvig speak will be surprised to find a bedrock of compassion and righteous anger underpinning the book,’ Merritt continued, but ‘there are plenty of funny stories too.’ And as Annesley noted, ‘multiple household names illuminate her stories’.

‘Her writing style is as kooky and digestible as Bill Bryson’s,’ Annesley commented, remarking on ‘her genius as a raconteur’.

‘ Between the Stops is like browsing through a well-stocked museum of curiosities with a wise and kind guide; it’s part celebration, part confession, part call to arms and wholly entertaining,’ Merritt concluded. ‘Don’t read it on the bus though – it will make you miss your stop.’

‘It’s part celebration, part confession, part call to arms and wholly entertaining’