How to Live

With this splendidly conceived and exquisitely written double biography - of both Montaigne the man and Montaigne the book - Sarah Bakewell should persuade another generation to fall in love with Montaigne

Sunday Times

How to live is a superb, spirited introduction to the master, and should have its readers rushing straight to the essays themselves.

Adam Thorpe, Guardian

Illuminating and humane book... It's rare to come across a biographer who remains so deliciously fond of her subject...How to Live will delight and illuminate

Independent

Sarah Bakewell has written a marvellously confident and clear introduction to Montaigne ... a rare achievement. Sarah Bakewell deserves congratulations for opening Montaigne to new readers so very appealingly.

Evening Standard

A bright, engaging book that can only enthuse you to read the essays themselves ... Try it and you will make a new, most intimate friend

Daily Mail

Bakewell writes with verve. This is an intellectually lively treatment of a Renaissance giant and his world

Daily Telegraph

This welding together of biography and self-help mirrors exactly the project of Montaigne's Essays

Financial Times

This lively biography is so well adapted to Montaigne's sensibility that it succeeds in reviving him for our times

The Times

Lucidly written, vividly detailed ... her fluid structure beautifully reflects the freeform nature of Montaigne's candid meditations on his daily life

Metro

Sarah Bakewell has written an entertaining and well-researched book...She clearly loves Montaigne

Spectator

A lively, well researched account of the man

Literary Review

Sprightly... It is ultimately his [Montaigne's] life-loving vivacity that she succeeds in communicating to her readers

Ruth Scurr, Observer

Cleverly retells [Montaigne's] life.... She not only produces a portrait of a charming, humane man, but she conjures up 16th century France in all its tumultuous glory

Waterstone's Books Quarterly

Bakewell reminds us how fascinating and shockingly original were Montaigne's meditations

The Week

Written with intelligence and an impressive lightness of touch

Standpoint

The most enjoyable introduction to Montaigne in the English language

Timothy Chesters, Times Literary Supplement

Bakewell is one of Montaigne's latest fans, but her considerable achievement in this work is to organise and present him without being exhaustive or reductive. She relishes his anecdotes, yet her biography is solidly grounded in historical and philosophical terms. She echoes the author, often commenting in a chatty tone similar to his...She provides illuminating background material.

Siofra Pierse, Irish Times

This exquisitely written biography explores both Montaigne's life and his famous essays.

The Sunday Times Summer Reading

An instructive journey around Montaigne, exemplifying his charm and the universality of his appeal... Bakewell obviously enjoyed her time with Montaigne...Her enjoyment is sure to lead many readers to Montaigne's text, if they do not already know it. And those who do are certain to appreciate Bakewell's own empathy and eloquence.

AC Grayling, Prospect

A jewel of a book and a perfect introduction to the great renaissance writer.

Orlando Figes, Daily Telegraph, Christmas round up

It is the best biography of the year

The Times, Christmas round up

How To Live will delight and illuminate

Boyd Tonkin, Independent, Christmas round up

Bakewell voyages round and through him in a delightful, unorthodox book that had me going back to the essays themselves.

Andrew Marr, Financial Times, Christmas round up

Rightly deserves its place on the Costa shortlist.It blurs lines between philosophy, biography and even self-help on occasions, something Montaigne may well have approved of.Bakewell is present as a witty interlocuter between 16th-century France and the modern day

Joy Lo Dico, Independent on Sunday, Christmas round up

This much acclaimed life of Montaigne reminds us that the great essayist's wisdom is as relevant to us now a sit was to those who first read him in the 16th century. ... The sense of wonder - wonder at the behaviour of animals as well as the peccadilloes of humans - is there all the time, and in his hands it's certainly catching

Nicholas Bagnall, Daily Telegraph

An exquisitely written biography

Sunday Times, Summer Reading