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I’ve never written a book review before, but felt compelled to do so for Felix White’s wonderful autobiographical book. I like the Maccabees and I really like Tailenders (when it’s not being Jimmy Anderson propaganda) and I love cricket. com/ All I need is to be careful and correlate different data based on their situation in the current season. 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. However it is only in the final few chapters that I gained the sense that he feels content and I hope he does.
The exploits of Tufnell (another bowler of ‘lovely loopy stuff’), Atherton, Hussain et al, are given extra import through the eyes of a cricket-obsessed youth. Articulate, intensely personal at times and a beautiful reflection of life’s trials, tribulations and personal neuroses. The way it was written made me smile, I found myself reading sentences again just to let the words sink in. 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.It's Always Summer Somewhere' is Felix's funny, heart-breaking and endless engaging love letter to the game of cricket. To sum it up, this is a life story, told through cricket with little bits of family and maccabees interspersed. It’s a manifesto for anyone who has ever stood on the margins, and anyone who wants to make their mark on history. He does this through his total immersion in his two passions, one of which he watches from afar and through the other, he forms a band. A very unusual rock star, as he mentions in the book, it’s the first I’ve read that focuses on nearly everything else in life and puts priority on that over being in a band.
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. I loved the way that the intertwining aspects of the book came together - the rise and the end of The Maccabees, England men’s cricket team winning the World Cup, and the more personal aspects of White’s life. Felix encapsulates what cricket means to so many, and despite it being a sport which can be baffling to a neutral and engrossing to those who know, his words show a love for the game. This is an extraordinary first book … funny, tragic, candid and heartfelt; it would be remarkable if he ever wrote a better one. Felix is an utterly compelling author and if like me, you bought this, for a laugh, then you are in for a treat… a book that unpacks the last two decades, the sporting landscape, grief and the human condition.The book covers White’s life thus far, intertwining his personal experiences - losing his mum to MS as a teen - with music and with cricket, chronicling the ups and downs of the England men’s team, and including interviews with those who’ve played the game such as Mike Atherton, Phil Tufnell and Chris Lewis. The novelist Ann Quin says she appears to be a ‘singular girl, singular and single’ but questions the use she makes of her freedom.
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. I laughed and cried and like Felix cricket has been a part of my life (for over fifty years) Cricket is so often a metaphor for life and can be a tremendous force for good (check out cricketwithoutboundarie. 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. A strange mix that combines the life story of a rock star with important moments in cricket from the last 30 years. 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.
He lives in South London where he continues to work on numerous musical projects, including film scores, and has still not overcome his rational fear of a cricket ball. Felix's charmingly written voyage of self-discovery through cricket and music reminds us of the power in understanding the hands we are dealt, and how the journey itself is one to embrace. 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. An unabashed love letter to the sport that has defined Felix White's life, It's Always Summer Somewhere articulates why cricket engenders such passion and devotion through his own moving and uplifting relationship with the game.
The exploits of Tufnell (another bowler of 'lovely loopy stuff'), Atherton, Hussain et al, are given extra import through the eyes of a cricket-obsessed youth. 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. 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.Felix looks back at the last 20 years of the sport and unpacks the most poignant moments; both cultural touchstones for the game and unflinching personal events. 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. The show recorded 9 million listens/downloads in 2020 and won Best Live Show at the British Podcast Awards. What I was not prepared for was the beautiful writing in this very personal memoir in which Felix White explains the main influences in his life - personal, musical, and of course cricket. I am a big fan of Test Cricket, and enjoy Tailenders the Podcast (although am not in their target demographic probably!
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