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Books by Sarah Bakewell

At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails

So you know nothing (or not much ) about Existentialism? Here Sarah Bakewell lays it all out in an easy, friendly manner - though it is true, I am still not completely sure. But that is philosophy! However I did enjoy meeting Sartre and De Beauvoir and friends. Then there is the world they move in. So, yes, I would definitely recommend this book.
(Ferelith Hordon - bwl 86 Autumn 2017)

At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails

A nice mix of biography, anecdotes, and thinking by the principal personalities who gave us the crazy quilt we call Existentialism. They are an odd assortment, and their ideas do not always cohere, nor do they stay fixed over time. However, they changed our viewpoint. Bakewell's research is prodigious, and her prose is very approachable.
(Herb Roselle - bwl 114 Autumn 2024)

At the Existentialist Cafe: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails

This successful blend of biography, memoir and history traces the roots of French existentialism in German phenomenology, gives fascinating insights into the lives of Sartre, Beauvoir, Camus, Heidegger et al and assesses the relevance of existentialism to the world today. An excellent introduction and explanation of a philosophy which is notoriously difficult to define. Heavy going at times, however Bakewell's erudite but anecdotal style is a pleasure to read. Just as good as her wonderful book about Montaigne. (How to Live a Life - bwl 61)
(Denise Lewis - bwl 80 Spring 2016)

How to Live: A life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer

I knew almost nothing about Montaigne. I did not realise that he invented the "Essay" as a literary form; a way of exploring thoughts and ideas. Using the framework of some of these thoughts, Bakewell presents Montaigne, the man, and his life. He steps off the page - it is a brilliant introduction to an extraordinary character.
(Ferelith Hordon - bwl 61 Summer 2011)