Surrender

ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Never one to take a step backwards, Bono’s autobiography makes for a fascinating read as he doesn’t shy away from his faults or doubts that have plagued him throughout his life. It’s this forthright honesty that gives the book its energy-using song titles as a starting point he delves into the early stages of the band, losing his mother at 14 and his somewhat tempestuous relationship with his father. Bono’s philanthropy has him working with different administrations of the US Government in a bid to cancel out third world debt and in supplying Africa with appropriate medication to help in the battle against AIDS. What sustains Bono is the band and his family but mainly his wife Ali, whom he met as teenager and has been with ever since.   Greg

This is Bono at his best: thoughtful, reflective, revealing a wisdom that his rock-star persona covers up ... At the root of it all you don't doubt his decency or integrity -- Will Hodgkinson * The Times * A rattling good yarn ... characteristically expansive, but it whizzes by ... Bono has storytelling verve and a genuine desire for self-examination and is enthusiastic about praising others, often at his own expense. ... [a] generous, energetic book -- Dorian Lynskey * Guardian * Bono's memoir bares his soul ... Has any rock superstar written a more revealing biography? He deftly balances the comical and profound and packs anecdotes with cameos by the rich and famous, from Frank Sinatra to Pope John Paul II -- Neil McCormick * Telegraph * Beautifully evoked, a mixture of Joycean exuberance and Chandleresque irony ... most revealing are the intimate personal experiences that shaped him and his chaotic creative process. Punctuating it all is the music. Each chapter uses a U2 song to pull us down memory lane -- Mariella Frostrup * Sunday Times * A rewarding read about a loss-fuelled life lived to the full ... What makes much of this book so exciting and interesting, is that the sadness is overwhelmed by a desperate, frenzied desire to use life more richly since it has proved to be so fragile. Sadness is replaced here by an extraordinary and breathless zeal for friendship but also for love ... Surrender is, in its own generous way, a book written by an Irishman to tell his mother how much he misses her, to tell his mates how much he rates them, and to let his wife and children know how much he loves them -- Colm Toibin * Irish Times * Bono's honesty will win over his harshest critics ... the U2 frontman's memoir is a trumph ... Honest, witty, informative and beautifully written. Surrender will surely join the ranks of the great rock memoirs * Irish Independent * Bono's prose is electrifyingly good. Not confected memories, but the messy, sometimes bathetic minutiae of lived experience, emotions remembered but only truly understood with hindsight and vocabulary that comes much later -- Pete Paphides, author of 'Broken Greek' Will engage and entertain you, full of extraordinary anecdotes and people from Sinatra and Johnny Cash to Pope Benedict and presidents. -- Catherine Mayer, author and founder of WEP Bono's book is absolutely brilliant -- Simon Schama A brilliant, very funny, very revealing, autobiography-through-music. Maybe the best book ever written about being a rockstar -- Caitlin Moran