Books

WORDS: BEN KELLY

SPECTACLES

SUE PERKINS/MICHAEL JOSEPH

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover (metaphorically), but the lovely design on the front of Sue Perkins’ autobiography Spectacles makes a beautiful starting point for this typically dry, witty run through her life.

You might wonder what Sue is without comedy partner Mel Giedroyc, or indeed if she really warrants almost 400 pages of memoir, and yes, perhaps it is a tad long, but as with any book from a comedian, it is an entertaining read regardless of how much the reader really cares for the subject.

She details how she met Mel, the madcap misadventures of their early years doing the Edinburgh Fringe, through to their daytime TV show, and on to The Great British Bake Off. We also learn a little of their behind the scenes friendship, which is just as affectionate as you might imagine from the outside. She writes a great deal about family, her relationships (including a first love who turned out to be gay himself), and the strong bond she has with her pets. Her five page posthumous letter to her beagle Pickle is one of the most touching things I’ve read this year. “I have said I love you to many people over many years: friends, family, lovers,” she writes, “but my love for you was different. It filled those spaces that words can’t reach.” Reader, I wept.