David Baddiel

The Death of Eli Gold

As Eli Gold, a famous old writer, lies dying in a hospital in New York, his family gather around his bed. His first wife Violet, is too old to travel from London, but Harvey, their son, who has never emerged from the shadow of his overpowering father, makes the journey. And there is Colette, a six-year-old daughter from a second marriage, struggling to make sense of the factthat  her father is about to leave her.

The Death of Eli Gold is a captivating family drama that defies expectations of David Baddiel as merely a TV comedian.

Jews Don’t Count

How identity politics failed one particular identity.

Jews Don’t Count is a book for people on the right side of history. People fighting the good fight against homophobia, disablism, transphobia and, particularly, racism. People, possibly, like you.

It is the comedian and writer David Baddiel’s contention that one type of racism has been left out of this fight. In his unique combination of reasoning, polemic, personal experience and jokes, Baddiel argues that those who think of themselves as on the right side of history have often ignored the history of anti-Semitism. He outlines why and how, in a time of intensely heightened awareness of minorities, Jews don’t count as a real minority.

‘A must read and if you think YOU don’t need to read it, that’s just the clue to know you do’ – Sarah Silverman

‘A masterpiece’ – Stephen Fry

 

The God Desire

David Baddiel would love there to be a God.

He has spent a lot of time fantasising about how much better life would be if there actually was such a thing as a Superhero Dad who chased off Death. Unfortunately for him, there isn’t. Or at least, that is Baddiel’s view in this book, which argues that it is indeed the very intensity of his, and everyone else’s, desire for God to exist that proves His non-existence. Anything so deeply wished-for we will, considers Baddiel, make real.

The admission of his own divine yearnings makes for a book that is more vulnerable – and more understanding of the value and power of religion – than most atheist polemics. A philosophical essay that utilises Baddiel’s trademarks of comedy, storytelling and personal asides, The God Desire offers a highly readable new perspective on the most ancient of debates.

My Family

A searingly honest, funny and moving family memoir in which David Baddiel exposes his mother’s idiosyncratic sex life, and his father’s dementia, to the same affectionate scrutiny.

On the surface, David Baddiel’s childhood was fairly standard: a lower-middle-class Jewish family living in an ordinary house in Dollis Hill, north-west London. But David came to realise that his mother was in fact not ordinary at all. Having escaped extermination by fleeing Nazi Germany as a child, she was desperate to make her life count, which took the form of a passionate, decades-long affair with a golfing memorabilia salesman. David’s detailing of the affair – including a hilarious focus on how his mother turned their household over to golf memorabilia, and an eye-popping cache of her erotic writings – leads to the inescapable conclusion that Sarah Baddiel was a cross between Jack Niklaus and Erica Jong.

Meanwhile, as Baddiel investigates his family’s past, his father’s memories are fading; dementia is making him moodier and more disinhibited, with an even greater penchant for obscenity. As with his mother’s affair, there is both comedy and poignancy to be found: laughter is a constant presence, capable of transforming the darkest of experiences into something redemptive.

My Family: The Memoir is David Baddiel’s candid examination of his childhood, family and memory offering a twisted love letter to his parents.

David Baddiel Book Tour Special

We are so excited to be hosting well-known author, comedian, screenwriter, television presenter and cultural icon, David Baddiel, at Love Books. David has written four novels and two non-fiction books for adults, including the bestselling Jews Don’t Count which was the Sunday Times ‘Politics and Current Affairs Book of the Year’ 2021. His best-selling children’s books have sold over 2 million copies worldwide. His most recent adult book, My Family, is a hilarious and moving account of his quirky family.

David will chat with South African writer, artist, and performer Matthew Krouse. Join us for a lively, hilarious, irreverent, and honest conversation!

Baddiel’s title’s My Family, God Desire, Jews Don’t Count, Death of Eli Gold will be available to purchase on the night and on our online store.