I've just finished the last chapter of Mark Steel's Reasons to be Cheerful through tears and laughter.

For the entirety of my life of 36 years, whenever someone has asked the question "What book has most changed your life?", I never had an answer because no book I'd ever read had changed my life. (Indeed, until I read Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, no book had even brought a tear to my eye.)

I think I may well have the answer to that question now. ( )

I read John O'Farrells 'Things Can Only Get Better' straight after finishing 'Reasons to Be Cheerful' and I was struck by the stark comparison. 'Things Can Only Get Better' was essentially a story from someone who eventually sold-out to the New Labour tyranny, rejecting all the important lessons accessible to all about the class battles of the past decades while finally setting up within a middle class niche in the contemporary.

By comparison 'Reasons to Be Cheerful' is a biography clearly about political defiance despite the heavy defeats which are acknowledged time and time again. But you are mainly awed by is the humanity, which is laced with a very witty political narrative. The chapter on Bobby Sands and the history of the Miners was particularly touching.
What did disappoint me however was the way in which some of his polemics and observations were obviously one dimensional, especially with reference to socialism within Russia and how the National Front was finally defeated. It read like a party line in that respect. Otherwise it’s a gem in terms of humour, recent history and a socialist overview of post-war Britain. ( )

Mark Steel is a well known left wing comedian in the UK. He appears on BBC Radio 4 (his lecture series is excellent) and is well known on the 'alternative' comedy circuit.This book is a memoir of what its like growing up in the UK and reaching a politically aware age as a socialist when the whole country appears to turn its back on socialist ideals and to embrace Thatcherite monetarism.Leaving school Mark works his way through a series of dead end jobs where he fails miserably to hold his tongue when people glibly comment on politics. He lives in a squat and various council flats while living through a rapidly changing world.As an insider account of the various events which shaped the left wing it is by turns funny, touching and infuriating. The ability of the left to writhe and beat itself senseless rather than take on the right wing is the source for much of the humour. The tragic events that occured on some of the demos (such as the killing of Blair Peach) form the sad moments, and the rise of New Labour is the source of the fury.A great book. I read the second half pretty much in one day as I travelled from Cambridge to Shrewsbury and back. A good way to pass the time... ( )

Steel's account of his life pivots on his political and social education. He paints a hugely comic picture of the political atmosphere of the 1970s and '80s peppered with hilarious anecdotes and bigger than life characters. I first read this as a newly-politicised teenager and it was my first real glimpse into the life of Britain's socialist contingent. I was laughing out loud from the very first page. If nothing else, Steel has been instrumental in my decision not to take my politics too seriously. ( )