The quest for the perfect guitar riff is a noble one – if not quite the key to unlocking the mysteries of the universe
A few weeks ago, my eight-year-old son, who’s taken up the guitar, announced that he’d learned something new. He then…
A tribute to the King – or a compendium of journalistic bad habits?
With Elvis has Left the Building, the longstanding editor of GQ has inexplicably written a book that could serve as…
The Honourable Woman could have done with some help from an overpaid executive in a suit
BBC2’s The Honourable Woman (Thursday) began with a rather portentous voice-over bringing us the unsurprising news that ‘We all have…
The girl who had sex with dolphins
BBC4’s The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins (Tuesday) began with the overstated-sounding claim that it would be tackling ‘perhaps the…
Those weren't the days
If you wanted a brief epigraph for Linda Grant’s recent fiction, then five words from Dorothy Parker might well do…
Is BBC1’s Quirke bravely unhurried – or too slow?
The work of John Banville — Booker-winning novelist and impeccably high-minded literary critic — might seem an unlikely source for…
So Dylan Thomas was a drunk: does this TV drama have anything else to say?
According to its executive producer Griff Rhys Jones, A Poet in New York (BBC2, Sunday) sought to rescue Dylan Thomas…
Jack Bauer hits, er, West Ealing
Whatever worries Kiefer Sutherland may have had about reprising the role of Jack Bauer in 24: Live Another Day (Sky1,…
John Crace digested – twice
Fiction ‘So how come we’re in the same book?’ Paul from The Stranger’s Child asked Florence from On Chesil Beach.…
Caught between a New Age rock and a theory junkie hard place
Siri Hustvedt’s new novel isn’t exactly an easy read — but the casual bookshop browser should be reassured that it’s…
The Windsor Faction, by D.J. Taylor - review
In both his novels and non-fiction, D. J. Taylor has long been fascinated by the period between the wars. Now…
Lion Heart by Justin Cartwright - review
Justin Cartwright is famously a fan of John Updike — and here he seems to owe a definite debt to…
The People’s Songs, by Stuart Maconie - a review
For Stuart Maconie fans, this book might sound as if it’ll be his masterpiece. In his earlier memoirs and travelogues,…
