Lead book review
Selling the dream
Love her or loathe her, Enid Blyton and the safe, sunny world she cleverly marketed will remain a publishing phenomenon, says Sam Leith
This rough game
Through her diaries and notebooks we finally catch a glimpse of the real Patricia Highsmith, says Christopher Priest
The bourgeois surrealist
René Magritte’s life, so outwardly respectable, was as full of surprises as his art, says Philip Hensher
Books of the year II
A further selection of the books enjoyed by some of our regular reviewers in 2021
BOOKS OF THE YEAR I
Reviewers choose the books they have most enjoyed reading in 2021 — and a few that have disappointed them
A man in a hurry
After a wretched childhood, H.G. Wells was ruthless in making up for lost time, says Frances Wilson
Double vision
Charlotte Hobson describes the complicated relationship of two artists who championed simplicity
A passionate patriot
Americans regard George III as a power-crazed petty tyrant – but he was the very opposite, says Kate Maltby
Let there be life
Philip Hensher finds this year’s Booker shortlist more concerned with serious world issues than vivid characterisation
The full spectrum
Honor Clerk explores the history of the world through colour, from the Stone Age to orbiting the Moon
Smudged with human stories
Nothing captures medieval life more vividly than a manuscript that has passed through many hands, says Jonathan Sumption
Weapons of mass indoctrination
Peter Pomeranzev describes the refinement of thought-control techniques over the past century – and the worldwide competition to employ them
Into the woods
Anyone who spends time among trees senses how good that is for their physical and mental wellbeing, says Ursula Buchan
Magical mountains
A magnificent new history of the Caucasus earns Peter Frankopan’s highest praise
A thankless task
The final volume of Peter Ackroyd’s History of England feels like a dutiful exercise carried out in a hurry, says Philip Hensher
The fiasco of the century
There was certainly no shortage of excellent advice about war in Afghanistan offered to many American leaders by many people over many years, says Justin Marozzi
An isolated misfit
Why did W.G. Sebald risk his reputation by telling such strange, repeated lies, wonders Lucasta Miller
A character assassination too far
Revisionist biographies of Churchill are nothing new but this one lays the hostility and contempt on with a trowel, says Andrew Roberts
A fevered mind
Philip Hensher finds Robert Burton’s perception of the world and the human condition endlessly fascinating
The man who wasn’t there
Craig Brown describes his various encounters with the MP who notoriously faked his own death in 1974
A dangerous madness
The QAnon conspiracy theory may be absurd, but it can’t be ignored. It has already led to significant acts of violence, says Damian Thompson
President Xi’s panopticon
Tom Miller describes how Xinjiang became a laboratory for China’s mass surveillance system – built with the help of US tech companies
A fully engaged life
From Bengali schoolboy to citizen of the world – Amartya Sen’s autobiography is a joy, says Philip Hensher
Tortured genius
Andrew Motion describes the inner turmoil of the neglected poet Ivor Gurney
Still funny after all these years
A new biography of William Hogarth pays dutiful homage to his satirical genius but does not challenge its predecessors, writes Philip Hensher
