More from Books
The misery of working with Chuck Berry
The ‘father of rock and roll’ was cantankerous, deceitful and sly – and partnering him on stage left Keith Richards almost catatonic with stress
The mystery of what makes us special remains unsolved
After spending six years investigating where consciousness comes from, Michael Pollan finds no overarching explanation
Dark family secrets: Repetition, by Vigdis Hjorth, reviewed
With a haunting crime at its heart, this bitter, brief novel leaves one wondering uncomfortably whether it might be a memoir in disguise
The ‘ecocide’ that is Canada’s shame
British Columbia’s most ancient trees continue to be ruthlessly felled, despite ecologists’ warnings of the effect on global climate
No Hungarian rhapsody: Lázár, by Nelio Biedermann, reviewed
A dark forest swallows up successive generations of an entitled Hungarian family in a story imbued with symbolism that spans two world wars
Will colonialism’s psychological legacy ever cease to be a source of pain?
The British Empire’s abiding bequest has not been infrastructure and administrative systems but a memory of repression that continues to pass down through generations, says Simukai Chiguda
A sinister strangeness: City Like Water, by Dorothy Tse, reviewed
A beloved native city is in a state of flux, slipping from normal into nightmare as freedom vanishes, time collapses and people throw themselves from rooftops
Is it better to be reasonable or rational?
As well as being flexible and open-minded, reasonable people are concerned about what’s of true value – whereas the rational may simply be interested in their own tangible gains
The history of Moscow was one of extreme violence from the start
The Mongol massacres of 1238 were followed by reigns of terror, plague, fire, revolution and purges – as well as constant hostility to Kyiv
Thoughtful fantasy: Travel Light, by Naomi Mitchison, reviewed
Borrowing from Arthuriana, Norse sagas, fairy tales and legends, Mitchison’s novel modulates midway between magic and realism
W.H. Auden’s virtuosity masked careful craftsmanship
Poetry came so easily to Auden that at times he had consciously to ‘keep the diction and rhythm within a hairsbreadth of prose without becoming it’
Fractured loyalties: The Tribe, by Michael Arditti, reviewed
A powerful Jewish family flee Salonika in 1912 – only to fall apart in France on the eve of the second world war
Blockchain fantasies: My Bags Are Big, by Tibor Fischer, reviewed
Everyone in Dubai’s confected utopia is reinventing themselves and failing miserably in this dark satire on greed, stupidity and regret
Nintendo and the plumber who conquered the world
Keza MacDonald describes how Mario, the company’s mascot, became not only an icon of Japanese culture but a global hero
Lloyd Blankfein – guiding light of Goldman Sachs
While considered a safe pair of hands during the financial crisis of 2007, Blankfein skirts around some of Goldman’s more controversial decisions at the time
The world destroyed by madness: Howl, by Howard Jacobson, reviewed
Apart from the atrocity of 7 October 2023 itself, it is the reaction of neighbours and even family that appals Jacobson’s protagonist in a novel that still manages to be darkly comic
Frederic Prokosch – the man who seemed to know everyone
A beguiling memoir boasts intimate encounters with many of the 20th century’s most celebrated writers – but should we believe a word of it?
Caught between Hitler and Bomber Command – the Berliners’ cruel predicament
Ordinary citizens faced two enemies in the war, and it as hard to know who was more dangerous – the Allies or their own deranged leaders
Chasing happiness: The Daffodil Days, by Helen Bain, reviewed
Leaving London with her husband and daughter to make a new home on the edge of Dartmoor, Sylvia Plath longs for ‘everything to be perfect… and hasn’t learned yet that, in life, nothing can be’
When did you last see your siblings?
By the age of 18 we will have spent far more time with our brothers and sisters than we will ever spend again – suggesting that blood ties do not guarantee intimacy
The glory and tragedy of Trafalgar
Nelson’s great naval victory may finally have delivered Britain from the threat of French invasion, but his death left the nation in deep mourning
The sorrows of the young Melvyn Bragg
His first impression of Oxford University in 1958 was of ‘effortless wealth and privilege everywhere’ and, feeling like a foreigner, he pined for the familiarity of close-knit Wigton
Seeing the trees for the wood
Coppicing and pollarding are essential if trees are to produce wood in perpetuity for any useful purpose, making woodland heavily dependent on human management
How Ulysses horrified the stuffed shirts of New York’s literary establishment
The magazine editor Margaret C. Anderson’s spirited attempts to introduce Joyce’s masterpiece to 1920s America resulted in a court case and heavy fine for disseminating obscenity
Ghastly middle-class materialism: The Quantity Theory of Morality, by Will Self, reviewed
Self’s latest satire suggests that a world where the avaricious prosper, and the meek inherit the debts of the unscrupulous, contains a limited amount of morality
