More from Books
Alice in Nightmareland: The Matchbox Girl, by Alice Jolly, reviewed
A mute 12-year-old girl is invited to Dr Asperger’s clinic in 1930s Vienna – but how will ‘idiot’ children fare once the Nazis come to power?
Bats have suffered too long from the ‘Dracula effect’
The more we learn about the only mammals capable of true, sustained flight, the more we should admire them
How the teenage Carole King struck gold
Aged 18, she wrote ‘Will You (Still) Love Me Tomorrow’ which reached No 1 in the US – and the hits kept coming
Cook books for a colourful Christmas
Crab with Calabrian chilli butter, pink-white marbled beetroot labne and carrot, orange and pomegranate salads are among the many good things on offer this year
The new power players running the world
An Italian former political adviser warns of the tech bros and autocrats upending the international order while our elected leaders appease and procrastinate
A Faustian pact: The School of Night, by Karl Ove Knausgaard, reviewed
In Knausgaard’s latest psychological thriller, Kristian Hadeland, an arrogant Norwegian photography student, is implicated in a crime for which there will be harsh consequences
A philosophical quest: A Fictional Inquiry, by Daniele del Giudice, reviewed
The pacing and tone are noirish in this metaphysical detective story, set in Trieste, about the space between writing and life
The pedant’s progress through history
The pompous know-it-all despised by classical philosophers became a stock comic character of 16th-century theatre – and finally a bore to be pitied
Escape from investment banking to the open road – a biking odyssey
Miles Morland notches up 50,000 miles on his BMW 1000 with trips through Europe, Argentina, Japan, Australia and the United States – without a single accident
A satirical portrait of village life: Love Divine, by Ysenda Maxtone Graham, reviewed
Within a bourgeois Church of England milieu of round-robins and parish chit-chat lurk rumours of sabotage and clandestine love affairs
The inspiration for David Lynch’s mysterious, disquieting world
A bizarre experience in the filmmaker’s adolescence involving a woman’s escape from domestic violence seems to have left an indelible mark
What hope is there for Syria today?
After two brutal regimes and a devastating civil war, there’s fear of renewed corruption under President Ahmed al Sharaa, a former al Qaeda terrorist
From the wilds of Kyrgyzstan to the Victorian nursery – a choice of art books
Subjects include ancient rock carvings, portraiture, images of lost London and the illustrations of Walter Crane
Laughing at Putin is a powerful form of protest
A constant round of fines, surveillance and detention is alleviated by jokes, mischief and a joyous love affair for Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina
Philosophy’s greatest pessimist wasn’t so miserable after all
Arthur Schopenhauer’s luminous prose, savage wit and commitment to thinking for oneself make reading him an exhilarating, even life-affirming experience
In Putin’s Russia, feminism is an ugly word
The trad wife, happy to defer to her husband in all matters, is today’s ideal – a far cry from the female snipers and fighter pilots of the Leninist era
The simple flatbread that conquered the world
Luca Cesari describes pizza’s journey from the poor man’s staple of 18th-century Naples to today’s global favourite, worth billions
The furious tug of war between 18th-century Whigs and Tories
George Owers evokes the seismic cultural divisions between the parties – with different coffee houses attended, wines drunk, doctors consulted and fashions preferred
The making of William Golding as a writer
Letters between Golding and Faber’s Charles Monteith reveal just how much the author owed to his editor – not least in the choice of book titles
The reluctant spy: The Predicament, by William Boyd, reviewed
Sucked further into the quicksand of 1960s espionage, Gabriel Dax is sent to Guatemala, and then on to West Berlin, where he uncovers a plot to assassinate President Kennedy
A feast for quiz-lovers: Christmas gift books
Delightful oddities include: foreign equivalents of ‘Joe Bloggs’; alternatives to the word ‘Hello’; and El Greco’s offer to repaint the Sistine Chapel
Serenity and splendour: a choice of gardening books
Recommendations include: Melbourne Hall Garden, by Jodie Jones; The English Landscape Garden, by Tim Richardson; and Diary of a Keen Gardener, by Mary Keen
Faith – and why mountains move us
The French writer Sylvain Tesson feels anxiety lift, bitterness vanish and travel transform into prayer in the course of a ski journey across the Alps, spread over four winters
‘I could turn very nasty – I was an egotistical brute’, says Anthony Hopkins
Judging by his autobiography, it’s no wonder the actor was in such demand to play devils, killers, bullies, werewolves and ruthless kings
Beaujolais – a refuge for impecunious wine lovers
With burgundy prices going through the roof, enthusiasts are flocking to the neighbouring region, which few have taken seriously until now
