More from Books
Fools rush in: Mania, by Lionel Shriver, reviewed
In an alternative universe where the Mental Parity Movement holds sway, the ignorant and unqualified are deemed ‘just as good as anyone else’ – with predictable results
More Mr Pooter than Joe Orton: George Lucas’s gay life in London
Beginning in 1948, Lucas kept a diary chronicling 60 highly promiscuous years – though ‘my great desideratum has always been sympathy and affection’
Agent Zo: the Polish blonde with nerves of steel
Clare Mulley celebrates the courage of Elzbieta Zawacka, who repeatedly risked her life in the second world war liaising between London and the Polish Resistance
Home to mother: Long Island, by Colm Toibín, reviewed
The sequel to Brooklyn sees Eilis leave New York shocked and angry, and return to Enniscorthy – where everything is outwardly calmer, but much has changed
It’s hard work having fun: Wives Like Us, by Plum Sykes, reviewed
A ride with friends involves dressing to the nines and stopping at a Marie Antoinette-style ‘hameau’ for sloe-gin cocktails – served by uniformed staff and filmed for Instagram
Edwin Lutyens: the nation’s remembrancer-in-chief
Though much admired for his domestic architecture, Lutyens is perhaps most celebrated for Whitehall’s Cenotaph and the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme
The endless fascination of volcanoes
Tamsin Mather is the latest highly articulate volcanologist to combine vivid personal experience with thoughtful scientific explanation
Kindness backfires: Sufferance, by Charles Palliser, reviewed
When the father of a family takes in a lost young girl from a minority ethnic group, he puts his own household at risk as racial persecution mounts
The traditional British hedge is fast vanishing
The best hedges teem with the biodiversity that plays such a vital part in our future. Yet, since the 1950s, farmers and developers have been destroying them at an alarming rate
The perils of waiting on a Tudor queen
Henry VIII considered the queen’s household a fruitful hunting-ground – for a mistress, a future wife, or a pawn, whose testimony could provide useful damaging evidence
Exploring the glorious literary heritage of Bengal
Bengalis are renowned for their love of discussion and argument, and a new collection of short stories reflects this passion for cultured conversation
What do we mean when we talk of ‘home’?
Though deeply attached to her ‘squat, odd-looking house’ near Uffington, Clover Stroud comes to realise that home is as much about bonds between people as a particular place
There’s much to be said for nostalgia
Instead of condemning it as dangerous fantasy, two new books argue that we should welcome nostalgia as ‘emotional armour’ in a fast-changing world
When the local wizard was the repository of all wisdom
Before the arrival of ‘proper’ doctors, everyone in the Middle Ages, from rulers to peasants, turned to magic practitioners and cunning folk for healing and advice
A GP diagnosed me with ‘acute anxiety’ – only to exacerbate it
When Tom Lee suffers a breakdown after the birth of his first child, a doctor warns him against the only drug that proves effective, further adding to his distress
Death was everywhere for the Victorians, but it was never commonplace
In a society obsessed with the trappings of grief, funerals were often elaborate occasions, with commemorative medals struck and strict rules applied to the period of mourning
Nietzsche’s thinking seems destined to be mangled and misunderstood
Two Italian editors, determined to rescue the philosopher from Nazi associations, find their concern with philological truth derided by French postmodernists
A timely morality tale: The Spoiled Heart, by Sunjeev Sahota, reviewed
Conflicting ideals of old-school socialism and modern identity politics are fought out against a background of urban desolation worthy of Dickens
Living in the golden age of navel-gazing
Every other book now seems to be a collection of sad, wry, funny reflections by some sad, wry, funny columnist – and Joel Golby’s Four Stars is among the best
Are all great civilisations doomed?
If plague, war or natural disasters don’t destroy our own, then ‘a cascading systems failure’ seems likely, on past evidence, says Paul Cooper
A surprising number of scientists believe in little green men
Eminent astronomers have explained cosmic anomalies as alien megastructures and spaceships, while the source of the celebrated Wow! signal remains anyone’s guess
The naming of cats
It took a long time for cats to gain the same serious status as dogs, but by the 18th century they were starting to have personalities, says Kathryn Hughes
The slave’s story: James, by Percival Everett, reviewed
A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the voice of Huck’s companion the runaway slave changes the nature of the pair’s relationship – not always for the better
Alone and defenceless: the tragic death of Captain Cook
Striding ashore unarmed showed courage that bordered on recklessness. But it was a kind of theatre Cook relished on his travels - and, famously, it didn’t always work
What does Christian atheism mean?
Slavoj Žižek claims to value Christianity’s ‘dissident’ credentials, but his atheist vision of reality rests on assumptions repeatedly challenged by Jesus
