Books
Searching for the one and only is futile, say the sexologists
Forget the idea of ‘the perfect match’. Humans are hardwired by evolution to form strong pair bonds and we should marry those who are good for us
The lost world of the pinball machine
In a touchingly Proustian memoir, Andreas Bernard hymns a youth spent flipping small steel balls in bars and resort arcades throughout Europe and America
The citizens of nowhere adrift in the West
Threatened with violence in her native Turkey, the writer Ece Temelkuran finds herself, like countless migrants, permanently ‘unhomed’
No good deed goes unpunished: A Better Life, by Lionel Shriver, reviewed
Kind, liberal Gloria Bonaventura opens her New York home to a young Honduran woman, but soon comes to regret the decision
The two faces of modern Japan
The principal cities still appear youthful and vigorous, but the interior is near to collapse after decades of neglect and economic stagnation
Why Leonard Cohen felt empowered to pronounce benedictions
The musician, who never really abandoned his Orthodox Jewish hinterland, took to heart the fact that being a kohen entitled him to dispense priestly blessings
Growing up with thieves, murderers and heroin addicts
Aged ten, Jonathan Tepper was manning phones and scheduling deliveries at his parents’ drug rehabilitation centre in San Blas, Madrid – ‘a rescue shop within a yard of hell’
Rupert Murdoch’s warped vision of family
The absentee father, who always put his media empire first, enjoyed playing his children off against one another – with crippling consequences
Forgetting was the best defence for the Kindertransport refugees
Alfred and Doris Moritz remained largely silent about their persecution in Nazi Germany, having tried their best to erase the memory, according to their son Michael
Goddesses and courtesans: six centuries of the female body in art
Amy Dempsey explains how nude representations, from Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ to Manet’s ‘Olympia’, express both emotion and the attitudes of the day
Lust for gold: White River Crossing, by Ian McGuire, reviewed
In 1766, a small party from the Hudson Bay Company head to the subarctic tundra in search of untold riches
Musical bumps: Discord, by Jeremy Cooper, reviewed
The ebb and flow of harmony between a composer and her chosen solo saxophonist is charted with meticulous precision
What hope is there for the Church of England today?
With attendance in long-term decline and too many clergy trapped in the headlights of identity politics, the ‘ark of salvation’ seems barely seaworthy
Are western governments actively facilitating money laundering?
The inadequate scrutiny of shell companies and continual printing of vast quantities of high-denomination banknotes are just some indications of a shameful systemic failure
The tale of John Tom, the Cornish rebel with the Messiah complex
The 19th-century merchant from Truro who posed as a charismatic preacher and saviour of the poor was far more deranged than anyone realised
Made in China
Most things that seemed like a good idea at the time eventually land somewhere between disaster and calamity. In Apple…
Leonardo Sciascia and the reshaping of the detective novel
Crimes go unpunished while injustice is upheld and truth perverted. Such is the Mafia reality, according to the saturnine Sciascia
Dark days in Kolkata: A Guardian and a Thief, by Megha Majumdar, reviewed
As the city descends into chaos and starvation, a ‘manager madam’ and desperate intruder clash in their efforts to keep their respective families alive
Horror in Victorian Hampstead: Mrs Pearcey, by Lottie Moggach, reviewed
A fledgling female journalist fights hard to exonerate an impoverished woman accused of double murder
The turbulent life of the Marquis de Morès – the 19th-century aristocrat turned populist thug
Soldier, duelist and frontier ranchman, the anti-Semitic adventurer brought cowboy-style politics to the streets of Paris as the Third Republic lurched from one crisis to another
Sabotage in occupied France: The Shock of the Light, by Lori Inglis Hill, reviewed
Having joined SOE at the outbreak of war, young Tessa faces immense dangers, not all of which she can overcome
Mark Haddon attempts to exorcise the memory of a loveless childhood
Between a father who designed abattoirs and a callous, unresponsive mother, Haddon is left depression-prone, taking a perverse pleasure in envisaging catastrophe
A poignant study of female attachment: Chosen Family, by Madeleine Gray, reviewed
This Sydney-based novel explores friendship, love, betrayal and the highs and lows of parenthood
Where will the extremes of OOO philosophy lead?
We are moving so far from anthropocentrism that even now we are postulating thinking bricks and a kind of global foam that extends beyond human exceptionalism
A commentary on the grim present: Glyph, by Ali Smith, reviewed
Smith seems to urge us to pay close attention to the horrors of today’s world. But can such a spectacularly plotless novel convey any meaningful message?
