Books
A girl in a million
All readers know that good novels draw us into other worlds. I cannot think of another, however, which so alarmed…
Little and large
Here are two approachable and distinctive books on our churches, great and small. Simon Jenkins’s cathedrals survey follows his earlier…
Port in any storm
Cometh the hour, cometh the book, and so Christmas brings us once again a tidal wave of titles relating to…
A marvel and a mystery
In 2013, Pavel Dmitrichenko, disgruntled principal dancer of the Bolshoi, exacted a now infamous revenge on the company’s artistic director,…
Love at first bite
Legends cling to Bram Stoker’s life. One interesting cluster centres on his wife, Florence. She was judged, in her high…
Spot the British Author
The post Spot the British Author appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment…
To earth from heaven
When I was a child, the highlight of the summer holidays was when my cousin Simon came to stay. We…
Answers to ‘Spot the British Author’
1. Kingsley Amis 2. Beatrix Potter 3. Graham Greene 4. Salman Rushdie 5. Nick Hornby 6. Arthur Conan Doyle 7.…
High priestess of horror
A film critic friend, astonished that I had never heard of Shirley Jackson, told me to go and read her…
Children’s books for Christmas
Maurice Sendak, no mean judge, observed that William Nicholson’s Clever Bill was ‘among the few perfect picture books for children’.…
Rifling through a writer’s desk
Frantumaglia isn’t strictly a book by Elena Ferrante. Frantumaglia isn’t strictly a book at all. It’s a celebration of the…
Ripeness is all
‘Blessed are the cheesemakers.’ The line from Life of Brian is followed by: ‘It’s not meant to be taken literally.…
A choice of gardening books
Garden design usually breaks out of its confines to become part of the general consciousness only in Chelsea Flower Show…
From man to beast and back again
If there’s one shared characteristic of the so-called ‘new nature writing’ it is a failure, with a few notable exceptions,…
Is this the American Houellebecq?
I Hate the Internet is not so much a novel as a wildly entertaining rant. Jarett Kobek is a self-published…
When reasoning goes wrong
It’s the intellectual bromance of the last century. Two psychologists — Danny, a Holocaust kid and adviser to the Israel…
Up Close and Personal
Chris Mitchell’s memoir of his life as a News Ltd journalist, then as editor, first of Brisbane’s Courier Mail and…
Review: Dinner with Armand de Brignac
A fine time was had by all at the Dickie Fitz Restaurant and Dining Room in London W1 the other…
Restaurateur Gavin Rankin enjoys a gastronomic trip to Belgium
Restaurateur Gavin Rankin enjoys a gastronomic trip to Belgium but wishes travelling companion, chef Rowley Leigh, had kept his mouth…
Reds in our beds?
John Blaxland and Rhys Crawley’s The Secret Cold War is the third and – at least for the time being…
Falling out with Love
Volcanic fallings out within bands are an ever-recurring motif in the history of rock music. There’s an obvious reason for…
A choice of art books
Suitably for a year so full of cataclysms and disturbing portents, 2016 is the quincentenary of the death of Hieronymus…
Pandora’s box
While I’ve read plenty of books worse than Television: A Biography, I can’t immediately think of any that were more…
Blackouts and white coats
In the cult Steve Martin film The Man With Two Brains, a doctor falls in love with a surgically removed…
A mystery, even to herself
Armed with their tiny Leicas and Nikons, most of the great postwar ‘street’ photographers liked to be unobtrusive; they wanted…
