Books
Sweat-drenching, muscle-aching stuff
‘John, we need your autobiography.’ ‘I thought I’d express my life experience in song.’ ‘That’ll be fine.’ This would be…
An astronomical feat
Think of a computer and your mind might conjure the brushed steel contours of the latest must-have laptop or, for…
An unmagnificent seven
One of the most interesting developments in modern publishing has surely been the revival of interest in women writers of…
A gentle reproach to Shakespeare
A few years ago, I fell hopelessly in love with Harriet Walter. It only lasted an hour or two: she…
Hit for six
Frankie Howerd, the great, if troubled, comedian, was once asked whether he enjoyed performing. ‘I enjoy having performed,’ he replied.…
Power to the people
Jeremy Corbyn will probably enjoy this book — which doesn’t mean you won’t. Asked to name the historical figure he…
From Balzac to the Beatles
All biography is both an act of homage and a labour of dissection, and all biographers are jealous of their…
Not so cold-blooded
The recent furore over a freakshow ice rink in Japan, with hapless fishes embedded beneath the skaters’ feet, was inexplicable…
Emile in exile
Michael Rosen, a poet, journalist and prolific author of novels for children, has written an account of Emile Zola’s year’s…
Put out more flags
Did you know that 190 out of 200 nations in the world have either red or blue on their flags?…
Whisper who dares
Stand aside, Homer. I doubt whether even the author of the Iliad could have matched Alexis Peri’s account of the…
A fresh start
Most of us lead lives of quiet desperation. So we’re told. Frits van Egters apparently leads a life more desperate…
Homage to Mad Madge
There has never previously, I believe, been a novel about Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, one of the 17th century’s…
A truly monstrous regiment
When George Omona first saw soldiers in the infamous Lord’s Resistance Army, he was amazed. The scary fighters who had…
Hitchcock’s favourite bird
‘The Birds is coming’ screamed the posters for Tippi Hedren’s only famous film. Well, the cats is coming in her…
Cuckoo in the nest
‘Light as a feather, free as a bird.’ Günter Grass starts this final volume of short prose, poetry and sketches…
Best of 2016
After a slow start 2016 turned out to be a pretty good year for Australian writing, with excellent books across…
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.…
The descent of man
Why do humans want to build robots? It seems, on the face of it, to be a suicidal endeavour, destroying…
Crime fiction for Christmas
Imagine receiving an anonymous suicide note addressed to you by mistake. Would you try to find that person, to help…
Poor bewildered beasts
If you’ve ever read a history of the early days of the Foundling Hospital, you’ll remember the shock: expecting to…
The unkindest cult of all
When I was 22 I met a man called Yisrayl Hawkins who said his coming had been prophesied in the…
Roving the world
In these books, two handsome and popular telly adventurers consider, from viewpoints that are sometimes overly autobiographical, the culture of…
Double trouble
Cousins is a curious novel. If I’d been a publisher’s reader, I’d have consigned it to the rejection pile after…
The lonely passion of Beatrix Potter
The story of the extraordinary boom in children’s literature over the last 100 years could be bookended with a ‘Tale…
