Books
The history of London through its parish churches
John Betjeman, the patron saint of English parish churches, once warned against praising British buildings too much. Be careful before…
Stella Gibbons’s ‘lost work’ should have remained in the drawer
One of the great fascinations of a ‘lost’ work by a famous name dredged up out of the vault after…
Bernard Buffet: painter and poser
Bernard Buffet was no one’s idea of a great painter. Except, that is, Pierre Bergé and Nick Foulkes. Bergé was…
The ultimate New York parking novel
Publishing a ‘New York’ novel in the months after 11 September 2001 is a surefire, if accidental, way to make…
Dinners for beginners
Never mind teaching children to cook: they need to be taught to eat. Obvious? Totally, but this is the choosing…
The Lost Word
I know it cold, the scene in the woods, the grey-toned sky, and snow— the sudden clearing in the underbrush…
Fighting back
For anyone looking for a stimulating read this summer, one that bestows a certain sense of rationality on our otherwise…
Act of Faith
This winter morning between seven and eight, half a white moon still present, a ghost not shining on plentiful frost…
The Lost Word
I know it cold, the scene in the woods, the grey-toned sky, and snow— the sudden clearing in the underbrush…
Act of Faith
This winter morning between seven and eight, half a white moon still present, a ghost not shining on plentiful frost…
The Lost Word
I know it cold, the scene in the woods, the grey-toned sky, and snow— the sudden clearing in the underbrush…
The history of Ukraine — from Herodotus to Hitler
Timothy Snyder traces Ukraine’s complex history from its classical heritage to the present day
The dying fall of the Fells
At some point during your reading of this book the realisation might dawn, if you didn’t already know about his…
The art of getting busted
The Art of Smuggling comes garlanded with fraternal encomia from Howard ‘Mr Nice’ Marks, Phil Sparrowhawk (author of Grass) and…
Rodolfo González Alcántara is lord of the dance
‘Anything becomes interesting if you look at it long enough,’ said Gustave Flaubert. He might have been talking about this…
‘Russia’s Mississippi’ — or China’s — just keeps rolling along
In 2014, Beijing and Moscow signed a US$400 billion deal to deliver Russian gas to Chinese consumers. Construction of the…
Sins of the past haunt the latest crime fiction
It’s often the case that present-day crimes have their roots in the past. Ian Rankin’s Even Dogs in the Wild…
The confessions of Gerard Manley Hopkins
‘I am 12 miles from a lemon,’ lamented that bon vivant clergyman Sydney Smith on reaching one country posting. He…
György Spiro’s Captivity fails to captivate Tibor Fischer
It’s been a long time coming for György Spiró. However much Hungarian writers complain about the isolation forced upon them…
America’s greatest magazine — at its greatest
The New Yorker has always been revered for the supreme quality of its writing, says Philip Hensher
From dressing-gown drudge to Man Booker winner
John Gross’s The Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters: English Literary Life since 1800, a standard text for…
David Pryce-Jones settles old scores
The geological title of this unhappy memoir is an apt metaphor for fissures in the relationships between individuals of David…
Velázquez’s vanishing act
This is an extraordinary story. In 1845 John Snare, an unremarkable Reading bookseller, goes to an auction in a defunct…
Smartphones for Hamlet and Heathcliff
Medea says ‘hiiiiiiii’ on the first page of Mallory Ortberg’s hilarious book, which puts smartphones in the hands of literary…
Robert Nairac: brave to a fault
Captain Robert Nairac was a Grenadier Guards officer serving in Northern Ireland when on 14 May 1977 he was abducted…
