Books
Time is of the essence in Helen Simpson’s Cockfosters
Helen Simpson is not a prolific writer; six slim collections of short stories in 25 years, each timed quinquennially with…
On a British newspaper, Tintin would have been fired years ago
Reading Tintin when I was a child, in Britain in the 1970s, I always assumed Georges Remi’s creation was just…
The top loo books of 2015
There is not, sadly, a dedicated Trivia Books section in your local Waterstones, although at this time of year there…
This novel is hilarious (unless you're Richard Dawkins)
Dan Rhodes apparently had trouble finding a publisher for this short novel, and it’s possible to envisage a certain amount…
The evil genius of Dr Fu Manchu
In late Victorian south London a ‘lower-middle-class’ boy, Arthur Ward, is lingering over his copy of The Arabian Nights. The…
Bravery
I am not ready for the temple but neither am I ready for the market. Leave me, I pray, a…
Bravery
I am not ready for the temple but neither am I ready for the market. Leave me, I pray, a…
Books of the Year: the best and most overrated of 2015
Our regular reviewers choose the best and most overrated books of 2015
There’s nothing wrong with plugging a friend’s book
The advantage of reviewing books by a friend is that you can invite him out for a walk across the…
Charles Williams: sadist or Rosicrucian saint?
Charles Williams was a bad writer, but a very interesting one. Most famous bad writers have to settle, like Sidney…
Patti Smith grows old too gracefully
‘Jesus died for somebody’s sins/ but not mine’: the opening lines of Patti Smith’s 1975 debut album, Horses, find a…
John Paul Stapp: the fastest man on earth, who saved millions
There’s a moment in Craig Ryan’s spectacular biography of John Paul Stapp — the maverick American Air Force doctor who,…
A soothing Negroni for la dolce vita
The first draft of the famous story was called ‘A Martini as Big as the Ritz’. That’s not true, but…
Jonathan Coe’s raucous social satire smoulders with anger
When Rachel, one of the unreliable narrators of Number 11, wants to ‘go back to the very beginning’, she starts…
An elegy for Concorde, the most beautiful airliner of all time
The Concorde experience, a fleeting indulgence in luxurious grandiosity, began each day with circumvention of the hugger-mugger of the hoi…
The buildings we treasure most are often the ones we’ve never seen
Here are two books which have almost nothing in common: form, function, source material, methodology, all utterly different. The surprise…
From toad in the hole to seal soup: the best new cookbooks
Timing is everything, and few cookbooks come at an apter moment than Mamushka (Mitchell Beazley, £25) by the excellently named…
Was Éamon de Valera Ireland’s Franco?
A highlight of this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival was the Rough Magic Theatre Company’s production of The Train, a musical…
Rex Whistler: ‘a desolate sense of loneliness amidst so much fun’
When Hugh and Mirabel Cecil’s book In Search of Rex Whistler was published in 2012, the late Brian Sewell reviewed…
Cycling is about much more than winning — and David Millar’s The Racer is quite a ride
In 2004, French police officers searching the home of the professional cyclist David Millar found some syringes and empty phials…
The Butcher of Bosnia holes up in an Irish backwater
The cover of Edna O’Brien’s 17th novel sports a handsome quote from Philip Roth: ‘The great Edna O’Brien has written…
Julie Burchill vs celebrity memoirs
I learned from this little lot that if one has read The Diary of a Nobody, then one can derive…
Books and arts opener
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The best British short stories — from Daniel Defoe to Zadie Smith
In this handsome two-volume anthology, Philip Hensher convincingly establishes himself as a world authority on the short story, says Ian Sansom
London fog: from the Big Smoke to the Big Choke
‘A foggy day in London town,’ croons Fred Astaire in the 1937 musical comedy A Damsel in Distress, puffing nonchalantly…
