Books
Two gone girls
The plot of Hideo Yokoyama’s Six Four begins in 1989, with the murder of Shoko, a seven-year-old girl. Fourteen years…
Not so bird-brained after all
What is it about birds? They are the wild creatures we see most often, their doings and calls a daily…
More blood and tears
Irvine Welsh’s 1993 debut novel Train-spotting flicked a hearty V-sign in the face of alarm-clock Britain. ‘Ah choose no tae…
Thetans under threat
At last! It has taken over two years, but a British publisher has summoned up the nerve to bring out…
Symbols of eternity
On the banks of the River Thames in central London, an ancient Egyptian obelisk, known as Cleopatra’s Needle, reaches towards…
The tragedy of Arabia
T.E. Lawrence is seen as a ‘metaphor for imperialism, violence and betrayal’ in the Middle East. But woeful Arab leadership has also been to blame for the region’s problems, says Justin Marozzi
Britannia rued the waves
Military history is more popular than respected. It is not hard to see why. It is masculine history, a trifecta…
Out of the depths
‘This happens to other people.’ The Guardian journalist Decca Aitkenhead says she had heard the phrase countless times, interviewing the…
Trapped in hell
The mechanic, blinded in one eye by shrapnel, spent three days searching for his family in the destroyed buildings and…
To be a pilgrim
In his friendly and beguiling voice, Jean-Christophe Rufin explains (in a way that reminded me of the pre-journey relish of…
Fast and furious
Modern life is too fast. Everyone is always in a hurry; people skim-read and don’t take the time to eat…
The last word
Nicola Barker is both prodigiously talented and admirably fearless. I have loved her books. But for some time I had…
Trivial pursuits
Well, he’s back. Though you’d be forgiven for thinking he’d never been away. Fresh from delivering the Reith lectures, exhibitions…
Mouldering hats and wedding veils
In deciding to write a book about her forebears and herself, Juliet Nicolson follows in their footsteps. Given that her…
Nine angst-ridden men
‘Insufficiency’ is a favourite David Szalay word. The narrator of his previous novel, Spring, suffered from ‘insufficiency of feeling’; in…
An incurable Romantic
Frances Wilson’s biography of Thomas De Quincey, the mischievous, elusive ‘Pope of Opium’, makes for addictive reading, says Hermione Eyre
The greatest anti-war poem of all
The Iliad begins with a grudge and ends with a funeral. In between are passages, if not necessarily of boredom,…
London’s burning
Spectator readers know Andrew Taylor from his reviews of crime fiction. Many will also know him as an admirable writer…
A breath of fresh air
His professional achievements aside, Quentin Blake’s life has been rather short on biographical event, so this book is not a…
The iceberg cometh
Every second novel is fated to be measured against its predecessor; and that comparison is particularly hard when the debut…
Obscure object of desire
Garth Greenwell’s debut novel is as dreary and oppressive as the Soviet-era apartment buildings among which it takes place. But…
Those fearless men, but few
While reading this book in a London café, I was politely buttonholed by an Irishman: ‘Sorry to disturb you, but…
Gay tittle-tattle
The Comintern was the name given to the international communist network in the Soviet era, advancing the cause wherever it…
Onwards and downwards
This is a very upsetting book. The Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond spent a year and a half living in low-income…
The holy sinner
Many of the great faith narratives (the Holy Quran being a notable exception) are clumsy, rough-hewn things; makepiece amalgams of…
