Books
An old soldier sees through the smoke of Waterloo
David Crane on an old soldier’s account of a 200-year-old battle that will never fade away
Hillary Clinton’s autobiography seems destined to join her husband’s - in a bin marked ‘Free’
Last year a Washington-based journalist called Mark Leibovich wrote This Town, a book whose thesis was, roughly, that Washington-based journalists…
Stephen King – return of the great storyteller
Stephen King’s latest novel, Mr Mercedes, is dedicated to James M. Cain and described as ‘a riveting suspense thriller’ —…
Ice Sculpture
If I begged you to, would you hitchhike to the ice-sculpture factory, where the drunken cow was just presented, and…
The man who loathed emoticons - especially :)) as it reminded him of his double chin
Paul O’Rourke, the narrator of Joshua Ferris’s third novel, is a dentist who spends his days staring into the murky…
The Spanish Civil War hotel that Capa, Hemingway and Gelhorn called home
In February 1924 the Hotel Florida, a ten- storey marble-clad building with 200 rooms, a glass-roofed atrium and red plush…
Recipe for a modern baker: first, move to Hoxton
If I were the kind of person who invited people to come and have a bite to eat that very…
The breasts that launched Les Fleurs du Mal
This novel is based on the life of Charles Baudelaire and the relationship he enjoyed — or endured — with…
When Geoff Boycott was a DJ in a Sydney nightclub
Sport isn’t about putting a ball into a net or over a bar or into a hole. It’s about the…
Those weren't the days
If you wanted a brief epigraph for Linda Grant’s recent fiction, then five words from Dorothy Parker might well do…
Books and arts
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Hawkish Hillary
If you were contemplating running for President of the United States, a national book tour would be a handy pointer…
Ice Sculpture
If I begged you to, would you hitchhike to the ice-sculpture factory, where the drunken cow was just presented, and…
Ice Sculpture
If I begged you to, would you hitchhike to the ice-sculpture factory, where the drunken cow was just presented, and…
Out of his depth
There are individuals who, when fate hands them the opportunity for greatness, have risen to the challenge. Rob Oakeshott was…
A horse ride from Buenos Aires to New York? No problem!
Sam Leith marvels at a lone horseman’s 10,000-mile ride, braving bandits, quicksands, vampire bats and revolution in search of ‘variety’
The queen, the cardinal and the greatest con France ever saw
You usually know where you are with a book that promises the story ‘would violate the laws of plausibility’ if…
Not quite romantic fiction, or literary fiction, or commercial fiction – but still quite good
Elements of Raffaella Barker’s new novel, her eighth for adults, suggest commercial fiction: a narrative that oscillates between the aftermath…
Shorthand
Might you not have found him a little exhausting, though? If, for example, you were his mother, not given to…
The opéra bouffe that was the Bretton Woods conference
There ought to be a comic opera about the Bretton Woods conference — Thomas Adès’s Powder Her Face, about Margaret,…
A pork-pie and Capri-Sun fuelled hike around England’s moors
‘No, no’ I said, when The Spectator’s literary editor rang up, ‘I’m sure you must be able to find someone…
A Labour MP defends the Empire – and only quotes Lenin twice
In a grand history of the British empire — because that is what this book really is — you might…
A Pole’s view of the Czechs. Who cares? You will
When this extraordinary book was about to come out in French four years ago its author was told by his…
Books and arts
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Shorthand
Might you not have found him a little exhausting, though? If, for example, you were his mother, not given to…
