Books
Words to savour
Although entitled Infidelities this collection of short stories could as well be called Choices, because that is what really preoccupies…
Dead poets’ society
In December 1817 Benjamin Robert Haydon — vivid diarist and painter of huge but inferior canvases of historic events —…
A clown on crystal meth
For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, Mark Steyn is sort of a hairy, successful version of me—…
Three men, two men, one man and his dog…
In 1960 John Steinbeck set off with his poodle Charley to drive around the United States in a truck equipped…
Answers to ‘Spot the Booker Prize Winners’
by Simon Drew
Answers to ‘Spot the Booker Prize Winners’
1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002) 2. Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (1998) 3. The Sea, The Sea by…
Answers to ‘Spot the Booker Prize Winners’
1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002) 2. Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (1998) 3. The Sea, The Sea by…
Send in the clowns
Nell Gifford joins a colourful troupe of acrobats, contortionists, lion-tamers, freaks and funambulists
Pure Alice in Wonderland
Incredulity is rarely a word that crosses my mind when it comes to garden writing. This genre can, of course,…
Powerful pathos
The impersonator — Rory Bremner, Steve Coogan — speaks, in different voices, to a single primitive pleasure centre in his…
Older and wiser after the storm
The story of Frank Bascombe, a sports-writer turned estate agent but always a New Jersey homebody, has already taken Richard…
Bound and caged, but fighting-fit
It’s always interesting when people succeed in two different arenas — like Mike Nesmith’s mum, who gave the world both…
A hymn to ancient and modern
The Pevsner architectural guides are around halfway through their revisions — though it is like the Forth Bridge, and soon…
Wonders will never cease
The marvellous tales of the title are not just confined to the contents of this book, for the travels and…
Sunset Hails a Rising
O lente, lente currite noctis equi! — Marlowe, after Ovid. La mer, la mer, toujours recommencée. —Valéry. Dying…
In search of the Fatherland
As I grew up half German in England in the 1970s, my German heritage was confined to the few curios…
A heterodox understanding of Jesus
When James Carroll was a boy, lying on the floor watching television, he would glance up at his mother and…
Spot the Booker Prize winning books
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Title stories: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
All things bleak and beautiful
It is difficult to fault this remarkable volume. The publishers have created a book of quality with stunning illustrations and…
Daring a fleeting smile
In 1787 critics of the Paris Salon were scandalised by a painting exhibited by Mme Vigée Le Brun. The subject…
Brave, drunken, violent and law-abiding
Here is a stupendous achievement: a narrative history of England which is both thorough and arresting. Very few writers could…
Juliet Townsend (1941-2014)
Mark Amory remembers a close friend and trusted reviewer
Escape into Moomin world
Tove Jansson’s father was a sculptor specialising in war memorials to the heroes of the White Guard of the Finnish…
In the Emergency School
We were registered as a form, and for the first day Left unsupervised alone in a distant room With empty…
