Books
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
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Title stories: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
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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…
Grimmer — and no better
Child murder, domestic slavery, abusive families, cannibalism and intergenerational hatred — what could be better for the festive fireside than…
Travels in Nowhere Land
Transnistria is not an area well-served by travel literature or, really, literature of any kind. The insubstantial-seeming post-Soviet sandwich-filling between…
Books and arts
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Under the bed
The bogeyman of the ASIO agent under the bed has long been an obsession of the Left, and judging from…
Spot the Booker Prize winning books
The post Spot the Booker Prize winning books appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join the discussion…
Juliet Townsend (1941-2014)
A new literary editor looks among his acquaintance for potential reviewers. There was no one I approached more confidently in…
Sunset Hails a Rising
O lente, lente currite noctis equi!— Marlowe, after Ovid. La mer, la mer, toujours recommencée.—Valéry. Dying by inches, I…
In the Emergency School
We were registered as a form, and for the first day Left unsupervised alone in a distant room With empty…
Title stories: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
The post Title stories: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join…
Spot the Booker Prize winning books
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Juliet Townsend (1941-2014)
A new literary editor looks among his acquaintance for potential reviewers. There was no one I approached more confidently in…
