Books
The rhythm of life
Sam Leith finds much to like in a companion to musical films, and concludes that they matter very much – to the author anyway
An insider’s view
When Margot Asquith’s name crops up these days, it is usually in a retelling of the story about her meeting…
Home truths
There were several times when reading A Dog’s Life that I felt as if I’d fallen into a time warp.…
Viva España
‘Every schoolboy knows who imprisoned Montezuma and who strangled Atahualpa.’ Macaulay, anticipating Gove, was complaining that the schoolboys by contrast…
For the love of Cornwall
Before writing this review I spent an hour looking for my original Pevsner paperback on Cornwall, published in 1951 (the…
Now you see it…
John Gerard, a Jesuit priest immured in the Tower of London in 1597, and tortured by being hung from manacles…
A bounder par excellence
In his time, Gerald Hamilton (1890–1970) was an almost legendary figure, but he is now remembered — if at all…
From Russia with love
Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya was a literary celebrity in pre-revolutionary St Petersburg. She chose the pen-name ‘Teffi’ because it was androgynous,…
Books and arts
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Unfair and unbalanced
The thesis of this book is that there is something wrong with politics in Australia. Bryant is right, but not…
Goodbye to all that
In the latest – and best – of the books on the end of the USSR, Victor Sebestyen finds that the only good thing about the Soviet empire was the manner of its passing
Home sweet home
‘Phlogiston’ is an interesting, if obsolete, word. Of Greek origin, it referred to the ‘fire-making’ quality thought to be present…
Extra-ordinary
A calculated ordinariness unites the protagonists in Graham Swift’s new collection of short stories. In each of these mini fictions,…
Don’t do as I do
Over the past 12 months, I’ve proposed to my girlfriend, moved house, got married, and become a father. The most…
How to rule the world
Genghis Khan, unlike most Mongols in history, is a household name, regularly misappropriated as a right-wing totem. If we recall…
My Grandmother Said
It was the First World War. Her husband was away. So she knew fear, but also found new freedom in…
Through her eyes only
Sybille Bedford all her life was a keen and courageous traveller. Restless, curious, intellectually alert, she was always ready to…
The way we live now
Once upon a time, a powerful unkillable beast menaced the nation. It had to be tamed. It could only be…
The king is dead – get over it
With Elvis has Left the Building, the longstanding editor of GQ has inexplicably written a book that could serve as…
I, spy
There can’t have been this many books about the first world war since — just after the first world war.…
Books and arts
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Labor partisan’s economic tale
The old saw about economics being a dismal science turns out, on the evidence of this short but interesting piece…
I, spy
There can’t have been this many books about the first world war since — just after the first world war.…
My Grandmother Said
It was the First World War. Her husband was away. So she knew fear, but also found new freedom in…
I, spy
There can’t have been this many books about the first world war since — just after the first world war.…
