Books
Not just a pretty dress
Every fashion era has its monster and in ours it’s Karl Lagerfeld, a man who has so emptied himself on…
The hero of Burma
Given the outcome of recent military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is pertinent to look for one particular quality…
Taking the rap
Since his suicide, David Foster Wallace has made the transition from major writer to major industry. Hence this UK issue…
It’s never too late
In 1998, the Jamaican singer Bounty Killer released a single, ‘Can’t Believe Mi Eyes’, which expressed incredulity that men should…
Helpful hints for Holloway
For some reason you don’t expect people to be fans of the Mitford sisters, as others are fans of Doctor…
Books and Arts
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Helpful hints for Holloway
For some reason you don’t expect people to be fans of the Mitford sisters, as others are fans of Doctor…
Helpful hints for Holloway
For some reason you don’t expect people to be fans of the Mitford sisters, as others are fans of Doctor…
Madness and mayhem
The inbred Habsburg monarchs, who for centuries ruled without method over a vast, ramshackle empire, managed to leave an indelible mark on modern Europe, says Sam Leith
No Hungarian rhapsody
Novels about growing up have two great themes: loss of innocence and the forging of identity. With this sparky, sharp-eyed…
The traffic in falsehood
The term ‘419’ is drawn from the article in the Nigerian penal code that addresses fraud. However, it has transcended…
National hero
Philip Ziegler is best known for his biographies, often official, of politicians, royalty and soldiers. They include Harold Wilson, Edward…
Overnight trillionaires
In Germany in 1923 money was losing its value so fast that the state printing works could not keep up.…
Of ants and men
His publishers describe this ‘ground-breaking book on evolution’ by ‘the most celebrated living heir to Darwin’ as ‘the summa work…
Indecent exposure
This biography has somewhat more news value than most literary biographies. Its subject worked hard to ensure that. After 1965,…
The last hurrah
Sound the trumpets. Let rip the Byzantine chorus of clattering bells and gongs, the thunder of cannons, drums and flashing…
Books and Arts
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Books and Arts
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Writ in stone
James McConnachie finds that theology and geology have been unlikely bedfellows for centuries
At cross purposes
Justin Cartwright is famously a fan of John Updike — and here he seems to owe a definite debt to…
From brilliance to burn-out
Thick, sentimental and with a narrative bestriding four decades, Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings feels above all like a Victorian novel,…
Here comes everybody
This is an unusual book: a Spanish historian writes the life of an English historian of Spain. In doing so,…
Escapism for the gullible
The two opening volumes of Margaret Atwood’s trilogy have sold over a million copies. One of them managed to be…
Heaven
Perhaps Heaven is like being foreign abroad where even the groceries appear exotic. All is before you exactly as it…
The Pepys de nos jours
Frederic Raphael is forensic in his description of the failures of successful people. He is enviously superior and he is…
