Books
A supernatural western: Tom’s Crossing, by Mark Z. Danielowski, reviewed
We know from the outset that things will end very darkly indeed in this epic novel set in Utah during the run-up to Halloween, 1982
The fertile chaos of Albert Camus’s mind
A comprehensive new edition of the writer’s notebooks allows us to take a deep dive into his theories about absurdity, tragedy, nobility and death and his schemes for future stories
The strange afterlife of This is Spinal Tap
The creators of the mother of all mockumentaries share anecdotes about the film’s origins, how it was made, why it matters and the way fiction transformed into fact
A prolonged love affair: The Two Roberts, by Damian Barr, reviewed
A tender, evocative novel portrays the lives of the once celebrated painters Colquhoun and MacBride, from their first meeting in Glasgow to their fractious later years
Glamour and intrigue: The Silver Book, by Olivia Laing, reviewed
A rigorously researched novel mingles fact and fiction in retelling the events that led up to the murder of the film director Pier Paolo Pasolini on 2 November 1975
The history of modern Ireland, seen through the lives of its leaders
Reading the biographies of its 16 taoisigh, we can trace Ireland’s astonishing progress from poverty-stricken backwater to thriving liberal democracy
The surreal drama of Helsinki’s history
Henrik Meinander tells the story of a city ravaged by plague, fire, war and occupation being constantly rebuilt and resettled over five centuries
The diminutive dictator who ruled Spain with an iron fist
Fifty years after Franco’s death, Giles Tremlett assesses the generalisimo’s bloodstained legacy
Margaret Atwood settles old scores
Being a Scorpio, the 85-year-old novelist explains, she ‘holds grudges’ – but the many past grievances she recalls in detail make for dispiriting reading
Carlo Scarpa’s artful management of light and space
The startling interventions and adaptations of a great 20th-century Venetian architect and designer are examined in detail by Federica Goffi
AI, a near miss, and a pleasing history
My pick of the books of 2025
Songs of murder, rape and desertion
Amy Jeffs rediscovers the disturbing beauty of traditional ballads
The evasions of smalltown Alabama: The Land of Sweet Forever, by Harper Lee, reviewed
Apprentice stories contain much of the raw material for To Kill a Mockingbird, as Lee tries to reconcile love for home with disgust at its prejudices
Rory Stewart’s romantic view of Cumbria is wide of the mark
The former MP for Penrith and the Border prefers to ignore the depleted uplands and poisoned lakes as he rhapsodises about the landscape’s ‘improbable beauty’
Peril in Prague: The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown, reviewed
Robert Langdon is pursued by dark forces through labyrinthine alleys as he searches for his abducted girlfriend, who is about to crack the secret of human consciousness
Cosy crime for Christmas: a choice of thrillers
Recent titles reviewed are: The Christmas Clue, by Nicola Upson; Benbecula, by Graeme Macrae Burnet; and Blood Rival, by Jake Arnott
The little imps who pretended to be poltergeists
While investigating paranormal activity in postwar Britain, Tony Cornell found mischievous, attention-seeking children to be responsible for some of the more sensational ‘disturbances’
The cartographer’s power to decide the fate of millions
Late one August night in a Pentagon office in 1945, a line scrawled in pencil on a map of the Korean peninsula led to the creation of two countries that are still at war today
The ups and downs of high-rise living
In Britain’s postwar tower blocks, modern amenities and breathtaking views left some residents ecstatic, while others risked disaster at the likes of Canning Town’s Ronan Point
Spot the play title
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How London became the best place in the world to eat out
Atmosphere can be as important as food – and no one knows this better than the capital’s visionary restaurateur Jeremy King, who raises front-of-house to an art form
Football vs opera, and the terror of being considered highbrow
Opera was hugely popular in Victorian Britain, but subsidies have doomed it to charges of ‘foreign elitism’ – as opposed to a ‘national passion, like football’
‘This sweet, delightful book’: The Natural History of Selborne revisited
Quiet days in his garden listening to birdsong and counting his cucumbers gave Gilbert White enough material for one of the most enduring classics of all time
The extraordinary courage of Germany’s wartime ‘traitors’
With Nazi informers everywhere, any dissident risked betrayal – and the prospect of being hanged ‘like slaughtered cattle’ for ‘defeatism’
The young Anton Chekhov searches for his voice
In Chekhov’s first stories, rooted in the provincial Russia of the early 1880s, we see various plots and characters take shape that will emerge fully formed in later works
