New Zealand
My visit began with a ‘rather strong’ earthquake. But there’s no question the long flight was worth it
Fighting for progress
In The Age of Genius, he awards the 17th and 21st centuries top marks for intellectual progress. But will terrorism relegate our present to also-played?
Wonderful waffle
Like the rest of My Struggle, this fifth volume, with its loving descriptions of everyday life, will be sheer magic to aficionados
A choice of first novels
Merritt Tierce, Sunil Yapa, Ali Eskandarian, Austin Duffy and Paraic O’Donnell take us from the hippy streets of Seattle to the squalid lofts of Brooklyn
Wild man of the woods
Nina Lyon traces his legend from the Roman god Sylvanus, through the Arthurian Green Knight to summer sex-fests and sweetcorn’s Green Giant
Foreign body count
This Census-Taker, Miéville’s new apocalyptic novel, is (apparently) incomplete, definitely downbeat and signifies — who knows?
The ultimate nightmare
In an agonised memoir, Sue Klebold wonders what possible warning signs there were to suggest that her seemingly ordinary son would become a mass murderer
A leap in the dark
Part crime-thriller, part doomed love story, Jordan’s The Drowned Detective is an enthralling novel — which would also make a very good film
Rich and fruity
Eliot’s extensive American tour in 1932–33 came close to being sabotaged when his wife locked up his lecture notes on the eve of his departure
Fifty shades of blue
In this remarkable combination of memoir and art criticism, Laing finds relief from crippling loneliness among the artists of New York’s East Village
Finders keepers
Tiffany Jenkins’s arguments against the return of artefacts to their country of origin inevitably draw strength from the continuing crisis in the Middle East
A topsy-turvy world
The stories in Mr Kafka and Other Tales, reissued after 50 years, are as fresh, funny and incisive as they were when first published
Away with the fairies
Bart Casey brilliantly resurrects this adventurer, diplomat, mystic and spy who impressed Queen Victoria with his ability to commune with fairies
An innocent abroad
Murder, romance and the pursuit of the untranslatable make for a curious but satisfying comedy thriller
About a boy
Ysenda Maxtone Graham fears for the doting mother of Elizabeth Hay’s new family drama if ever her son decides to leave home
A devilish instrument of war
Having invented gunpowder in the ninth century, China might easily have advanced through Europe. But its reluctance to wage war left it sidelined for centuries, according to Tonio Andrade
God’s messenger
Damian Thomson talks to the Japanese conductor – and strict Calvinist – about the religious underpinnings of his celebrated Bach recordings
Paranormal activity
Hilma af Klint may have been the first to abstraction, but was she any good at it? Plus: Barry Flanagan at Waddington Custot Galleries and Eduardo Chillida at Ordovas
Round-up of new opera
But the collision of disciplines is at its wildest when you leave the opera house completely and venture into the world of music collectives like ARCO and art galleries like DRAF
Pride and prejudice
Plus: Hand to God is an aggressive and puerile attack on Christian evangelism – and an ideal present for youngsters
The human factor
It’s hard to know what this Charlie Kaufman stop-motion film is really about but it’ll get right under your skin
Girl power
For last year’s International Women’s Day, Radio 3 played 24 hours of music by female composers - and it was a revelation
