Books
The new Sense and Sensibility is not a patch on the old one
Georgia Oakley’s Sense and Sensibility, which advertises itself as ‘a fresh take for a fresh generation’, has its work cut…
When will the art world acknowledge this master?
Watercolours can be fatal for your standing in the art world. ‘As soon as you say you paint in watercolour,’…
‘I think the best revenge is indifference’: Salman Rushdie interviewed
‘I probably got a one or two seconds look at him before he delivered the first blow,’ recalls Sir Salman…
Late Fame is exquisite
Late Fame stars Willem Dafoe as a postal worker whose single book of poetry – published nearly 50 years earlier…
The truth about modelling for a great artist
Artists’ models seldom get a chance to tell their side of the story. Yet one model, Anthony Rudolf, believes they…
The man who – inadvertently – invented the 1970s
Style, self-evidently among those who pursue an interest in such affairs, is, according to the Comte de Buffon, the man…
We have a true book-loving Queen – and she is a marvel
Shepherd Market, W1, has many ghosts, some of whom are literary. In the shadow of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s former digs…
How the office has come to haunt us
Should we hop on a call? Let’s touch base. Let’s take this offline. Let’s circle back to your last slide…
Why is a chatbot deciding what books our children read?
A school in Greater Manchester has stripped 193 books from its library because they are ‘inappropriate’, liable to upset pupils…
Who doesn’t want a better life?
Every couple of years a columnist-cum-novelist will inevitably stoop to shameless self-promotion. In my defence, at least the novel released…
The demise of London’s junk shops
‘The place through which he made his way at leisure was one of those receptacles for old and curious things…
The alt-right are clueless about neoclassicism
The adherents of the American alt-right are not known for their delicate aesthetic sensibilities, but there is an exception. They…
In praise of French brothels
In the days of the Belle Époque and Jazz Age, a trip to Paris would have included, for the discerning…
The cruelty of H is for Hawk
The cruelty of H is for Hawk
The joyless reading app being forced on my son
It was only recently that I fully appreciated how the books I read as a child formed me. A pregnant…
The independent bookshops that aren’t what they seem
Independent bookshops remain some of Britain’s loveliest places. Quaint, charming, precarious, they are a bulwark against blandness and offer refuge…
The march of lazy children’s books
There’s a myth that lots of us fall for/ ‘Kids’ books are so easy to write’/ And you can see…
How the Queen is spreading the joy of reading
Queen Camilla loves a book. Almost any book will do. ‘There’s something so tactile about a book,’ she says. ‘I…
Do we really need a ‘new spin’ on Jane Austen?
If you like your period dramas butchered, then you are in for a real treat. The 250th anniversary of Jane…
Ireland is looking for its own Nigel Farage
A few years ago, I watched an Irish-made drama on Netflix called Rebellion. Given that it was about the 1916…
The day ‘Hitler’ was captured in Tottenham
Given the way the world is right now, I am avoiding it in the main. For the sake of my…
A remarkable insight into Le Carré’s working methods
When Richard Ovenden of the Bodleian Library wrote to John le Carré asking if the writer would leave it his…
Jilly Cooper was utterly unrivalled
Jilly Cooper, the last great Englishwoman of my lifetime – after Queen Elizabeth II and Debo – has died. The…
The rise of performative reading
‘To be or not to be’ may be the question but when it comes to eliciting answers, I’ve always preferred…
Bring back the book launch!
It’s that time of year when the local librairie-papeterie in your French holiday village is full of signs for la…
