Books

Letters: Why we need libraries

12 July 2025 9:00 am

NHS origins Sir: Your leading article ‘Wes or bust’ (5 July) credited Labour with founding the NHS. In fact, the…

Public libraries deserve to shut – they’ve forgotten why they exist

5 July 2025 9:00 am

The usual piece about public libraries runs like this. Public libraries are for ‘more than just books’. They are in…

Why I burnt the Quran

7 June 2025 9:00 am

My name is Hamit Coskun and I’ve just been convicted of a religiously aggravated public order offence. My ‘crime’? Burning…

Spare us from ‘experimental’ novels

7 June 2025 9:00 am

Some sorts of books and dramas have very strict rules. We like a lot of things to be absolutely predictable.…

The short history of short histories

24 May 2025 9:00 am

My friend Ruby recently started a TikTok channel called ‘Too Long Didn’t Read’. With boundless enthusiasm and a colourful wardrobe,…

The odd couple: Austen and Turner at 250

17 May 2025 9:00 am

History is full of odd couples: famous but unrelated people who happen to have been born in the same year.…

The benign republic of Julian Barnes

26 April 2025 9:00 am

The novelist presents his utopia – of unilateral disarmament and the public ownership of transport – in the tone of a thoughtful vicar giving an anodyne sermon somewhere in the Home Counties

Bring back gory book covers!

12 April 2025 9:00 am

Looking for a light, breezy read? If you happened to be browsing the bestseller bookshelves this summer your eye might…

Wonderfully intimate: The Drawings of Victor Hugo, at the RA, reviewed

5 April 2025 9:00 am

You feel so close to Victor Hugo in this exhibition. It’s as if you are at his elbow while he…

I just don’t get P.G. Wodehouse

22 March 2025 9:00 am

I have a confession to make, which may upset many readers. Having only a passing acquaintance with his books, I’ve…

Don’t write off literary fiction yet

22 March 2025 9:00 am

I don’t intend to start a feud. Most of Sean Thomas’s essay on The Spectator’s website last week, titled ‘Good…

The comfort of curling up with a violent thriller

15 March 2025 9:00 am

When post-natal depression descends, Lucy Mangan describes reaching for Lee Child, finding catharsis in his no-nonsense villain-bashing

Are these performances of the Bach cantatas the best on record?

15 February 2025 9:00 am

Three projects shedding light on the sacred music of J.S. Bach are nearing completion. The first consists of an epic…

Is the tide turning on restitution?

18 January 2025 9:00 am

When passions are aroused, all of us are liable to overstate our case. Dan Hicks, a curator at Oxford’s extraordinary…

What makes a good title?

11 January 2025 9:00 am

Liszt’s compositions tend to have descriptive titles – ‘Wild Chase’; ‘Dreams of Love’ – whereas Chopin avoided titles. Thomas Wentworth…

How my father’s bedtime stories shaped my life

14 December 2024 9:00 am

It’s half an hour before lights out when my dad arrives at my bedroom door holding Roald Dahl’s Danny the…

Advent is the season for revelling in fine wine

7 December 2024 9:00 am

Crime. Fear not: none of us was planning to break the law, with the possible exception of hate speech. Where…

My picks for Cheltenham and the Twelve

30 November 2024 9:00 am

With farmers outraged, the nation’s biggest employers warning the Budget will bring increased prices and lost jobs and growth out…

What will become of George Orwell’s archives?

31 August 2024 9:00 am

The news that a vast cache of material by and concerning George Orwell is about to be cast to the…

Why children have stopped reading

10 August 2024 9:00 am

It’s only when you read the old stories again, to a child maybe, that you become aware of the extent…

Who is your favourite character in children’s literature?

10 August 2024 9:00 am

Rod Liddle Rabbits, always rabbits. I remember at age 13 forcing my poor parents to trudge despondently across hilly downland…

The rise of the competitive book list

10 August 2024 9:00 am

I’m a hopeless technophobe. I dislike the stylish laptop I’m using and its subdued pad pad pad. I still long…

Rushdie on how the best magical realism transcends fantasy

22 June 2024 9:00 am

Ask the man in the street to quote a line from one of Salman Rushdie’s novels, and he might struggle.…