book reviews and features

Jonathan Calvert and George Arbuthnott: Failures of State review - a devastating exposé, slightly mistimed

Sarah Collins Wednesday, 14 April 2021

Almost a year ago, in the midst of the first national lockdown, The Sunday Times broke the news that Boris Johnson had failed to attend five consecutive Cobra meetings in the lead up to...

Polly Barton: Fifty Sounds review - what is lost in translation

India Lewis Tuesday, 13 April 2021

Fifty Sounds is translator Polly Barton’s first novel, conceived as part of Fitzcarraldo’s annual...

Andrea Bajani: If You Kept a Record of Sins review - where blame, grief and discovery meet

Jessica Payn Wednesday, 07 April 2021

“I think it happened to you, too, the first time you arrived.” So begins Andrea Bajani’s second novel (...

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Will Page: Tarzan Economics - a 'rockonomist' writes

Sebastian Scotney Wednesday, 31 March 2021

The idea behind Tarzan Economics is, in its essence, that “if the vine we are holding onto is withering, we can have confidence to reach out for a new one.” This thesis expounded in Will...

Extract: TV by Susan Bordo

theartsdesk Tuesday, 30 March 2021

"Television and I grew up together." As a baby boomer born in 1947, Susan Bordo is roughly the same age as our beloved gogglebox, which began life as a broad box with a ten-inch screen, chunky and...

theartsdesk Q&A: Author Sam Mills on the phenomenon of the 'chauvo-feminist'

CP Hunter Monday, 29 March 2021

Sam Mills’s writing includes the wondrously weird novel The Quiddity of Will Self, the semi-memoir Fragments of My Father, and Chauvo-Feminism (The Indigo Press), which...

Charles Saumarez Smith: The Art Museum In Modern Times review – the story of modern architecture

Daniel Baksi Thursday, 25 March 2021

“This book is a journey of historical discovery, set out sequentially in order to convey a sense of what has changed over time.” Add to this sentence, the title of the work from which it is taken...

Craig Taylor: New Yorkers - A City and Its People in Our Time review

Liz Thomson Monday, 22 March 2021

For the last couple of years, until we were so rudely interrupted, I’d been spending chunks of the year in New York, a city I’ve come to know...

Prix Pictet: Confinement review - a year in photographs

Florence Hallett Thursday, 18 March 2021

Sustainability and the environment are watchwords for the Prix Pictet, the international...

Alan Warner: Kitchenly 434 review – dreams and delusions in the backwaters of fame

Boyd Tonkin Wednesday, 17 March 2021

“They think it’s all drugs and sex up here, Mrs H.” “Bless me.” The reality, at Kitchenly Mill Race, runs more to a nice pot of Tetley’s and a plate of Gypsy Creams. But “people are funny around...