book reviews and features
Thomas Hardy: Fate, Exclusion and Tragedy, Sky Arts review – too much and not enough
Wednesday, 22 September 2021
Born in 1840, Thomas Hardy lived a life of in-betweens. Modern yet traditional, the son of a builder who went on to become a famous... Read more... |
Colson Whitehead: Harlem Shuffle review - period piece speaks to the present
Tuesday, 21 September 2021
More than once, reading Colson Whitehead’s latest novel Harlem Shuffle, the brilliant Josh and Benny Safdie movie Uncut Gems from 2019 came to mind, which was... Read more... |
Sebastian Faulks: Snow Country review - insects under a stone
Monday, 20 September 2021
Historical fiction – perhaps all fiction – presents its authors with the problem of how to convey contextual information that is external to the plot but necessary to the reader’s understanding of... Read more... |
Claire-Louise Bennett: Checkout 19 review - coming to life
Monday, 06 September 2021
Like any good writer, Claire-Louise Bennett loves lists. Lists are, after all, those moments when words, freed from grammar’s grip, can simply be themselves – do their own thing, show off,... Read more... |
Christopher Clark: Prisoners of Time review - from Kaiser Bill to Dominic Cummings
Friday, 13 August 2021
Historians seldom make the news themselves. However, Christopher Clark – the Australian-born Regius Professor of History at Cambridge University – hogged headlines and filled op-ed pages in... Read more... |
Thora Hjörleifsdóttir: Magma review - love burns in debut novel from Iceland
Tuesday, 03 August 2021
Thora Hjörleifsdóttir’s Magma is certainly not an easy read. It describes, in short chapters... Read more... |
10 Questions for novelist Mieko Kawakami
Tuesday, 27 July 2021
Mieko Kawakami sits firmly amongst the Japanese literati for her sharp and pensive depictions of life in... Read more... |
Samantha Walton: Everybody Needs Beauty review - the well of the world
Tuesday, 20 July 2021
In the opening poem of Samantha Walton's 2018 collection, Self Heal, the speaker is on the tube, that evergreen metaphor of capital's specific barrelling momentum. The tube "will... Read more... |
Test Signal: Northern Anthology of New Writing review – core writing from England's regions
Friday, 16 July 2021
“On the Ordinance Survey map, it has no name”, writes Andrew Michael Hurley, of the wood that nevertheless gives its name to his essay. “Clavicle Wood” provides the first chapter in the ... Read more... |
Adam Mars-Jones: Batlava Lake review - pride and prejudice in the Kosovo War
Friday, 16 July 2021
For a slim book of some 100 pages, Batlava Lake by Adam Mars-Jones is deceptively meandering. The novella is narrated by Barry Ashton, an engineer attached to the British Army troops... Read more... |
Pages
latest in today
Album: Hiss Golden Messenger - O Come All Ye Faithful
Irrespective of its seasonal nature, the thread running throughout O Come All Ye Faithful is a mood of contemplation which could colour...
Madness and Squeeze, Brighton Centre review - enjoyable annu...
Madness frontman Suggs is asking the capacity crowd at the Brighton Centre if any of them are in school-age education. Quite a few are. There are...
Landscapers, Sky Atlantic review - Olivia Colman and David T...
In 2014, Susan and Christopher Edwards were jailed for a minimum of 25 years for the...
Album: Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Barn
Neil Young’s ornery spontaneity has resulted in a remarkable number of mediocre songs. His sketchy 21st century has conjured audacious...
You Don't Know Me, BBC One review - true love meets inn...
I sympathised with the prosecuting barrister when she put it to the...
Semenchuk, Skigin, Wigmore Hall review - compelling Tchaikov...
This winter's evening spent at Wigmore Hall, completely immersed in performances of songs by Tchaikovsky, was a delight.
Mezzo-soprano...
Shagged. Married. Annoyed. Live, O2 Arena review - popular p...
The lengthy ovation Chris and Rosie Ramsey received when they walked on stage at the...
Album: Various Artists - A Damaged Christmas Gift For You
Christmas albums can traditionally be slippery beasts with a whole host of quality control issues. This is not unlike the compilation albums that...
MacMillan Christmas Oratorio, LPO, Elder, RFH review – a new...
The shadow of the cross falls over James MacMillan’s manger. You may come for his work’s consoling, even transporting, beauty and mystery. It’s...
Measure for Measure, Sam Wanamaker Theatre review - this pro...
Measure for Measure may be the quintessential Shakespeare “problem” play, but just what has earned it that epithet remains a puzzle. Each...