book reviews and features
Robert Gordon: Memphis Rent Party review - a fast-moving Mississippi anthology
Sunday, 10 June 2018
“There’s a rhythm in the air around Memphis, there always has been,” Carl Perkins once said. "I don't know what it is, but it's magic." The city on the Mississippi lives up to its... Read more... |
Meg Wolitzer: The Female Persuasion review - the many faces of feminism
Sunday, 03 June 2018
Meg Wolitzer’s 10th novel has been hailed as a breakthrough, a feminist blockbuster, an embodiment of the zeitgeist. (Nicole Kidman has bought the film rights, which goes to show.) But... Read more... |
Frank Gardner: Ultimatum review - topical terrorism
Sunday, 03 June 2018
The journalist Frank Gardner has turned to fiction to illuminate with imagination the world that he knows inside out from years of reporting. His biographical trajectory, from scholar of the... Read more... |
Sophie Mackintosh: The Water Cure review - on the discipline of survival
Sunday, 27 May 2018
A body can be pushed to the brink, to the point where thoughts flatten to a line of light, and come back from death, but the heart is complex and the damage it wreaks barely controllable. For... Read more... |
The World Of Moominvalley, Brighton Festival review - a fascinating insight into the world of Tove Jansson
Monday, 21 May 2018
It was no matter that journalist Daniel Hahn dropped out ill at the 11th hour of this "audience with" event. Author Philip Ardagh's deep knowledge and unflappable demeanour comfortably carried the... Read more... |
William Trevor: Last Stories review - final intimations
Sunday, 20 May 2018
An Irishman who spent more than half a century in London and then Devon, and a prolific writer – nearly 20 novels... Read more... |
Clancy Sigal: The London Lover review - a merry prankster's very long weekend
Sunday, 20 May 2018
To readers of newspapers and magazines, the name Clancy Sigal will be very familiar, probably as a film reviewer. Addicted to... Read more... |
Mario Vargas Llosa: The Neighbourhood review - a surprisingly sketchy telenovela
Sunday, 13 May 2018
Mario Vargas Llosa has written a thriller which opens eye-poppingly. Two wives, one staying over with... Read more... |
Christie Watson: The Language of Kindness review - tender memoir, impassioned indignation
Sunday, 06 May 2018
Anecdotal story-telling wrapped up in hypnotic prose, Christie Watson’s narrative is a gentle, emotive five-part layered package of reflection and indignation. It is part... Read more... |
John Gray: Seven Types of Atheism review - to believe, or not to believe
Sunday, 29 April 2018
To suggest an absence is to imply a presence. Philosophers, novelists, dictators, politicians – as well as almost every “ism” you can think of – take the stage in this absorbing, precisely and... Read more... |
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Nadine Shah, SWG3, Glasgow review - loudly dancing the night...
First Nadine Shah raised hopes, then dashed them. “I’ve never had a dance off onstage before,” she observed at one point, impressed by the shapes...
Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider, Tate M...
In 1903, Wassily Kandinsky painted a figure in a blue cloak galloping across a landscape on a white horse. Several years later the name of the...
Blu-ray: The Dreamers
Isabelle (Eva Green) leans over, her long hair catches fire from a candle, and Matthew (Michael Pitt) devotedly snuffs it out. She doesn’t miss a...
Orbital, O2 Institute, Birmingham review - the techno titans...
On Friday evening, dance veterans Orbital touched down in Birmingham to celebrate two of the most significant and acclaimed albums in...
Fern Brady, Netflix Special review - sex, relationships and...
An appearance on Taskmaster and the publication of her acclaimed memoir Strong Female Character have helped propel Fern Brady...