book reviews and features
Neil MacGregor: Living with the Gods review - focuses of belief
Dip in, dip out, argue, agree and disagree: Living with the Gods is the newest manifestation of a rich multimedia format that keeps on giving, devised by that superb writer and lecturer,... Read more... |
Lavinia Greenlaw: In the City of Love’s Sleep review - curated lives![]()
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Olga Tokarczuk: Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead review - on vengeful nature![]()
In a small town on the Polish-Czech border where the mobile signal wanders between countries’ operators and only three inhabitants stick it out through the winter, animals are wreaking a terrible... Read more... |
Michael Hughes: Country review - epic troubles![]()
Michael Hughes’ second novel, superimposing the post-96 Troubles on the story of The Iliad, rides a wave of Homeric re-tellings, with Pat Barker and Colm Tóibín having recently... Read more... |
Yuval Noah Harari: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century review - a sceptic's optimism?![]()
The bestseller Sapiens (2011, first published in English in 2014) by the hitherto little-known Israeli academic Yuval Noah Harari has sold enormously well, and justly so: recommended by... Read more... |
P.E.Caquet: The Bell of Treason review - the sacrifice of Czechoslovakia![]()
It was 80 years ago next month that Neville Chamberlain returned with the good news of peace in our time... Read more... |
h 100 Awards: Publishing and Writing - other stories, other voices![]()
If history repeats itself, better hope that it corrects its mistakes as well. This year’s nominations for the... Read more... |
Roger Scruton: Music as an Art review - how to listen?![]()
Hegel, Kant, David Hume, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Leibniz are all adduced, referred to, and paraphrased, and that’s just for starters. Add Rameau, Schubert, Beethoven, Benjamin Britten and the... Read more... |
Annie Ernaux: The Years, review - time’s flow![]()
“When you were our age, how did you imagine your life? What did you hope for?” It is a video of a classroom south-east of the Périphérique separating Paris from the working-class suburbs. The... Read more... |
Rachel Heng: Suicide Club review - skin-deep dystopia![]()
When Lea is nervous she picks at the skin near the nail of her thumb. When she draws blood the wound repairs instantly because she is a member of the Second Wave endowed with SmartBlood™ and... Read more... |
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It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
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