Three for the road
One of the great challenges in life, writes Richard Ford in Between Them, ‘is to know our parents fully —…
In the gutter, insulting the stars
John McEntee — ‘the Chancer from Cavan’, as he bills himself — has enjoyed a long career as a gossip…
The Wiggins streak
As the first British winner of the Tour de France and a gold medalist at London 2012, Bradley Wiggins is…
Bookends: One for the road
Jay McInerney is best known for his first novel, Bright Lights, Big City (1984), which winningly combined sophistication and naivety.…
Bookends: … and the inner tube
In the early 1990s, when Boris Johnson was making his name as the Daily Telegraph’s Brussels correspondent, Sonia Purnell was…
Bookends: Disarming but disingenuous
At first glance, Be the Worst You Can Be (Booth-Clibborn Editions, £9.99) by Charles Saatchi (pictured above with his wife,…
Bookends: An unreal world
Even by Hollywood standards, Carrie Fisher is pretty crazy. She was born a Hollywood princess, and remembers her parents —…
Bookends: No joke being a comedian
Failure is the very stuff of comedy, but not of showbiz memoirs, so Small Man in a Book (Michael Joseph,…
Bookends: About a boy
The Go-Between was L.P. Hartley’s best novel, Joseph Losey’s best film, and probably Harold Pinter’s best screenplay. In the novel,…
Bookends: Scourge of New Labour
Like all politicians, Bob Marshall-Andrews is fond of quoting himself, and Off Message (Profile Books, £16.99) includes a generous selection…
Bookends: Venice improper
Books about Venice are almost as numerous as gondolas on the Grand Canal, but Robin Saikia is the first to…
