Narrative feature
A choice of humorous books
Nancy Mitford would not call them ‘toilet books’, that’s for certain. Loo books? Lavatory books? One or two people I…
A salute to Georges Simenon
The full series of the Maigret novels, together with some of the romans durs, are being republished by Penguin Classics at a rate of one per month. Patrick Marnham salutes a magnificent long-term project.
And one more for the road – excerpts from Roddy Doyle’s latest
From Two More Pints by Roddy Doyle (Cape, £7.99, pp. 114, ISBN 9780224101899).
And one more for the road
9-12-12— See the spacer died. —Wha’ spacer? —The Sky at Night fella. —Bobby Moore. —Patrick Moore. —That’s him, yeah. Did…
Homage to Simenon
One hundred years ago an 11-year-old boy called Georges Simenon was getting accustomed to the presence of the German army…
And one more for the road
9-12-12— See the spacer died. —Wha’ spacer? —The Sky at Night fella. —Bobby Moore. —Patrick Moore. —That’s him, yeah. Did…
Homage to Simenon
One hundred years ago an 11-year-old boy called Georges Simenon was getting accustomed to the presence of the German army…
Ian Fleming: cruel? Selfish? Misogynistic? Nonsense, says his step-daughter
Between the brothers Peter and Ian Fleming, Fionn Morgan wonders who was the better writer and who the better man
The colonel and the commander
7 August 1964 4 Old Mitre Court, EC4 Darling Fifi, A thousand thanks for your sweet letter & for Heaven’s…
The colonel and the commander
7 August 1964 4 Old Mitre Court, EC4 Darling Fifi, A thousand thanks for your sweet letter & for Heaven’s…
The gentle intoxications of Laurie Lee
On Laurie Lee’s centenary, Jeremy Treglown wonders how the writer’s legacy stands up
Extreme poetic licence
He was always lucky, and he knew it: lucky in the secure rural intimacy of the upbringing described in Cider…
Extreme poetic licence
He was always lucky, and he knew it: lucky in the secure rural intimacy of the upbringing described in Cider…
The derring-do that created Flashman
Christopher Maclehose recalls his dealings with the author of the Flashman novels, George Macdonald Fraser
The road to bestsellerdom
I met George Macdonald Fraser when he was the features editor of the Glasgow Herald. He was a very good…
The road to bestsellerdom
I met George Macdonald Fraser when he was the features editor of the Glasgow Herald. He was a very good…
Dylan Thomas: boozer, womaniser, sponger, charlatan — or master craftsman?
In Dylan Thomas’s centenary year, Hilly Janes recalls her father’s friendship with the poet and his visits to the Boat House at Laugharne
Portrait of the artist
Who the hell was Dylan Thomas? Boozer, womaniser, sponger, charlatan — or master craftsman, besotted husband, generosity personified and one…
Portrait of the artist
Who the hell was Dylan Thomas? Boozer, womaniser, sponger, charlatan — or master craftsman, besotted husband, generosity personified and one…
A cult of inspired amateurishness that seized the 60s
Hugo Williams describes his early association with The Exploding Galaxy — a group of innovative artists, musicians, poets and dancers that burst on the London scene in the late 1960s
Tripping through psychedelia
The Exploding Galaxy flashed brightly in the black-and-white world that was just coming to an end as I was growing…
Tripping through psychedelia
The Exploding Galaxy flashed brightly in the black-and-white world that was just coming to an end as I was growing…
Recent crime fiction
Louise Welsh rarely repeats herself, a quality to celebrate in a crime novelist. Her latest novel, A Lovely Way to…
Recent crime fiction
Louise Welsh rarely repeats herself, a quality to celebrate in a crime novelist. Her latest novel, A Lovely Way to…
Recent crime fiction
Louise Welsh rarely repeats herself, a quality to celebrate in a crime novelist. Her latest novel, A Lovely Way to…
