More from Books
London’s 598 railways stations have made the capital what it is
I began this book waiting for a diesel train to Derby, under the windy, boxy, flat-roofed bit which one of…
Too much sound and fury in Christopher Nolan’s movies
In 2006 the director Christopher Nolan filmed an adaptation of one of my novels, written a decade and a half…
Lambs to the slaughter: the fiasco of the Dieppe Raid, August 1942
In carefree days which now seem so distant we used occasionally to take the Newhaven-Dieppe ferry. Docking after a long…
Kicking up a stink: Dead Fingers Talk, by William S. Burroughs, reviewed
William Burroughs was introduced to a British readership in November 1963, and the welcome he received was ‘UGH…’ The headline…
Aunt Munca’s murky past
Kiss Myself Goodbye. It sounds a bit like a William Boyd novel. It looks likea William Boyd novel, too: the…
The gospel of separation according to Malcolm X
In late April 1962 Los Angeles police shot and killed an unarmed black man, Ronald X Stokes, during a disturbance…
Sarah Maslin Nir enjoys the rides of a lifetime
The appeal of a book called Horse Crazy risks being limited to those who are. Yet many moments in Sarah…
The scholars who solved the riddles in the sands
In 1835 the first two Egyptian antiquities were registered in the British Museum: a pair of red granite lions from…
Cyber apocalypse: The Silence, by Don DeLillo, reviewed
Elaborated over a writing career that spans half a century — a career crowned with every honour save the Nobel…
The power behind The Few: Rolls-Royce’s Merlin engine
Eighty years ago this summer Britain was facing its greatest moment of peril as Göring’s Luftwaffe attacked airfields, cities and…
Looking for love: Ghosts, by Dolly Alderton
Of all the successful modern female writers documenting their search for love, none has been as endearing as Dolly Alderton.…
We should never take our daily bread for granted
In the seventh and final chapter of this small but lingeringly powerful book, the author reveals his motivation for writing…
Ivan Morozov: the Russian businessman with a passion for the avant-garde
If you want to see the very best of Gauguin and Matisse, go east. That was the case in 1914…
A Jack Reacher travesty: The Sentinel, by Lee Child and Andrew Child, reviewed
So upsetting it would have been, for those of us who rate Lee Child’s Jack Reacher thrillers so highly, if…
Euthanasia sitcom: What Are You Going Through, by Sigrid Nunez, reviewed
What Are You Going Through is both brilliant and mercifully brief. Weighing in at 200-odd pages, it can be read…
Playing devil’s advocate: a Mexican historian defends the Conquistadors
Many books claim to describe junctures that changed the world but few examine ones as consequential as Conquistadores: A New…
Lacrimae rerum: That Old Country Music, by Kevin Barry, reviewed
Some of my happiest fiction-reading hours have been spent in the company of Kevin Barry: two short-story collections, both prize-winners,…
From cheeky mop tops to long-haired holy men: The Beatles come of age in America
In his latest book, the veteran pop commentator David Hepworth is concerned with satisfaction, its acquisition and maintenance. On record,…
A passion for pastiche: China’s Potemkin villages
Closely inspect No. 23 Leinster Terrace, Bayswater and you might notice the house has no letter box. Push at the…
Diplomatic daughters go behind the scenes at Yalta
From Downing Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, history’s powerful inter-family influencers, whether spouses or children, have long operated behind weighty political…
Victoria Wood: stiletto in an oven glove
Even if you didn’t have an Auntie Dot in Cockermouth (the one who ate a raffia drinks coaster, mistaking it…
How the International Brigades were ‘thrown into the heart of the fire’
During the Spanish civil war of 1936 to 1939, 35,000 men and women from around the world volunteered to fight…
Older and grumpier: A Song for the Dark Times, by Ian Rankin, reviewed
By my reckoning, this is the 24th outing for John Rebus, Scotland’s best known retired police officer. One of the…
Dublin double act: Love, by Roddy Doyle, reviewed
Far be it from me to utter a word against the patron saint of Dublin pubs, Roddy Doyle. Granted he’s…
‘I wonder about his humanity’: Malcolm McDowell on Stanley Kubrick
Twenty-five years after making Spartacus, a parable of Roman decadence and rebellious slaves shot in California, Stanley Kubrick made Full…
