Books
Small mercies: Dead-End Memories, by Banana Yoshimoto, reviewed
Rape, poisoning, child abuse and betrayal feature in Yoshimoto’s dramatic stories – but gratitude and forgiveness run alongside sadness, stitched in the same cloth
The new alliances dedicated to destroying democracy
Despite their diverse ideologies, autocracies in China, Iran, Russia and Latin America are increasingly collaborating to sabotage a rules-based international order
Doomed to immortality: The Book of Elsewhere, by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville, reviewed
For the past 80,000 years, our protagonist has been fated to respawn himself. With a similar being now tracking him, he longs for the option of non-existence
Mother of mysteries: Rosarita, by Anita Desai, reviewed
On a break in Mexico, a young Indian woman is regaled with stories of her mother’s past by a total stranger. But is it all a con?
The power of the brown American diva
Deborah Paredez celebrates ‘bold, beautiful, messy’ stars such as Tina Turner, Celia Cruz, Vikki Carr, Grace Jones and Aretha Franklin as fabulous role models for the oppressed
‘I am haunted by waters’: Norman Maclean and his lyrical ‘little blue book’
The author of A River Runs Through It emerges as wiry, sardonic, compassionate and inspirational from Rebecca McCarthy’s trenchant memoir
Born in the USA: how Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 album bridged the American political divide
Steven Hyden traces the impact of the title song, whose coruscating verses and affirmatory choruses cut both ways, and made its creator for a time the world’s greatest rock star
No laughing matter: The Material, by Camille Bordas, reviewed
A graduate course at the University of Chicago teaches stand-up to a group of aspiring young comedians. But the more you analyse humour, the less funny it becomes
The futility of ever hoping to give peace a chance
After 400 generations of martial conflict on Earth, mankind now faces the prospect of wars in space, as China and America vie for mastery of the heavens
Tall tales of the Golden East: the fabulous fabrications of two 20th-century con artists
Capitalising on his Afghan-Indian heritage, Ikbal Shah claimed to have crucial inside knowledge of Central Asia, while his son Idries later purveyed a rebranded Sufism for the West
Making the fur fly: Mary and the Rabbit Dream, by Noémi Kiss-Deáki
When a poor peasant named Mary Toft claimed to have given birth to 17 rabbits, many in Georgian Britain believed her, including senior members of the medical profession
The hunt for the next Messi: Godwin, by Joseph O’Neill, reviewed
A video file of an African teenager with legendary ball skills is circulating far from his homeland – wherever that is. How hard can it be to track him down?
Why Joni Mitchell sounded different from the start
Polio in childhood weakened her left hand, leaving her to devise alternative tuning, surprising phrasing and ‘chords of inquiry’ that hang like question marks in the air
A David and Goliath battle involving a billion-dollar pornography website
Laila Mickelwait appears to wage a one-woman crusade to shut down a major distributor of rape and child abuse videos
‘I’m a hypocrite and a total fraud’ – the confessions of a French Surrealist poet
My writing is mere bricolage … whatever I do, I only half do’, wails Michel Leiris in the final volume of his self-lacerating autobiography
In search of kindred spirits: An Absence of Cousins, by Lore Segal, reviewed
When Ilka Weisz, a young refugee from Vienna, accepts a teaching post in smalltown Connecticut, she struggles to make friends in the close-knit academic community
Margaret Tudor – queen, regent and hapless intermediary
Aged 13, Henry VII’s eldest daughter was dispatched to marry James IV of Scotland. But a precarious truce between the kingdoms soon ended with the Battle of Flodden
Repenting at leisure: Early Sobrieties, by Michael Deagler, reviewed
Back with his family in suburban Philadelphia after seven years of solid boozing, Dennis Monk tries to make amends for past misdemeanours. But will he succeed?
Another mistress for Victor Hugo: Célina, by Catherine Axelrad, reviewed
A young chambermaid joins the Hugo household in Guernsey and soon finds herself summoned at night to her master’s adjoining bedroom
The irrepressible musical gift of Huddie Ledbetter
Before his genius was widely recognised, the blues singer known as Lead Belly survived not only America’s most brutal prisons but cruel betrayal by his racist ‘manager’
An AI visionary looks forward to the best of all possible worlds
Technology unquestionably improves lives, says Ray Kurzwei, and soon we’ll be living to 150. As for 3D-printed guns invisible to scanners – there’ll be a solution to those too
Snobbery in the garden: U and non-U borders
When Richard Sudell began promoting pyracantha, hanging baskets and crazy paving in the 1920s, the backlash from the gardening elite was vicious and immediate
The rape of Ukraine continues while the world’s sympathies move on
Two detailed, on-the-ground accounts from Andrey Kurkov and Oleksandr Mykhed remind us of the atrocities that are changing life in Ukraine forever
Will the Olympics ever be politics-free?
Despite Baron Coubertin’s ideals, nationalistic friction at the Paris Games in 1924 had already prompted a Times headline: ‘Olympics doomed’
How cartomania captivated even Queen Victoria
The craze for photographic cartes de visite that swept Victorian Britain was further boosted by the Queen’s own enthusiasm for the format
