Mark Twain
The slave’s story: James, by Percival Everett, reviewed
A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the voice of Huck’s companion the runaway slave changes the nature of the pair’s relationship – not always for the better
The pleasures – and perils – of getting on your bike
Jody Rosen lives and cycles in Brooklyn, which makes him what the Mexican essayist Julio Torri calls ‘a suicide apprentice’.…
Madcap escapades: The All True Adventures (and Rare Education) of the Daredevil Daniel Bones, by Owen Booth, reviewed
The narrative of an adolescent travelling by water with an older companion, undergoing trials and ordeals, encountering scoundrels and villains,…
The most dangerous thing about the Amazon fires is the apocalyptic rhetoric
Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese expert on forests who also plays football, so when he shared a picture online of…
Mark Twain was right: it is our redeeming petty vices that make life worth living
Here I go again. I have stopped smoking. Until recently I had been smoking about 40 cigarettes a day, but…
The smoking diary of Gregor Hens
The link between smoking and self-expression is long-established. The only thing worse than not being able to smoke, says Will…
Things to do: read this book
It would be perverse not to succumb to the temptation to write this review as a list. So, the first…
Bare and authentic or full and fake? The dilemma of preserving writers' houses
Every year, tens of thousands of visitors flock to the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut, in order to see…
