book reviews and features
John le Carré: Agent Running in the Field review - fake news, Brexit and Cold war echoes
Sunday, 20 October 2019
That John le Carré! It turns out the agent isn’t so much running in the field as playing badminton. The master of the ... Read more... |
Hisham Matar: A Month in Siena review – memories, framed
Sunday, 20 October 2019
A Month in Siena is a sweet, short mediation on art, grief, and life. Ostensibly describing the time and... Read more... |
Thomas J Campanella: Brooklyn - The Once and Future City review - out of Manhattan's shadow
Sunday, 13 October 2019
For visitors to New York, it’s all about Manhattan, its 23 square miles of skyscraper-encrusted granite... Read more... |
Great Women Artists review - the book we have been waiting for
Sunday, 13 October 2019
Every now and then a book comes out that can change lives. If a survey like this had appeared when I was a student at the Slade, the struggle to make headway as a female artist would have seemed... Read more... |
Book extract: Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
Friday, 11 October 2019
She has more armed guards than she has luggage. She has a sense of purpose even Magsalin admires. She rides along the coast toward a historic place and, by simply stepping on its soil, she will... Read more... |
Book extract: Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
Wednesday, 09 October 2019
She had clutched the envelope given by the shy messenger, but she had never opened it. The Intended. True. The message from the director was for her. A joke between... Read more... |
Book extract: Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
Monday, 07 October 2019
At first, what puts Magsalin off at the pastry shop is Chiara’s voice. It is nasal, and her monotone, a bored flatness, even in the most interesting parts, keeps Magsalin, or the pastry shop... Read more... |
Zadie Smith: Grand Union review – a roller coaster collection
Sunday, 06 October 2019
“Adorable cock, nothing too dramatic, suitable for many situations,” remarks Monica on the penis of her university boyfriend. She is the candid protagonist of ‘Sentimental Education’, the second... Read more... |
Joanna Cannon: Breaking and Mending review - can you feel too much?
Sunday, 06 October 2019
Joanna Cannon was a wild card. She left school at 15 with one O-level and after various jobs, including working as a barmaid, she was given a place at... Read more... |
Ben Lerner: The Topeka School review - lessons to be learned
Sunday, 06 October 2019
The Topeka School begins with a female listener getting bored of hearing her boyfriend talk. Which did not bode well, as the perspective’s was the boyfriend, and I am a... Read more... |
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