book reviews and features
Andrew Murray: Is Socialism Possible in Britain? review - what went wrong and why Corbynism failed
Tuesday, 04 October 2022
The title of Andrew Murray’s new book poses a question that also vexed Friedrich Engels over 130 years ago. The German co-... Read more... |
Savala Nolan: Don't Let It Get You Down review - finding voice in the liminal
Thursday, 29 September 2022
Liminal: a word that conjures thresholds and between states. Caught between three languages – the adjective is a borrowing from the Latin that enters English by way of German – ... Read more... |
Yiyun Li: The Book of Goose - fame, reality and two teenage French girls
Wednesday, 28 September 2022
The Book of Goose, Yiyun Li’s fifth novel, is the gripping story of two teenage French girls and their... Read more... |
Bronwyn Adcock: Currowan review - a fire foretold, a warning delivered
Tuesday, 27 September 2022
In 2019 Australia endured the hottest, driest year since records began and their bushfire season escalated with unprecedented intensity. The fires and pyro-connective storms that swept the country... Read more... |
'The first thing I do when I wake up is write.' Hilary Mantel, 1952-2022
Friday, 23 September 2022
Hilary Mantel, who has died at the age of 70, was a maker of literary history. Wolf Hall, an action-packed 650-page brick of a book about the rise and rise of Thomas Cromwell, won... Read more... |
Ken Auletta: Hollywood Ending - Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Silence review - if the tide had turned in 2002...
Wednesday, 07 September 2022
It was not until October 2017 that The New York Times ran a... Read more... |
Olivier Guez: The Disappearance of Josef Mengele review - the Nazi who was never found
Thursday, 01 September 2022
Bringing Olivier Guez’s novel The Disappearance of Josef Mengele on a beach holiday may seem like an odd choice (such is the lot of a reviewer). This incongruity transformed into... Read more... |
Amalie Smith: Thread Ripper review - the tangled web we weave
Wednesday, 03 August 2022
Sitting in the park on a hot summer’s day, life began to imitate art. I had been soaking up the sun’s now overpowering rays for over an hour and was beginning to feel its radiating effects. ... Read more... |
Phoebe Power: Book of Days review - the clack of walking poles, the clink of scallop shell
Tuesday, 26 July 2022
The word “shrine” somersaults me back to the path of the Camino de Santiago. I have lost count of the faces that smiled up from photos positioned in the hollow of trees, some with little plastic... Read more... |
Jessie Burton: The House of Fortune review - a muted, sensitive sequel
Tuesday, 05 July 2022
A sequel is always a hard thing to write, especially if the book that precedes it is a bestseller, adapted for television and read by more than a million people. Yet Jessie Burton’s The House... Read more... |
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Screenwriter and showrunner Steven Moffat is renowned for some of his work, especially...
Blu-ray: Nitram
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You know you’re in good company the minute these two appear on stage: they are so splendidly what they are, comfortable in their own skins and...
Jaminaround, Ancient Technology Centre, Cranborne review - c...
The most unlikely venue: an extraordinary, authentic-as-can-be replica of a large Iron Age roundhouse. There’s a turf and grass roof, and the...
Andrew Murray: Is Socialism Possible in Britain? review - wh...
The title of Andrew Murray’s new book poses a question that also vexed...
Album: The Cult - Under the Midnight Sun
It’s fair to say that The Cult have taken on a number of identities since their mid-80s’ transformation from Goth also-rans the Death Cult to the...
Iphigenia in Splott, Lyric Hammersmith review - raises as ma...
It’s hard to keep up with what terms are in vogue amongst those who insist on classifying and vilifying young people, but one that you...
Girl Picture review - Finnish coming-of-age drama offers not...
What is it with pushy Finnish mums and their acrobatic teenage daughters? Just weeks after the release of the Gothic fantasy Hatching...
Album: The Bobby Lees - Bellevue
Unless you’re one of the infamous 1%, you might be forgiven for recently spending a bit of time searching for a booster to reinvigorate your mojo...
Music Reissues Weekly: Catch-A-Fire - Treasure Isle Ska, Top...
Two snapshots of Jamaica’s music, each catching styles associated with specific periods. The two CDs of Catch-A-Fire - Treasure Isle...