book reviews and features
Javier Marías: Between Eternities review - matters of life and death from the Spanish master
Sunday, 19 November 2017
One of these years, Javier Marías will probably win the Nobel Prize in Literature. If and when that... Read more... |
Tina Brown: The Vanity Fair Diaries 1983-1992 review - portrait of an era of glitz and excess
Sunday, 19 November 2017
Tina Brown’s first Christmas issue of Vanity Fair in 1984 had this to say about “the sulky,... Read more... |
The Best of AA Gill review - posthumous words collected
Sunday, 12 November 2017
Word wizard. Grammar bully. Sentence shark. AA Gill didn’t play fair by syntax: he pounced on it, surprising it into splendid shapes. And who cared when he wooed readers with anarchy and aplomb?... Read more... |
Jonathan Coe: The Broken Mirror review - potent, crystalline, but rather small
Sunday, 12 November 2017
Novelist Jonathan Coe has, for some time, been assuming the role of an Evelyn Waugh of the... Read more... |
Richard F Thomas: Why Dylan Matters review - tangled up in clues
Sunday, 12 November 2017
A year ago, Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, his work commended by the committee "... Read more... |
Han Kang: The White Book review - between what is, what was, what might have been
Sunday, 05 November 2017
A woman gives birth alone two months early in a frost-bound village in the Korean countryside. In Poland, a solitary woman washes down white migraine pills and concludes she must write. The child... Read more... |
Oliver Sacks: The River of Consciousness review - a luminous final collection of essays
Sunday, 29 October 2017
Oliver Sacks was the neurologist – and historian of science, and naturalist – whose exceptionally elegant, clear and accessible prose has captivated that almost mythical creature, the general... Read more... |
Susie Boyt: Love & Fame review - as highly strung as a violin factory
Sunday, 29 October 2017
At first glance, Susie Boyt’s sixth novel seems in danger of echoing her... Read more... |
Marcel Proust: Letters to the Lady Upstairs - a very slim volume
Sunday, 29 October 2017
Marcel Proust was a prolific letter-writer. He wrote tens of thousands of them, and at speed, as can be seen from the two facsimiles which are included with the text of Letters to the Lady... Read more... |
Philip Pullman: La Belle Sauvage review - not quite equal
Sunday, 22 October 2017
La Belle Sauvage, the first instalment of Philip Pullman’s eagerly-awaited new trilogy The Book of Dust, opens in the Trout, a rambling Thames-side pub on the outskirts of Port... Read more... |
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It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
Album: Billy Nomates – Metalhorse
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There is so much that is right about Jonathan Kent’s new production of House of Games – the casting, the staging, the...
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William Byrd, Arnold Schoenberg and their respective acolytes go cheek by jowl, crash into one another, soothe, infuriate and shine in their very...
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Stile Antico, Wigmore Hall review - a glorious birthday cele...
There was a wonderful festal spirit at the Wigmore Hall last night, as the vocal ensemble Stile Antico ran through a Greatest Hits selection in...
PUP, SWG3, Glasgow review - controlled chaos from Canadian p...
According to PUP lead singer Stefan Babcock, the Toronto foursome practiced together a grand total of twice before embarking on their current UK...
Zoe Lyons, Touring - midlife, without the crisis
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The Last Musician of Auschwitz review - a haunting testament...
“It is so disgraceful, what happened there,” says Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, in a comment that is the understatement of the century. She is referring...