The shattering honesty of V.S. Naipaul
Teller of truths and tales.
Books
Wednesday
Thursday
The perfect guide to a book everyone should read
Dante ’ s Divine Comedy by Ian Thomson reviewed.
‘We are not cattle, we’re people’: everyday hell in Stalin’s labour camps
Shadows on the Tundra by Dalia Grinkeviciute reviewed.
The selective breeding of pets: how far should we go?
Unnatural Selection by Katrina van Grouw reviewed.
Thursday
Shades of Rear Window: People in the Room, by Norah Lange, reviewed
Borges’ muse paints a picture of suffocating isolation and voyeurism.
The magnificent Atkinsons: rigours of travel in 19th-century Russia
Mosquitoes and lice plague them all summer, bitter cold and storms all winter, and they face the constant risk of violence and sudden death.
Thursday
Born again: My Year of Rest and Relaxation, by Ottessa Moshfegh, reviewed
For all her wise-cracking, the history of parental neglect, bereavement and social savagery that has brought her low is genuinely affecting.
David Sedaris, the current king of humourists, is often not funny at all
Calypso is quite repetitive, especially when it comes to what is really its main concern: houses.
Portrait of an American childhood: A Long Island Story by Rick Gekoski reviewed
A Long Island Story is an affectionate portrait of the author’s family.
Bruce Lee: weird, gruesome and oh-so-cool
From his early street fights to his friendship with Steve McQueen, from his cha-cha to his one-inch punch, Bruce Lee was made to be Bruce Lee.
Thursday
Adam Smith analysed human behaviour, not economics, says Simon Heffer
Jesse Norman debunks several myths about the founding father of economics.
Two valuable new books about technology that are a bummer to read
Too often the writing descends on a good idea like a dense fog.
A melancholy talent with a genius for send-up – Flann O’Brien was his own worst enemy
O’Brien’s career revived in the last years of his life, and even this magazine can congratulate itself on having played a small part in this .
Kyoto is all that is left of Japan – more’s the pity
Alex Kerr ’ s book isn ’ t as much an introduction to Kyoto as it is an initiation.
Monday
Meet Michiko Kakutani, the conservative
The former New York Times reviewer’s study of truth reveals how she’s been driven to outrage by the erosion of cultural and critical values.
Thursday
Chopin’s Piano is an eclectic trip through 19th-century romanticism
The author writes knowledgeably and approachably about music and sympathetically about his cast of characters
Cease to strive! Now!
This academic study of idleness is very deep, way deep, so deep in fact as to be virtually unreadable.
‘President Pussy Grabber’ has his way with the GOP
A new book argues that Trump could destroy the Republican Party.
Friday
Why the Romanovs were doomed
There never really was a moment when the Russian royal family might plausibly have been rescued.
Thursday
The spying game: when has espionage changed the course of history?
Andrew’s story is full of intriguing facts and pleasing anecdotes. But he does not quite engage with the broader questions he himself raises.
