Will Self’s impressive paean to his mother’s frustrating life in the US
In Elaine , Self has shown that understanding is possible, across generations and across time
Book review
Thursday
Back to the birth of the Greenwich Village music scene
David Browne’s latest book pivots around 1961
Monday
The chameleonic life of Claire Clairmont
Lesley McDowell restores Lord Byron’s young lover and Mary Shelley’s step-sister to thrilling, palpitating life
Thursday
Nick Lloyd takes you through the horrors of the Eastern Front
The book’s primary focus on military detail and power-brokering is both a strength and weakness
Monday
Giles Milton retells the story of the Grand Alliance as a cinematic thriller
In the hands of a less skilled writer, The Stalin Affair could easily have been rather dull
Examining children’s literature and its enduring worth
One of The Haunted Wood’s great strengths is Sam Leith’s awareness of just how important children’s literature is
Creation Lake is one of the best books of the year
Creation Lake is a book about how humans deal with what is deemed to be Other
Jane Thynne pulls off a new kind of spy novel
Midnight in Vienna channels the ominous parallels between the present-day rise of fascism in Europe and America with what happened in 1938
Thursday
A superbly written and insightful account of the contemporary American military
General McKenzie’s fine memoir is a rich and powerful testament to the qualities that our best military commanders bring to their service to the nation
A compelling and evocative biography of the redoubtable Mrs. Mandelbaum
Margalit Fox brings the period to life by providing sharply drawn cameos of a supporting cast of colorful characters
Pat Nixon, ambassador of goodwill
In a new biography of the former First Lady, Heath Hardage Lee attempts to uncover the real woman
James Shapiro’s timely account of the rise and fall of an influential public theater
The Playbook is a dramatic tale, full of overreaching ambition, dastardly plots, embattled heroes and last-minute reversals
A new and compelling study of the life of the iconic rebel Nat Turner
Anthony Kaye seeks to reframe the life of the famous slave rebel in the context of his religious beliefs
Inigo Philbrick, the art world’s wheeler dealer stealer
Orlando Whitfield chronicles his friendship and dealings with the wunderkind art dealer during a heady ‘gold rush’ decade in the art world
Monday
Anne Applebaum’s solutions to the ‘threat’ of autocracy
Autocracy, Inc. is woefully inadequate to the times in which it appears
John Freeman’s Hit and Run is gorgeously crafted
This is a work about significant moments, glittering with reflections and refractions
Stephen King’s You Like it Darker shows a master at his peak
You Like It Darker inevitably harks back to Carrie, King’s debut novel, published fifty years ago this spring
Is the hype for The Bee Sting justified?
Over the course of 600-odd pages, Paul Murray marshals elements of tragedy, black comedy and drama with consummate skill
Kevin Barry’s latest novel is bursting with energy, brutality and poetry
The Heart in Winter is a rambunctious galumph of a story
Bianca Bosker’s snapshot of the art scene
What drives people’s interest in art is profoundly linked to what makes us human