David Lodge, the master of Anglo-American campus humor
For sheer entertainment value, it is the ‘campus trilogy’ of Changing Places, Small World and Nice Work that can hardly be bettered
Books
Monday
Thursday
Ali Smith’s latest novel falls flat
Gliff is a different sort of project, but still one which reveals a desire to comment on contemporary culture
Thursday
One hundred years of Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy
The novel is as much a historical artifact as a work of fiction
Is Paris the world’s most bookish city?
Sorry, New York: you’ve got serious competition
Tuesday
Pat Barker dives into the first part of Aeschylus’ Oresteia
In The Voyage Home, she takes the infrastructure of legend and invests it with brutal realism
Imperfections in wood lead to perfection in carvings
In Ingrained, Callum Robinson’s aim is not simply to convey his love of working in his chosen way, but to evoke his craft warts and all
Thursday
The Spectator’s 2024 Books of the Year
Our writers weigh in
Reassessing Jerzy Kosinski
Why did the Being There writer’s life come to resemble a fairground rollercoaster?
The life and legacy of Mavis Gallant, an American in Paris
The author skewered the pretensions of would-be intellectual travelers
The Spectator’s 2024 Holiday Gift Guide
Our staff and regulars help you spread goodwill to all men
Thursday
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
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
Twenty years on from Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Since its publication in September 2004, Susanna Clarke’s novel has sold millions of copies worldwide
The peculiar appeal of ‘sad-girl literature’
Prose style matters less than access to toxic love, pain and suffering… and a light smattering of suicide and violent death
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
Thursday
Letters from Spectator readers, August 2024
Decline, divorce and Democrat disaster
A beginner’s guide to buying art
A best-selling author, an entrepreneur and an art collector himself, Magnus Resch has written and commented on the art market for years
Why New York is a city built on the written word
To have been born there and live there all your life? It is hard to imagine any author having a greater privilege