Books
Freedom and solitude
Loneliness is not just a side-effect of Coronavirus: it’s been here for a while
Unvarnished tyranny
This is perhaps the only book I have yet read about Amin which gives anything like an accurate assessment of who he was
Timelessness trumps timely
What we have is pure storytelling delight, a page-turner that works forwards and backwards as the reader fills in the gaps
Sharing the great American dream
The Upswing by Robert Putnam, with Shaylyn Romney Garrett
Bursting the bubbles
Surely it would be better for economies if the markets were to run on a more even keel?
Seven kinds of people you find in bookshops
Former bookseller A.S.H. Smyth enjoys a bestselling bookshop owner’s taxonomy of bookshop people
Flirting with damnation
As Greene explained to his wife when their marriage ended, what made him a bad husband was precisely what made him a good writer
Wagner, restless provocateur
Wagner’s sexual ambiguity spoke to Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley and Thomas Mann, says Norman Lebrecht
This way, madness lies
Using the name Shakespeare in your book title shouldn’t do anything for sales
Don’t worry, novelists are still envious and bitter
Unlike Douglas Murray, John Self thinks the satirical novel isn’t dead