Books
Emerging from Sri Lanka’s lockdown: a morning at Colombo’s booksheds
A S H Smyth pays a visit to one of his favourite places in Colombo
Men and women and men
John Self reviews Sorry for Your Trouble by Richard Ford, This is Pleasure by Mary Gaitskill and Cleanness by Garth Greenwell
More plausible than real life
John Preston reviews Beneath the Streets by Adam Macqueen
The jokes must go on
Christopher Bray reviews Apropos of Nothing by Woody Allen
Me, Myself and I
The hip young authors who write about their greatest obsession – themselves
It ran in the family
Alexander Larman reviews Fall of the House of Byron, by Emily Brand
Significant others
Selina Todd reviews Female Husbands, by Jen Manion
‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ at 40: A book that can change your life
Alexander Larman recalls the glee and disbelief at one of literature’s most beguilingly horrible figures
Of men and birds
John Self reviews Enter The Aardvark by Jessica Anthony
My first Carr
A S H Smyth discovers a true English literary eccentric, born on this day in 1912