Books
A return, a reissue, a brilliant new voice
The best, and the not-so-great, new fiction to read this month
When bad reviews attack
Book reviews are not the preserve of the literary dilettantes — they have real power
Wonders and warnings from the ancient world
A new history of Byzantium reveals the inner workings of a late antique empire
Strange happenings back in the USSR
The brilliant story of a Francis Bacon exhibition in Moscow
The lady vanishes
TV adaptations have masked the complexity and skill of Agatha Christie
Why modern novels are so boring
Writers who forget bourgeois aspiration lose a dimension
Fuccboi: a load of modern toss
A failed American Psycho for the PornHub generation
The genius that was Dr Strangelove
Ananyo Bhattacharya offers an ambitious biography of a genius who defied categorisation in life and death
Blackwell’s: an undesirable new chapter?
The sale of the bookshop is not a good omen for the book industry
Our man in Hungary
The past is never very far away in Adam LeBor’s new thriller
The death of charity?
The decline of religion and the fraying of our social fabric has made us meaner
Very public introspection
The content of “misery lit” is disturbing, but what purpose does it serve?
The false prophets of war and turmoil
All eight of Whatmore’s subjects would have been astounded by the
stability of the British state through the 19th century
Three novelists pushing the bloat out
Some novels still dare to leave the reader’s hand unheld — without universal success
Out with the old and in with the new
People are asking why the classic art market has declined — and will it recover?
Love in a remotely-controlled climate
If we outsource our decisions to
machines, we will be less capable
of navigating our own feelings
Why not the Taliban Line?
These new overground lines are not sufficiently progressive
Grimdull
The fantasy genre is afflicted by a dull and tedious obsession with adolescent cynicism, prurient scenes and one dimensional anti-heroes
Is Britain on course for abortion up to birth?
Diana Johnson’s amendment creates a medical and legal vacuum that would endanger women and their babies
London’s lamps live on
Thanks to the dedication of the Gasketeers, a beautiful tradition has been saved
The fixtures that forged a nation
Even if you loathed sport, you could enjoy this book — which is why it can both delight and frustrate
