book reviews and features
Neil MacGregor: Living with the Gods review - focuses of belief
Sunday, 23 September 2018
Dip in, dip out, argue, agree and disagree: Living with the Gods is the newest manifestation of a rich multimedia format that keeps on giving, devised by that superb writer and lecturer,... Read more... |
Lavinia Greenlaw: In the City of Love’s Sleep review - curated lives
Sunday, 23 September 2018
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Olga Tokarczuk: Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead review - on vengeful nature
Sunday, 09 September 2018
In a small town on the Polish-Czech border where the mobile signal wanders between countries’ operators and only three inhabitants stick it out through the winter, animals are wreaking a terrible... Read more... |
Michael Hughes: Country review - epic troubles
Sunday, 02 September 2018
Michael Hughes’ second novel, superimposing the post-96 Troubles on the story of The Iliad, rides a wave of Homeric re-tellings, with Pat Barker and Colm Tóibín having recently... Read more... |
Yuval Noah Harari: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century review - a sceptic's optimism?
Sunday, 26 August 2018
The bestseller Sapiens (2011, first published in English in 2014) by the hitherto little-known Israeli academic Yuval Noah Harari has sold enormously well, and justly so: recommended by... Read more... |
P.E.Caquet: The Bell of Treason review - the sacrifice of Czechoslovakia
Sunday, 26 August 2018
It was 80 years ago next month that Neville Chamberlain returned with the good news of peace in our time... Read more... |
h 100 Awards: Publishing and Writing - other stories, other voices
Monday, 20 August 2018
If history repeats itself, better hope that it corrects its mistakes as well. This year’s nominations for the... Read more... |
Roger Scruton: Music as an Art review - how to listen?
Sunday, 19 August 2018
Hegel, Kant, David Hume, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Leibniz are all adduced, referred to, and paraphrased, and that’s just for starters. Add Rameau, Schubert, Beethoven, Benjamin Britten and the... Read more... |
Annie Ernaux: The Years, review - time’s flow
Sunday, 05 August 2018
“When you were our age, how did you imagine your life? What did you hope for?” It is a video of a classroom south-east of the Périphérique separating Paris from the working-class suburbs. The... Read more... |
Rachel Heng: Suicide Club review - skin-deep dystopia
Sunday, 29 July 2018
When Lea is nervous she picks at the skin near the nail of her thumb. When she draws blood the wound repairs instantly because she is a member of the Second Wave endowed with SmartBlood™ and... Read more... |
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It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
Album: The Weather Station - Humanhood
Four of Humanhood’s 13 tracks are short, impressionistic mood pieces. Between 48 seconds and just-over a minute-and-a-half long, they...
Oliver!, Gielgud Theatre review - Lionel Bart's 1960 ma...
Into a world of grooming gangs, human trafficking and senior prelates resigning over child abuse cases comes Oliver!, Lionel...
What's the Matter with Tony Slattery?, BBC Two review -...
In the late Eighties and Nineties, Tony Slattery became one of the most ubiquitous faces on television, appearing regularly on Whose Line Is...
Album: Ethel Cain - Perverts
Ethel Cain’s Perverts is a dark and experimental follow-up to her debut album, Preacher’s Daughter. It takes listeners on a...
Leif Ove Andsnes, Wigmore Hall review - colour and courage,...
Forthright and upright, powerful and lucid, the frank and bold pianism of Leif Ove Andsnes took his Wigmore Hall audience from Norway to Poland (...
American Primeval, Netflix review - nightmare on the Wild Fr...
It seems The Osmonds may not have been the worst outrage perpetrated on an unsuspecting public by the Mormons. American Primeval is set...
Chamayou, BBC Philharmonic, Wigglesworth, Bridgewater Hall,...
Top Brownie points for the BBC Philharmonic for being one of the first (maybe the first?) to celebrate the birth centenary of Pierre Boulez this...
The Maids, Jermyn Street Theatre review - new broom sweeps c...
There are two main reasons to revive classics. The first is that they are really good; the second is that they have something to...
Gala Preview Show, De Montfort Hall review - Leicester Comed...
Europe's biggest comedy festival, which showcases established stars,...