book reviews and features
Sophie Mackintosh: The Water Cure review - on the discipline of survival
Sunday, 27 May 2018
A body can be pushed to the brink, to the point where thoughts flatten to a line of light, and come back from death, but the heart is complex and the damage it wreaks barely controllable. For... Read more... |
The World Of Moominvalley, Brighton Festival review - a fascinating insight into the world of Tove Jansson
Monday, 21 May 2018
It was no matter that journalist Daniel Hahn dropped out ill at the 11th hour of this "audience with" event. Author Philip Ardagh's deep knowledge and unflappable demeanour comfortably carried the... Read more... |
William Trevor: Last Stories review - final intimations
Sunday, 20 May 2018
An Irishman who spent more than half a century in London and then Devon, and a prolific writer – nearly 20 novels... Read more... |
Clancy Sigal: The London Lover review - a merry prankster's very long weekend
Sunday, 20 May 2018
To readers of newspapers and magazines, the name Clancy Sigal will be very familiar, probably as a film reviewer. Addicted to... Read more... |
Mario Vargas Llosa: The Neighbourhood review - a surprisingly sketchy telenovela
Sunday, 13 May 2018
Mario Vargas Llosa has written a thriller which opens eye-poppingly. Two wives, one staying over with... Read more... |
Christie Watson: The Language of Kindness review - tender memoir, impassioned indignation
Sunday, 06 May 2018
Anecdotal story-telling wrapped up in hypnotic prose, Christie Watson’s narrative is a gentle, emotive five-part layered package of reflection and indignation. It is part... Read more... |
John Gray: Seven Types of Atheism review - to believe, or not to believe
Sunday, 29 April 2018
To suggest an absence is to imply a presence. Philosophers, novelists, dictators, politicians – as well as almost every “ism” you can think of – take the stage in this absorbing, precisely and... Read more... |
Martin Gayford: Modernists & Mavericks review - people, places and paint
Sunday, 22 April 2018
Back in the early Sixties Lucian Freud was living in Clarendon Crescent, a condemned row of houses in... Read more... |
Barbara Ehrenreich: Natural Causes review - counterintuitive wisdom on the big issues
Sunday, 15 April 2018
“Wham bam, thank you, ma’am” might be one response to this polemical, wry, hilarious and affecting series of counterintuitive essays by one of the most original and unexpected thinkers around.... Read more... |
Amy Sackville: Painter to the King review - portrait of the artist in shadow and light
Sunday, 15 April 2018
Inevitably, the story begins and (almost) ends with Las Meninas. Inspired by the art and life of Diego Velázquez, Amy Sackville tops and tails her third novel with his endlessly enigmatic... 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...
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The Inseparables, Finborough Theatre review - uneven portrai...
The Finborough has once again performed the miracle of creating a whole world in its intimate space: this time, inter-war France, where...
The Ugly Stepsister review - gleeful Grimm revamp
Although both of the Brothers Grimm died around 1860, they still insist on getting dozens of film and TV credits in each decade of our...
Album: Self Esteem - A Complicated Woman
Given that Prioritise Pleasure was Rebecca Lucy Taylor’s (RLT) Back to Black, and that there’s been a lengthy...