Still the best book about the Beatles' music. Deserves to be read annually by anyone who cares about pop.
Dylan Jones - 24/07/2012 |
David Mitchell writes - An unflinching portrait of the American south and a psalm to the stubbornness of the human spirit. Subtler and better than the film.
David Mitchell - 11/03/2011 |
A book that rewards rereading and rereading and rereading.
Lauren Kate - 15/06/2012 |
Raymond Briggs; Raymond Briggs I don't think I've ever read this book without my eyes tearing up. How Briggs manages to impart such feeling and generosity towards his parents in this deeply moving and heartfelt yet never overly sentimental memoir amazes me. It reminds me a little in its after-effects of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town," though the two works are otherwise completely different. It will make you care more deeply about life and the people you live it with, which is about the best one can say about anything.
Chris Ware - 02/10/2012 |
Simply the transcripts of the interviews Savage conducted for the England's Dreaming book. What could have been a silly cash-in underscores Savage's enormous knowledge of and sensitivity to his subject.
Dylan Jones - 24/07/2012 |
Isaiah Berlin; Henry Hardy Berlin was a philosopher who valued friendship and loved gossip, as his splendidly entertaining correspondence shows.
John Banville - 18/06/2012 |
If you’ve ever considered going on a cruise, read this and rethink. If you’ve never considered going on a cruise, read this and feel smug.
Maya Jasanoff - 29/05/2012 |
Muriel Spark; Candia McWilliam Muriel Spark’s character, Jean Brodie, is a teacher in nineteen-thirties Edinburgh. She is one of the great characters of Scottish literature.
Alexander McCall Smith - 28/07/2011 |
Elizabeth Taylor; Paul Bailey Still much underrated: would she be better known if she didn't have somebody else's name?
Julian Barnes - 21/03/2012 |
It's not really about whales or whaling, it's about how the inexperience of youth deifies the doings of the old. In a way, it could be considered the first "fan fiction," if it wasn't already fiction itself. At the same time, it will get you really, really interested in whales and whaling. The Great American Novel, but the 19th century version.
Chris Ware - 02/10/2012 |
Anton Chekhov; Nick Worrall; Michael... The Gayev family is torn by powerful forces deeply rooted in history and the society in which they live in Chekhov's final play.
Barry Fantoni - 11/06/2012 |
Marcel Proust; Terence Kilmartin; ... Reading Proust is a major project, but one well worth undertaking. This is the first volume of his great novel, and provides a good introduction to his astonishing prose. Reading Proust is like bathing in words – and requires a life-jacket.
Alexander McCall Smith - 28/07/2011 |
There’s really not enough Slow Lorises in picture books. Probably because they’re so s...l...o...w, or are they? Alexis Deacon’s drawing are fresh and sketchy and full of personality, and the book is quirky and stylish.
Emily Gravett - 10/11/2011 |
Georges Simenon; Marc Romano; Louise... One of the darkest of what Simenon called his romans durs, his ‘hard novels’. Set in Belgium during the war, with a cast of petty thieves and collaborators. Read it and shiver.
John Banville - 18/06/2012 |
For me, this is the book where the Harry Potter series really took flight. There’s a confidence at work here that lifts the story, which is far darker and more ambitious than in the first two books in the series. The characters are familiar by now, and Rowling puts them through the emotional ringer as she deftly deals with time travel, escaped prisoners and the history of the terrible events at the heart of her story. It’s a beautiful novel that stands alone while also setting up the rest of the series, and a huge achievement.
Will Hill - 15/03/2012 |
The best thriller ever written, as far as I’m concerned. Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter have now become mainstays of popular culture, but this is still the finest way to discover them – they provide the dark heart at the middle of a beautifully plotted and logical thriller that combines genuine terror with terrible violence, and two of the best (worst!) serial killers in literature. But there are moments of levity, and great humanity, that elevate it into the realm of something truly special.
Will Hill - 15/03/2012 |