I bought an (as yet still unused) axe not that long ago, and what particularly struck me, as I walked…
The McBainiad, Book 17: ‘Ten Plus One’ (1963)
I’m back in the world of the 87th Precinct after several years’ absence. Regular readers may remember that I have…
Josephine Tey, ‘The Daughter of Time’ (1951)
Richard the Third and I have history. As well as being the first Shakespeare play I saw in a theatre…
Pierre Christin and Sebastien Verdier, ‘Orwell’ (2019)
Whilst I’ve been infatuated George Orwell since I was a teenager, the roots of this particular love affair are more…
Stephen Greenblatt, ‘Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare’ (2004)
If you have even a passing interest in Shakespeare, Will in the World is essential reading. I’ve read a few…
Susanna Clarke, ‘Piranesi’ (2020)
I admired many different aspects of Clarke’s book, but the setting was the first one I fell in love with.…
Jonathan Bate, ‘Mad About Shakespeare’ (2022)
‘The only end of writing is to enable readers to better enjoy life, or better to endure it.’ Samuel Johnson…
Anthony Horowitz, ‘Magpie Murders’ (2017)
I’ve long loved crime fiction, but my particular passion has usually been for the grittier, noir end of the genre.…
Sathnam Sanghera, ‘Empireland’ (2021)
You may be aware that it is currently Black History Month, an event that has been celebrated every October in…
Andrew Michael Hurley, ‘Devil’s Day’ (2017)
Reading Andrew Michael Hurley’s atmospheric rural descriptions in Devil’s Day often put me in mind of an alien planet in…