Publishing
Spring Books: Paperbacks
Don Juan de la Mancha by Robert Menasse
An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson
A Dangerous Liaison by Carole Seymour-Jones
Saving Persuasion: A Defense of Rhetoric and Judgment by Bryan Garsten
Palestinian Walks by Raja Shehadeh
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
The Post Office Girl by Stefan Zweig
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
Desperation’s Noticeboard
Classified: The Secret History of the Personal Column by H.G. Cocks
Fear Returns to Russia
Standpoint‘s Mole in Moscow compares life for the intelligentsia under Putin with the Soviet era
At My Wit’s End
“The wittiest writer alive” finds it hard to live up to his title
Bearhugged by Uncle Vlad
Germany’s fawning attitude towards Putin stems from a belief that Russia is the nearest thing it has to a colony
A Novel Way to Treat a Writer
I have been inundated with emails from GCSE and A-level students who want me to spoonfeed answers on their set texts
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
You want it, you deserve it! That’s the misleading message of a thousand self-help guides to instant bliss
Jeremy Black
Britain’s most prolific historian remains generally ignored by the intelligentsia
The Year of the Good Read?
2008 in review
Booby Prize
White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Why Remoaners should back Boris
“Boris, ironically, now offers Remoaners the best chance of a soft Brexit, or at least a sensible one. And to those who want a second referendum—’the people’s vote’—there may even be a chance of that too.”
On the road
“In the summer of 1980, in the grip of some Kerouac-ish fantasy, I opted to hitch-hike from Laredo to New York”
Discovering the Great War of China
A third of a million Chinese labourers helped the Allies defeat the Kaiser, but their huge unsung contribution ended in betrayal