Review
Bill Bailey: The book that changed my life
It doesn’t shy away from forging connections between philosophy and ordinary life. Which is the essence of stand-up comedy
Naomi Wolf: The book that changed my life
The first gay rights manifesto in English
Kapka Kassabova: The book that changed my life
This novel is alchemised into true art by a poet’s vision that left me with questions I was compelled to ask again, and again
Melvyn Bragg: The book that changed my life
Whoever slipped the copy of that book to me at Nelson Thomlinson Grammar School that summer set me on a path
Peter Florence: The book that changed my life
Finding the book again reminded me of the sheer joy of curiosity, adventure and discovery
A room for two: the new writers finding inspiration in Virginia Woolf
Amidst a campaign to fund a lifesize statue of Woolf in Richmond, a series of new books have found a different way of engaging with her work
The price of everything: what people get wrong about cost-benefit analysis
Far from leading to better results, cost-benefit analysis too often provides a bogus rationale for bad decisions
Politics, tension and movement: in praise of the prose poem
The best prose poems take some of the characteristics of prose, and some of the characteristics of poetry, and do something beyond the reach of either
Clive James: What I'm reading
The legendary critic on what’s been keeping him entertained—from French lovers to warring dons...
A life more ordinary: inside Philip Larkin's extraordinary everyday
Larkin’s correspondence with his mother put him in touch with the precious texture of the everyday, which he transformed into some of the most sublime poetry since Donne and Marvell
Why Ottessa Moshfegh refuses to simplify desire
She's one of America's brightest and brashest literary talents—and My Year of Rest and Relaxation is another bold assault on the status quo
A haunted imagining of the life of Ryunosuke Akutagawa
David Peace’s 10th novel provides a fragmented glimpse into the world of one of Japan's greatest writers