Books

Diverse voices: ‘Inshallah, Madonna, Inshallah’ by Miljenko Jergović

‘When he created Earth and these lands upon it, when he divided people into believers and infidels, the crescent moon and the cross, the good Allah made us all...

Books Abigail Riley -

YA Thrills: Escapism and disguise

An issue that has been encountered by authors since the dawn of time, perhaps one that feels too obvious to even state, is that some readers will not enjoy their books.

Books Elizabeth Gammaidoni -

The death of the male novelist or the birth of the feminist?

The death of the male novelist, as a concept exaggerated by the dramaticisms of its name, fails to stand up under investigation.

Books Elizabeth Gammaidoni -

Barker & Co. Booksellers: Oxford’s newest independent bookshop

A new secondhand bookstore opened in Oxford city centre last week. Located in the Golden Cross shopping centre, just off Cornmarket Street, the bookstore stocks hundreds of secondhand books, ranging from accessibly priced paperbacks to rare and expensive antiquarian first-editions.

Books Ben O'Brien -

Latest

Strange creatures: monstrosity in Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’

The world of literature is abundant with monsters: physical monsters, psychological monsters, benevolent monsters, evil monsters. However, there is hardly a monster as puzzling...

Normal People Review – ‘a novel that speaks to the current climate’

Jenny Scoones discusses the portrayal of masculinity and friendship in Sally Rooney's second novel

Factfulness review: On the importance of truth

Dr Hans Rosling's final book reminds us of the enduring importance of truth, says Harry Lloyd

Idle reading: books in praise of laziness

A consideration of two books with different approaches to the same philosophy: the art of laziness.

Stephen King’s It: the horror novel that sparked a love affair

The pleasure and terror of reading Stephen King

Characters we love to hate

Sam Millward surveys the rise of the antihero as a problematic but compelling character

The ‘Brideshead Revisited’ reputation haunting Oxford

Is there any truth in the fictional portrayals of the University?

‘I have only ever tried to show you beauty’: Florence Welch’s ‘Useless Magic’

Kate Haselden considers how the publication of Florence Welch's first book proves her affinity for beauty, and talent as an artist, extends beyond music into poetry

Review: Charly Cox ‘She Must Be Mad’

Charly Cox's poetry confronts the reality of life as a young woman in the age of social media

Modern China from a new perspective

Jacob Cheli talks to BBC Correspondent Michael Bristow about his travels around China with a cross-dressing language teacher

Is the publishing boom ‘a sign of cultural vitality’?

Despite the recent publishing boom, the literary landscape is looking increasingly

In search of Irish Revolutionaries

Eric Sheng discusses former Oxford don Roy Fisher’s recent work on Revolutionary Ireland

Travels with a Cross-Dressing friend: A Personal Biography of China

Michael Bristow, a former BBC Foreign Correspondent, hopes his book will challenge the Chinese government

‘Reversed’: An interview with Lois Letchford

Kurien Parel interviews author Lois Letchford about her memoir 'Reversed' which follows the journey of her learning disabled son, Nicholas, from the bottom of the class to Oxford PHD student.

Childhood’s Clarity in ‘The Ocean at the End of the Lane’

The Ocean at the End of the Lane opens with an epigraph from Maurice Sendak, “I remember my own childhood vividly… I knew terrible things. But I knew I mustn’t let adults know I knew. It would scare them.”

Reversed: A Memoir

'One of the striking points the memoir illustrates is the level of abuse children with learning disabilities face, from teachers and others' says Kurien Parel