Books
Bust?: Saving the Economy, Democracy and our Sanity by Robert Peston and Kishan Koria- Review
"So long as we have an economic system geared towards the accumulation of wealth rather than the acquisition of it, inequalities will continue to widen"
Book recommendations from the editors’ desk
"It’s rare that I find non-fiction to be such a page-turner, but Tara Westover’s autobiography was just that."
Greg Heffley: A Hero of Our Time
Few modern comic heroes align with our distinctive age – an age which Dickens’s...
The man of the moment: Review of Keir Starmer: The Biography by Tom Baldwin
"Baldwin does his best to humanise Starmer and to deflate the view of him as “Mr Boring”."
Review: Chaucer Here and Now, Weston Library
"Mansplaining scribes, scandalised censors, and unfinished endings. Even from day one, there is no stable and single Chaucer."
Autumn by Ali Smith: a seasonal portrait of post-Brexit Britain
The first book in Smith's ongoing quartet reminds us that sympathy is possible in our polarised times
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