Friday 28th November 2025

Books

What I discovered when I started reading French books

My most hated subject at school was French. I mean, I hated every subject – the only thing I remember liking in all my years at school was the...
Books Ben O'Brien -

The lying life of authors: John le Carré and authorial double-lives

“I’m not a spy who writes novels, I am a writer who briefly worked...
Books Apaar Agarwal -

The caring individual: John le Carré at the Weston

At the back of the Weston Library, in a small room off to one...
Books Nancy Gittus -

Why we’re obsessed with Greek myth retellings

In every bookshop today, from Blackwell’s to Waterstones, an unmistakable pattern emerges: Greek myth...
Books Hannah Becker -
Latest

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 famous opening, ‘It was the best of times, it was...

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."

Empireworld: How British Imperialism Shaped the Globe (Sathnam Sanghera, 2024): Review

Without confronting the wrongs of the past, the wrongs of the present will go on unabated.

The Autobiogra-phony

"A master of saying everything and nothing all at once! I sure would make a great celeb."

Wattpad: the new online course in creative writing?

The only issue that sites like Wattpad face is their association with ‘low value’ feminine writing and smut.

Literary Red Flags: Cause for Alarm?

"The internet loves to tell us what to do, especially when there's a healthy smattering of pseudo-psychology involved."

Making reading for pleasure pleasurable

"After being a bit too optimistic with my 2023 Goodreads Challenge, 2024 is going to be the year where I repair my relationship with books."

False Prophets: Prophet Song Review

"Prophet Song is neither prescient nor melodious; it is a self-proclaimed seer’s message which reads as an exhausting description of current events"

Introducing 2023’s Standout Reads

"2023 was truly a year of amazing writing, and I am so grateful to have explored such a wide variety of literature and non-fiction."

“Rich and original”: ‘Parables, Fables, Nightmares’ Review

Parables, Fables, Nightmares is the first short story collection published by Malachi McIntosh. A short traditional story collection can be likened to a gallery...

How to judge a book by its cover

Let’s be real. You’re in Blackwells looking for a book to read if you’re cool, and buying a mug with a world map on...

MARCO SOLO: Manuscripts and Archives at Oxford University

Although unnoticed by many students and tutors alike, a revolutionary new service by the name of MARCO was unveiled last week, taking the archivist...

Decline and fall: How They Broke Britain by James O’Brien – review

"Today, in the wake of Brexit, Britain is once again broken – so argues commentator James O’Brien in his new book, How They Broke Britain."

What can books say that we can’t?

As people, we love to talk - to other people, to ourselves, to the mirror (don’t lie, everyone does it!) We all have opinions...

“A Gripping Memoir”: ‘Stay True’ by Hua Hsu Review

Recently I picked up a book that had been on my to-read list for a while. Stay True by Hua Hsu came out last...

Book Recommendations from the Editors’ Desk

Read our book section editors' Michaelmas book recommendations: Rufus Jones on Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon, Ananya Parakh on Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer,...

Harry Potter as Therapy

'I am 25 years old, and I have reread the Harry Potter books 10 times, but in this review I want to introduce you to something truly special'
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