Books

Lessons in Censorship: A Cautionary Tale against Bodleian Blacklists

For some authors, the Bodleian Libraries have not always a safe haven for their work. Although marginalised texts are no longer demarcated with the phi symbol on their spines, with many having re-entered the undergraduate canon, Sophie Price discusses the valuable lessons we can learn from the Bodleian blacklist which remain pertinent today.

Books Sophie Price -

Should ‘Orbital’ have won The Booker Prize?

Laurence Cooke reviews Samantha Harvey's 'Orbital', the winner of the 2024 Booker Prize.

Books Laurence Cooke -

The Secret History Characters as Oxford Tropes

Donna Tartt's novel The Secret History is set in an exclusive college in Vermont but can be read as a satire of Oxford and its students. It invites us to question how little differentiates us from the elitist American universities.

Books Christina Scote -

Review: The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe

There are some writers whose line of literary descent is so clear as to...

Books Hassan Akram -

Latest

The Last Bookshop: Giving old books a new life

Jill Cushen talks to Last Bookshop owner Jake Pumphrey about his unconventional approach to the book business.

Deconstructing Dr Seuss: the issue of diversity in children’s literature

'After a report in 2020 revealed that only 5% of British children’s books featured a Black or minority ethnic main character, other titles are providing much needed representation.'

Review: ‘Klara and the Sun’ by Kazuo Ishiguro

'In Klara, Ishiguro crafts a memorable first-person narrative voice, simultaneously robotic and infantile, scrupulous yet naïve.'

Thoughts on Literary Awards

Literary awards and prizes have been around for centuries, with the first British Award for Literature established in 1919 (The James Tait Black Memorial...

Cherwell Recommends: YA Guilty Pleasures

In an already unusual term, this 5th Week, giving its name to '5th week blues,' might be more difficult than most. Whether after an...

Cherwell Recommends: Love of all kinds

As Valentine's Day looms, it's not hard to find examples of romantic love. But literature celebrates the expanse of human emotion, so our books editors have picked out two moving illustrations of the other forms love takes.

Literary Loves: What fictional romance has taught me about real-life relationships

For the first 17 years of my life, I felt like everything I knew about love I learned from books. Sure, as a self-conscious...

Review: ‘Breaking and Mending’ by Joanna Cannon

For me, it is Cannon’s complete honesty and authenticity which make this an astounding read ... 'Breaking and Mending' is the perfect book to read as a medical student, a doctor, or anyone who wants to have their heart warmed by tales of genuine compassion and kindness.

Revisiting ‘All The King’s Men’ in the Post-Trumpian Era

Much like the 1920s and 30s, we live in a period of great change when all previously-held cultural norms and precedents seem to be shifting under our feet. All the King’s Men speaks to this time of turmoil, questioning how the individual responds to that, whether they challenge it or become corrupted by it.'

The Most Anticipated Books of 2021

In light of the disaster that was 2020, many of us are looking towards 2021 with hope. Amongst the reasons to be excited about...

Growing Pains: The Development of YA

The YA fiction boom really was its own mini cultural era. Gone are the days of passing a tattered copy of The Fault in Our Stars around your entire friendship group, but how does YA lit hold up today? And how did that cultural era affect the ‘young adults’ at its centre?

Read, Listen, Learn: The Everchanging World of Books

Flash forward 100 years. Surprise! People still read — just not in the same way as we do now, and we can be pretty...

Debating the Preservation of Cultural Infrastructures: the Example of Tolkien’s Property

Fans of J.R. Tolkien have been troubled by the prospects of having Tolkien’s home sold to private buyers. Should it go on the market...

‘Ah, bitter chill it was!’: John Keats, the winter Romantic

If these next months feel dreary and dark, as they undoubtedly will, do seek solace in the strange, mysterious world of Romantics.

Wings and Words: why you should read Grief Is The Thing With Feathers

Recalling the first time I read Grief, on a thankfully empty train, I’m very glad no one was present to witness what must have been a harrowing and confusing parade of expressions as I progressed. It’s a few hours I will never regret.

Best Reads of 2020

Hamnet — Maggie O’Farrell The subtle majesty of Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell’s eighth novel,would have been welcome in any year, but it was a particular blessing...

A swing of the pendulum: the horror literature that’s making its way up

"Modern academics are reexamining genre fiction, helped by a number of critical movements breaking down literary elitism, and there’s a world of horror which is intelligent, complex and, most importantly, terrifying."

Cherwell Recommends: Bildungsroman

"Are we destined to become who we are as adults, or are we formed by our experiences on the way? It happens to all of us, but the process of growing up continues to fascinate writers, artists, and filmmakers, for it surrounds the struggle to forge an identity in a chaotic and often harsh environment."

Forgive me, Katherine Mansfield, for I have sinned.

"The essay I would go on to write, and, reader, the article I had drafted and readied for this very publication, would, I see now, have Mansfield, alongside pretty much every other writer of fiction, willing to cross both space and time in order to beat me around the head with a copy of Crime and Punishment."

Cherwell Recommends: Memoir

"Memoir is an exploration of the complex layers of human memory: fallible, emotional and moulded by subsequent reflection. Like life itself, memoir is messy - but all the more enjoyable for it."

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Books

Lessons in Censorship: A Cautionary Tale against Bodleian Blacklists

Should ‘Orbital’ have won The Booker Prize?

The Secret History Characters as Oxford Tropes

Review: The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe

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