A.A. Milne: His Life by Ann Thwaite
Review by Simon Thomas What do you know about A. A. Milne? Your answer might be a little different if you’ve read our Five Fascinating Facts – or, indeed, if you’ve followed…
The Valley by Richard Benson
Reviewed by Victoria Best The best kind of non-fiction, I think, shows us how supposedly ‘average’ ordinary lives are really quite extraordinary. In the author’s foreward to his outstanding book…
An Encyclopaedia of Myself by Jonathan Meades
Reviewed by Eric Karl Anderson For several decades, Jonathan Meades has been a well-established writer, cultural critic of primarily food & architecture and broadcaster in Britain. He has such a…
Charlotte Mew and Her Friends by Penelope Fitzgerald
Reviewed by Simon Thomas I’m going to be honest, when I picked up a biography a little-known turn-of-the-century poet, I wasn’t expecting it to be a page turner. I’d never read…
The Unexpected Professor by John Carey
Reviewed by Rob Spence John Carey has had a long and distinguished career in academia, and this autobiography records his journey from childhood in the war to his current position…
Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words by Boel Westin
Translated by Silvester Mazzarella Reviewed by Simon Thomas Tove Jansson is one of my very favourite authors, and I often recommend her to friends and fellow bibliophiles. Each time, except…
Mad Girl’s Love Song by Andrew Wilson
Reviewed by Victoria Best In Andrew Wilson’s fascinating account of Sylvia Plath before she met Ted Hughes, she comes across as the Britney Spears of the poetry world. There’s the…
Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris
Reviewed by Simon Thomas It’s a shame, in some respects, that our divisions on Shiny New Books don’t allow for subcategories within non-ficton, because you might be assuming (if the name…
In Search of Gielgud: A Biographer’s Tale by Jonathan Croall
Reviewed by Harriet Devine Writing a biography is easy, right? You just have to find out lots of facts about the person, and string them together to make them readable….
Give Me Everything You Have: On Being Stalked by James Lasdun
Reviewed by Victoria Best In the autumn of 2003, James Lasdun ran a fiction workshop at an American college where he met a talented Iranian-American student whom he calls ‘Nasreen’….
I Was A Stranger by John Hackett
Reviewed by Simon Thomas In a year where we almost certainly going to be inundated with books about World War One, it seems a little perverse to be publishing a…
Bedsit Disco Queen by Tracey Thorn
Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell I wish Tracey Thorn was my cousin, sister even. I can say that – for we share not only a maiden name, but a love of…
Born in Siberia by Tamara Astafieva
Translated by Luba Loffe Reviewed by Karen Langley Speak, memory, that I may not forget the taste of roses, nor the sound of ashes in the wind; That I may…