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…
Field of Shadows by Dan Waddell
Reviewed by Terence Jagger When I first heard of an English cricket tour to Germany in 1937, I assumed it was essentially subversive – that the tour would have been…
Computing with Quantum Cats by John Gribbin
Reviewed by Peter Hobson The name John Gribbin will be familiar to many readers with an interest in understanding the mysterious quantum world as he is well known for books…
An Island Odyssey by Hamish Haswell-Smith
Reviewed by Lizzy Siddal It is a piece of weakness and folly merely to value things because of the distance from the place where we are born: thus men have…
Vita Sackville-West’s Sissinghurst by Vita Sackville-West & Sarah Raven
Reviewed by Rachel Fenn Sissinghurst is the sort of place that you can’t help but fall in love with at first sight, even if you have absolutely no interest in…
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…
The Examined Life by Stephen Grosz
Reviewed by Victoria Best Best book of the year so far is Stephen Grosz’s compilation of case stories from his thirty years as a psychotherapist, The Examined Life; How We Lose…
On Writing by A.L. Kennedy
Reviewed by Simon Thomas When I first heard that A.L. Kennedy had written a book called On Writing – now out in paperback – I was intrigued and very keen to read…
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….
How to be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis
Reviewed by Jane Carter I was smitten as soon as I saw the title, but when I saw the cover—a pile of books is always a good thing and this…
A Long Walk Home by Judith Tebbutt
Reviewed by Victoria Best Of all the truly terrifying experiences that life can hold, I would imagine that being kidnapped and held hostage must be up there with the worst…
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…
Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses by Helen Rappaport
Reviewed by Harriet Devine On 17 July 1918, four young women walked down twenty-three steps into the cellar of a house in Ekaterinburg. The eldest was twenty-two, the youngest only…
Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon
Reviewed by Jackie Bailey Five words from the blurb: parents, exceptional, children, difference, acceptance. Far From the Tree is the most important book I’ve ever read. It is a masterpiece of…
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…
Falling into the Fire by Christine Montross
Written by Victoria Best I begin to wonder whether there is an entry in the DSM (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) for readers like me, who find themselves…
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…
The Love-Charm of Bombs by Lara Feigel
Reviewed by Harriet Devine For the past couple of years, I have been fascinated by the events of WW2, and have found myself drawn again and again to novels written…
Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik
Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell Good popular science books don’t come along that often, and when they do, they’re inevitably about four topics it seems: quantum physics, space, genetics or the…
Books That Changed the World by Andrew Taylor
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton The 50 most influential books in human history? There is a definite place in my life for books about books and I’m fond of a good…