As The Guardian’s chief theatre critic, it is perhaps inevitable that Arifa Akbar’s works of narrative nonfiction are unbuttoned from the constrictions of a single genre or perspective. Her second book Wolf Moon: A Woman’s Journey into the Night follows in the footsteps of her acclaimed memoir Consumed: A Sister’s Story by establishing a form…
June is time for big decisions which will likely shape the rest of summer, not least when it comes to books. Here are five recommendations to pack alongside that holiday page-turner. THE MÖBIUS BOOK, Catherine Lacey Bloomsbury Circus, pp. 240 Catherine Lacey is the author of recent literary sensation Biography of X which followed the…
Born in Germany but writing in English, Katharina Volckmer is one of a handful of female contemporary writers (another being Missouri Williams) who still loves to antagonise the reader and shatter a few taboos along the way. Her first novella The Appointment—published by Fitzcarraldo in 2020 and recently brought to the stage by Call My…
Just in time before the end of the month and the official start of summer, here are five books—mostly UK debuts, a couple somewhat farther afield—that will keep you reading while waiting for good weather. GUNK, Saba Sams Bloomsbury Circus, pp. 240 Set mostly around a grimy student club in Brighton—Gunk, the debut novel by…
This month, from 16-18 May, art book fair Available Works returns to New York for its fourth and most expansive iteration yet. The event will take over the 39th floor of 180 Maiden Lane for a weekend of printed matter, live music, art, and cultural programming. Presented by Something Special Studios* and Water Street Associates…
Easter is one of those times where even people who don’t usually have time to read feel like it is time to relax and spend a few hours in the company of a book. Here are five suggestions to keep those hours fun and, more often than not, more than a little weird. VANISHING WORLD,…
The opening pages of Vincenzo Latronico’s Perfection are lavished with an itemised description of a chic apartment complete with Scandinavian furniture, a geometric berber rug, lush monstera plants and past issues of Monocle and the New Yorker stacked neatly. Originally written and published in Italian as Le Perfezioni in 2022, Perfection is a slim novel…
Believe it or not, this marks the first year anniversary of this column. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. But enough of that. Here are five more for you. THE LIFE, OLD AGE, AND DEATH OF A WORKING-CLASS WOMAN, Didier Eribon Allen Lane, pp. 256 Eribon is…