Charlie Connelly
09 February 2023
The joy of texts
Are bulging bookshelves really “smug and cultish” – or sources of much-needed tranquility?
Read the full article02 February 2023
Maria Schneider: The actress scarred by Last Tango in Paris
One scene, for which she was not prepared, defined the career of an actress who never wanted to be a star
Read the full article02 February 2023
Mining for a glint of gold
What a new collection by some of France’s greatest writers tells us about the art of the short story
Read the full article26 January 2023
Alexandra of Yugoslavia: The pawn in an international game she never truly understood
Nothing in the life of Alexandra, Princess of Greece and Denmark, Queen of Yugoslavia, was ever truly her own
Read the full article26 January 2023
Here lies a rose, a budding rose
I set out on a quest to find the grave of a someone I never knew, thanks to a book with a story
Read the full article19 January 2023
Anna Pavlova: The ballerina with the zeal of an evangelist
The Russian always insisted she could never envision a life without dancing
Read the full article19 January 2023
The science and fiction of Cormac McCarthy
Two late works shed light on his four-decade link with a remarkable scientific institution
Read the full article12 January 2023
Henri-Georges Clouzot: The auteur who explored the darker corners of the human psyche
The French director's obsessive desire for perfection proved ultimately self-destructive
Read the full article12 January 2023
The woman who saw Jesus
A new book tells the story of two of Britain’s most famous mystics
Read the full article05 January 2023
Bookshelves are becoming the preserve of the privileged
There are literary delights to look forward to this year – but authors won’t be getting a pay rise
Read the full article31 December 2022
Kurt Schwitters: The German artist defined by war
The riptide of 20th century politics had pulled him from his homeland and set him adrift. A tumultuous period that soon defined his work
Read the full article30 December 2022
2023 will be the year books make history
Three works which will require room on your shelves
Read the full article22 December 2022
Grigori Rasputin: The semi-literate peasant who became counsellor to the Tsar
In death as well as in life, the Rasputin story is shrouded in an awed mythology
Read the full article22 December 2022
Gripping fiction: the best of 2022
Sri Lankan ghosts, queer love and a fictional nation all made for riveting reading this year
Read the full article15 December 2022
Marcello Mastroianni: The archetypal Italian leading man
His was acting of remarkable subtlety and nuance, especially when sharing the screen with some of cinema’s most magnetic women
Read the full article15 December 2022
Tales from a lush life: the non-fiction books of the year
A searing music memoir, goshawks and John Donne all featured in 2022’s best non-fiction
Read the full article08 December 2022
Annette Stroyberg: The actress who spent life looking for the idyll of her earliest memories
The Dane had a reputation as a vamp but in truth was as fragile as a gazelle
Read the full article08 December 2022
Dear @elonmusk.. please don’t ruin Twitter! It may not be perfect but it’s a gift to publishing
Most authors and publishers would be sorry to see it collapse
Read the full article01 December 2022
The book of football: how Fever Pitch was a gamechanger
Thirty years ago, one writer captured the essence of the game like no one before him
Read the full article01 December 2022
Karlheinz Stockhausen: The composer desperate to reach the future
The German spent a lifetime seeking a creative place as far as possible from the vivid horrors of his past
Read the full article24 November 2022
Guido Cantelli: The heir to Toscanini who never reached La Scala
The Italian's conducting was so intense a friend swore he'd seen a white glow around him
Read the full article24 November 2022
Land of fire, ice and stories
Winter nights in Iceland are long and dark – just how writers like them
Read the full article17 November 2022
Niels Bohr: The physicist who revolutionised human knowledge of the atom
Nobody stuck a poster of Niels Bohr, wild-haired and with his tongue out, on their wall, but the Dane did as much for expanding the range of scientific knowledge in the modern age as Albert Einstein
Read the full article17 November 2022
The literary prize for friction: the controversial history of the Prix Goncourt
The prestigious French award is a reliable source of controversy
Read the full article10 November 2022
A reading list for Suella Braverman
As you’re not having much luck with your emails – perhaps try reading some books instead
Read the full article10 November 2022
Jean Gabin: The French actor who never wanted to perform
To this day, despite his ambitions and desires, the legendary actor is considered a key figure in French cinema
Read the full article03 November 2022
The Russian refuge in La Belle Époque
The lives of the early 20th-century gentry who fled to safety – but also to poverty – in Paris
Read the full article03 November 2022
Leon Theremin: The Soviet inventor whose legacy can be heard everywhere
Named after its creator, the theremin became one of the sounds of the 20th century, from The Day the Earth Stood Still to Scooby Doo
Read the full article27 October 2022
Federico Fellini: The director who captured the spirit of the 1960s
For all Fellini is held up as the ultimate chronicler of Rome in the 20th century, it’s Rimini that made him and Rimini that inhabits his films
Read the full article27 October 2022
The dilettante father of gothic horror
From Dracula to The Haunting of Hill House, it all leads back to The Castle of Otranto
Read the full article20 October 2022
Lino Ventura: The reluctant actor who became one of European cinema’s great tough guys
The one-time middleweight Greco-Roman wrestling champion of Europe was a a surprisingly nuanced screen presence
Read the full article20 October 2022
Dedication, that’s what you need
The messages inside secondhand books are captivating mysteries all of their own
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