We've been marking the launch of occasional Dabbler Bryan Appleyard's new book The Brain is Wider than the Sky with a mini-Appleyardfest (read Brit's review here and an exclusive Q&A with the author here). To conclude it, here's Elberry on the human imagination... Signed copy competition winners - congratulations to Dabbler ... Read More...
The Dabbler Book Club
Following Jon Hotten's review of Hood Rat - Gavin Knight's new survey of Britain's gang culture - Elberry takes on the underclass... One of the great pleasures of living in Germany is not living in England. In Germany disaffected youths scrawl pointless graffiti and dress in bright primary colours; in England, they take ... Read More...
Hood Rat - Gavin Knight's new book about Britain's gang culture - makes for uncomfortable reading. We have a double-bill for you, kicking off with Jon Hotten's review... In 1991, David Simon published a book called Homicide: Life On The Killing Streets, that followed for a year the work of three ... Read More...
Gaw ruminates on the significance of Solzhenitsyn's final work in a world where even disaffected and idealistic Occupiers no longer really seem very sure of anything... In a little less than a month we mark the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union. I haven't seen a single mention ... Read More...
Elberry reviews Philip Connors' much-hyped chronicle of a season spotting wildfires in New Mexico... I came to this book via the usual marketing soundbites: masterwork, unforgettable, profoundly absorbing, absolutely compelling, and so on. Not many books can live up to such praise, and Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout ... Read More...
Guest reviewer Stephanie Thomson falls in love with an unusual tribute to London, and reckons it's a perfect Christmas gift... How do you describe love at first sight? It’s relatively straightforward to explain how and when it happens, but the ‘why’ is more elusive. I fell in love with London 26 years ... Read More...
Announcing the winners of this month's Dabbler Book Club choice... Earlier on The Dabbler, Nige thought it was "thought-provoking, serious and witty". A little later, David Waywell reckoned it "contains erudition, thought, doubt, contradiction, cynicism, and even melancholy". It's not as if we haven't set out to whet your appetite is it? It's ... Read More...
Author and Sunday Times journalist Bryan Appleyard - whose acclaimed new book The Brain is Wider Than the Sky was reviewed by Brit here - talks exclusively to The Dabbler about technology, David Hockney, blogging and the increasing polarisation of culture... Why did you decide to write The Brain is Wider ... Read More...
Bryan Appleyard has published a new book, and The Dabbler will be marking the occasion in suitable style. We have two signed copies of The Brain is Wider Than the Sky to give away (see below) and we also have an exclusive Q&A coming up. But first, Brit reviews the book, and ... Read More...
Continuing our tribute to Clive James , whose new collection A Point of View is The Dabbler Book Club's current monthly choice (sign up here if you're not yet a member), renowned internet hoaxer and comedy writer David Waywell explains why Clive, unlike Johann Hari - whose scathing interview with James forms a crucial chapter in ... Read More...
