Steerforth discovers David Karp, a cerebral novelist whose name has unaccountably vanished from the literary canon... Until I found this novel in the cavernous basement of Camilla's Bookshop in Eastbourne, I had never heard of David Karp. I can't remember why One caught my eye, but as soon as I read ... Read More...
General
Gaw uncovers one of the secrets of a good obit: stick around, keep working... Christopher Lee died a knight, lauded for a film career that extended from propping up a very poorly British industry to featuring in some of the most profitable film franchises in Hollywood history. I don't want to knock ... Read More...
Will our children's children bother to keep any record of our existence at all? The flea markets suggest otherwise, finds Steerforth... One of the best things about my home town of Lewes is its Flea Market - a vast emporium of antiques and collectables housed in a large, converted Methodist Chapel. At ... Read More...
Let's face it, if anyone ever deserved a punch in the jaw, then it was Papa Hemingway... I had always believed that Wallace Stevens, poet and insurance company executive, led a life of exemplary dullness, all but devoid of incident. But then I came across a passing reference to the time ... Read More...
Nige appraises Swedish artist Carl Larsson, who along with his wife Karin virtually invented the 'Ikea' style... Born on this day in 1853 was the Swedish painter Carl Larsson. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that this supreme master of the blissful, love-infused domestic interior (and exterior) and celebrator of ... Read More...
Whether it's an action-packed SAS memoir or a grim tale of an abuse-ridden childhood in Ireland, there's only one thing you can guarantee about a smash hit book: that there'll soon be a host of publishers jumping on the bandwagon and filling the shelves with copycat titles with similar covers. Bookseller Steerforth recalls some ... Read More...
Steerforth discovers Warwick Deeping, once a prolific writer of bestsellers, now all but forgotten (and in this case, perhaps deservedly so)... In his wonderful essay Bookshop Memories, Orwell lamented that the authors who were most popular with his customers were Ethel M Dell and Warwick Deeping. I didn't recognise the first ... Read More...
As a couple more Labour leadership contenders drop off the greasy pole, Terry Stiastny, author of political thriller Acts of Omission, disinters a blisteringly cynical fictional account of the political life, and wonders why they bother in the first place. It was so comfortable to be out of the race. Then again, he ... Read More...
Nige on a legendary hippie and his surprising family connection... One of the more surprising facts about John Snagge, the old-school BBC radio announcer and boat race commentator ('I can't see who's in the lead, but it's either Oxford or Cambridge') is that he was the guardian of a legendary figure of ... Read More...
When Steerforth came across the strange-looking autobiography by one Baroness Von Bülop, he was intrigued - especially as she seemed to have enlisted the celebrated photographer Cecil Beaton... One stormy afternoon, I came across an illustrated 1939 autobiography called 'My Royal Past', by Baroness Von Bülop: It didn't look terribly inspiring, but then I noticed ... Read More...
