Having recommended the remarkable novel The Book of Ebenezer Le Page in our 1p Book Review feature, Nige enjoys the story of its mysterious author in a new biography…It’s a great story: a young art student comes across an elderly man who is living a reclusive life in a seaside town. … Read More…
Non-Fiction
Mr Key’s Shorter Potted Brief, Brief Lives – bringing you absurdly abbreviated biographies of the great men and women of history – is published by Constable and is available to buy now. It makes an ideal Christmas present. Dabbler editor Andrew Nixon (‘Brit’) has written the preface, a version of which we reproduce … Read More…
Back in September 2013, Frank Key posted on The Dabbler his idea of writing a book of very, very brief lives. Thanks in part to the enthusiastic reaction of the Dabbler audience and commenters, this idea has now become a reality, and Mr Key’s Shorter Potted Brief, Brief Lives will … Read More…
Back in September 2013, Frank Key posted on The Dabbler his idea of writing a book of very, very brief lives. Thanks in part to the enthusiastic reaction of the Dabbler audience and commenters, this idea has now become a reality, and Mr Key’s Shorter Potted Brief, Brief Lives will … Read More…
Back in September 2013, Frank Key posted on The Dabbler his idea of writing a book of very, very brief lives. Thanks in part to the enthusiastic reaction of the Dabbler audience and commenters, this idea has now become a reality, and Mr Key’s Shorter Potted Brief, Brief Lives will … Read More…
Jonathan Meades – once described by Marco Pierre-White as ‘the best amateur chef in the world’ – is currently raising funds on Unbound for a new cookbook – or perhaps an anti-cookbook. Called The Plagiarist in the Kitchen, it will contain 125 recipes and also be a paean to the importance of avoiding … Read More…
Jonathan Meades – once described by Marco Pierre-White as ‘the best amateur chef in the world’ – is currently raising funds on Unbound for a new cookbook – or perhaps an anti-cookbook. Called The Plagiarist in the Kitchen, it will contain 125 recipes and also be a paean to the importance of avoiding … Read More…
Brit reviews a new book that collects four decades’ worth of pictures of preachers and hecklers at Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park… If you’re on Facebook you’ll have discovered that some of your acquaintances, who seemed sane enough in real life, are actually pretty mad. I refer to a specific form … 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…
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…