The Granta Book of Travel, introduction by Ian Jack (Granta, £8.99 in UK)This fabulous selection of the most enduring pieces from Granta's first thirty-five issues voyages from Eastern Europe to Essex…Sat Jul 11 1998 - 01:00
Resurrection from the ashes`There's a dull stench. I think it's the garbage. But it's meWed Jul 08 1998 - 01:00
Music: A Very Short Introduction, by Nicholas Cook (Oxford, £5.99 in UK)Why "very short"? Not that there's nothing much to be said, just a clever title for this Oxford paperbacks series ("Oh, well, …Sat Jul 04 1998 - 01:00
Written by Herself: Women's Memoirs from Four Continents, edited by Jill Kerr Conway (Vintage, £9.99 in UK)This is, in a way, a travel book, but one which travels as much in time as it does in spaceSat Jul 04 1998 - 01:00
Standing up for pornographyPornocopia: Porn, Sex, Technology and Desire, by Laurence O'TooleSat Jun 27 1998 - 01:00
The Penguin Book of the City, edited by Robert Drewe (Penguin, £7.99 in UK)Cities: you either love them, hate them, or have a love-hate relationship with them, and the twenty-nine stories in this entertaining…Sat Jun 27 1998 - 01:00
Adele, by Mary Flanagan (Bloomsbury, £6.99 in UK)Prostitution of the kinkier kind in 1930s Paris provides the frame around which Mary Flanagan weaves this sordid tale, which …Sat Jun 27 1998 - 01:00
A treasure trove of Bouvier gossipPerhaps because it is such a contradiction in terms, the idea of an American aristocracy is endlessly fascinating - and when …Sat Jun 20 1998 - 01:00
The God of Small Things, by Arundhati RoyA sort of miniature family saga, this Booker prize-winning novel follows twins Estha and Rahel and members of their extended …Sat Jun 20 1998 - 01:00
Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe, by Bill BrysonBryson is the perfect companion with whom to embark on the "grand tour" - as long as you're safely ensconced in an armchair and…Sat Jun 20 1998 - 01:00
Budding Prospects, by T. Coraghessan BoyleThe American dream - or, at least, that chapter of it in which the doughty farmer strides fearlessly into the wilderness and …Sat Jun 20 1998 - 01:00
Testament to a mother's courageWomen are expected - even, in my experience, encouraged - to feel a bit weepy after the birth of a babySat Jun 06 1998 - 01:00
The Kiss, by Kathryn Harrison (Fourth Estate, £6.99 in UK)Halfway through this book I realised that it was not, as I had blithely assumed, a novelSat Jun 06 1998 - 01:00
Talk a good game with TV soccer speakSuppose, over the next four weeks, you get trapped in a room with half-a-dozen people who are glued to a live relay featuring…Tue Jun 02 1998 - 01:00
Human Croquet, by Kate Atkinson (Black Swan, £6.99 in UK)Boundless energy, crisp dialogue, an extraordinary cast of truly weird dudes; this novel leaps along with the enthusiasm of a…Sat May 30 1998 - 01:00
Games at Twilight, by Anita Desai (Vintage, £6.99 in UK)It's hard to avoid reading these apparently artless little stories as social documents, but they are really vignettes of disappointment…Sat May 30 1998 - 01:00
Flickerbook, by Leila Berg (Granta, £6.99 in UK)Why do adults treat children so badly? And before you start congratulating yourself (never smack, never shout, never, ever lose…Sat May 30 1998 - 01:00
Murder at Piper's Gut, by Eugene McEldowney (Arrow, 5.99 in UK)Now for the good news: Superintendent Cecil Megarry has retired from the RUC and settled in Howth, which means that (a) he belongs…Sat May 23 1998 - 01:00
Courtney Love, by Poppy Z Brite (Orion, £6.99 in UK)There is, you can't help feeling, something ludicrous about a biography of someone who has attained the ripe old age of 32; but…Sat May 23 1998 - 01:00
Skeletons in the family cupboardIn 1906 Susannah Lessard's great-grandfather, the architect Stanford White, was shot dead on the rooftop theatre at Madison Square…Sat May 23 1998 - 01:00
The Big Picture, by Douglas Kennedy (Abacus, £5.99 in UK)When worthy-but-dull New York lawyer Ben Bradford kills his wife's lover by mistake and is forced to freeze the body and go on…Sat May 16 1998 - 01:00
Why Is Sex Fun?: The Evolution of Human Sexuality, by Jared Diamond (Phoenix, £5.99 in UK)Well, it isn't, really - at least, not the way Jared Diamond does itSat May 16 1998 - 01:00
Aiming to plieUntil quite recently, a touring Russian ballet company meant one of two things: the Kirov or the BolshoiSat May 16 1998 - 01:00
The Amethysts, by Frank Delaney (HarperCollins, £6.99 in UK)"At nine o'clock that night the wind dropped and with it fell my heart..Sat May 16 1998 - 01:00
In the blinking of an eyeThe Diving-Bell and the Butterfly, by Jean-Dominique Bauby (Fourth Estate, £5.99 in UK)Sat May 16 1998 - 01:00
The Turkish Labyrinth: Ataturk and the New Islam, by James Pettifer (Penguin, £7.99 in UK)The cover blurb does its best to suggest that The Turkish Labyrinth is a timely, news-oriented investigation of the rise of Islamic…Sat May 09 1998 - 01:00
The Diary of a Provincial Lady, by E.M. Delafield (Virago, £8.99 in UK)The Provincial Lady's life, recorded in her diaries with the kind of superbly understated humour that only an English writer …Sat Apr 25 1998 - 01:00
Promiscuities, by Naomi Wolf (Vintage, £7.99 in UK)It may be timely and revelatory and all the rest, but it's still profoundly depressing, thisSat Apr 25 1998 - 01:00
Walking Dublin, by Pat Liddy (New Holland, no price given)Pat Liddy has divided his book into twenty-four walks, some obvious (Georgian Dublin, Ulysses walk, etc) and some not so obvious…Sat Apr 25 1998 - 01:00
It's a hat-trick for HornbyWill is 36 and too young for his age; Marcus is 12 and way, way too old for hisFri Apr 24 1998 - 01:00
Luxury of Exile, by Louis Buss (Vintage, £5.99 in UK)Claude Wooldridge has it all: a successful antiques business in which his son is safely installed as successor, a palatial home…Sat Apr 18 1998 - 01:00
Hidden Histories of Science, edited by Robert B. Silvers (Granta, £6.99 in UK)These five essays share a common theme: the ways in which major discoveries in biology, physics and medicine have been suppressed…Sat Apr 18 1998 - 01:00
Down the Dodder, by Christopher Moriarty (Wolfhound Press, £8.99)Anyone who has a passing acquaintance with the Dodder as the lazy stream that meanders through Rathfarnham will be surprised …Sat Apr 18 1998 - 01:00
Fascinating facts at his fingertipsMade in America, by Bill Bryson (Black Swan, £7.99 in UK)Sat Apr 04 1998 - 01:00
Gaglow, by Esther Freud, (Penguin, £6.99)Esther Freud interweaves the story of Sarah, an out-of-work actress and unmarried mother, with that of her Jewish ancestors in…Sat Mar 21 1998 - 00:00
The Life of Charlotte Bronte, by Elizabeth Gaskell, (Penguin, (poounds)5.99 in UK)Mrs Gaskell's "right understanding of the life of my dear friend, Charlote Bronte", created a sensation in Victorian England, …Sat Mar 21 1998 - 00:00
A first novel in sheep's clothingDon't be put off - as I was - by the subject matter of this brilliant debut novelSat Mar 21 1998 - 00:00
Love Like Hate Adore, by Deirdre Purcell (Town House, £6.99)When Angela Devine's brother James is accused of rape, her world collapsesSat Mar 21 1998 - 00:00
Running lightly . . . Poems for Young People, selected and introduced by Tom Mullins (Mercier Press, £7.99This is a most attractive collection of poems, divided into sections with appealing names such as "Safe and Warm", "Out on the…Sat Mar 14 1998 - 00:00
The Life of Charlotte Bronte, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Penguin, £5.99 in UK)Mrs Gaskell's "right understanding of the life of my dear friend, Charlote Bronte", created a sensation in Victorian England, …Sat Mar 14 1998 - 00:00
Bliss, by John Sugden (Omnibus Press, £9.99 in UK)This new-fangled-looking large-format paperback actually contains a surprisingly old-fashioned study of the life and work of …Sat Mar 14 1998 - 00:00
Stalking Fiona, by Nigel Williams (Granta, £5.99 in UK)You can, it seems, persuade a publisher to commit just about anything to print nowadays, provided it features a hard disc or …Sat Mar 14 1998 - 00:00
Animal Husbandry, by Laura Zigman (Hutchinson, £10 in UK)When the narrator of this comic novel is dumped by the man of her dreams, she develops a theory about relationships which she…Sat Mar 14 1998 - 00:00
Dwelling on a high noteTwo books, two lives, two divas: it ought to be possible to compare and contrast, to find little moments of recognition sparking…Sat Mar 07 1998 - 00:00
Small guides to long trampsThe Dingle Peninsula: 30 walks and scrambles, and The Beara Peninsula: 40 walks and scrambles, by Barry Keane (Collins Press, £…Sat Feb 21 1998 - 00:00
Love is Strange, edited by Richard Glyn Jones (Indigo, £7.99 in UK)Weird, more like, in this collection of stories which explore the wilder side of human sexuality, whether it be in the form of…Sat Feb 21 1998 - 00:00
Countless Dracula, by Tony Thorne (Bloomsbury, £6.99 in UK.)Despite a number of novels and films based on her allegedly bloody life, Elizabeth Bathory has never grabbed the popular imagination…Sat Feb 14 1998 - 00:00
Roman Fever, by Edith Wharton (Virago, £6.99 in UK)The stultifying claustrophobia of turn-of-the-century American "society" - a milieu whose deadly disapproval, presumably, Edith…Sat Feb 14 1998 - 00:00
Hunting Down the Universe, by Michael Hawkins (Abacus, £7.99 in UK)The scientific community, and specifically the cosmology community, must hate Michael HawkinsSat Feb 14 1998 - 00:00
