“An absolute tour de force about old age and dying” – Linda Grant picks Margaret Drabble’s The Dark Flood Rises as one of the best books of the year in the Guardian.
How Jean-Michel Basquiat met his muse. A short extract from the audiobook of Widow Basquiat by Jennifer Clement, narrated by Noma Dumezweni.
Take a look around in this 360° video with Mark Cousins, writer of The Story of Looking. “We know that we’ve got love lives, we know we’ve got working lives—but what if we think of our looking life? What does that mean?”
“Terrifically smart and full of anecdotes that anyone remotely interested in rock and roll, publishing, or the legacy of the nineteen-sixties will find engrossing.”
New Yorker
“This novel captivates, despite the grimness of its preoccupations. Weiner has a knack for writing sentences that grab and grip, and he knows a lot about pacing and structure. Although it has none of Mad Men’s surface glamour, Heather, the Totality offers its readers a not dissimilar pleasure: that of an addictive, even thrilling, nihilism.”
Observer
“The relationship between biographer and subject can be notoriously tricky, filled with undefined expectations. But rarely does it come apart as dramatically as it has between Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner and the writer of his life, Joe Hagan… Sticky Fingers offers a fascinating insight into the relationship between Wenner, his writers and some of the most storied musicians and celebrities of the late 20th century.”
Guardian
“Jann Wenner and his biographer are no longer on speaking terms… The comprehensive biography describes Mr. Wenner’s rise to moguldom, his symbiotic relationships with pop-culture legends and the evolution of Rolling Stone from scrappy underground rag to shiny entertainment-industry bible. It also excavates Mr. Wenner’s personal life, including his complicated homosexuality, drug use, sexual escapades, familial friction and frequent feuds…”
New York Times
Mark Cousins talks The Story of Looking at Virtual Futures.
Philip Pullman, Maggie O’Farrell, James Ellroy and Michael Chabon on Heather, the Totality, the debut novel from Matthew Weiner, creator of Mad Men.
“We have work lives and love lives, but we also have looking lives.” With The Story of Looking about to come out, Mark Cousins writes in the Observer about our inner photo albums: the visual memories that linger with us.
Matt Lucas visited West End Lane Books to see his autobiography Little Me: My Life from A–Z out in the wild. If he can just find where they’ve put it…
David Eagleman & Anthony Brandt
“Despite appearances, innovations don’t come from nowhere. They are the latest branches on the family tree of invention.” An extract from The Runaway Species on how technology (and creativity) work: by building on what’s come before.
Wired
