Latest Readings by Clive James (Yale University, £12.99). Invited by Yale University Press to compile a “little book about whatever books I had been reading lately”, James provides his usual knowledgeable and humorous opinions of authors he has loved and others he has recently discovered. Among the former are Conrad, Hemingway and Kipling and among the latter are the two trilogies by Olivia Manning. A bookman’s book, this slim volume reflects James’s mordant take on his own mortality: “If you don’t know the exact moment when the lights will go out, you might as well read until they do.”
Gratitude by Oliver Sacks (Picador, £9.99). Neurologist Oliver Sacks compiled these last four essays before he died in August last year. They summarise some of the material he wrote about in his earlier memoir On the Move and show his constant sense of wonder at the natural world and in the lives of his former patients, despite his lack of religious belief. He ponders the problem, as he sees it, of how consciousness arises from the brain, and reflects on the Orthodox Jewish Sabbaths of his childhood in north London. Of interest to all who enjoyed his most famous book, Awakenings.
Mad Men & Bad Men by Sam Delaney (Faber, £9.99). The author, a witty and astute observer of British advertising down the years, has written an eye-opening history of how admen began to influence British politics in the late 1960s. Covering some of the great campaigns of the past four decades, most famously Saatchi’s “Labour isn’t working”, Delaney presents an immensely readable history of a darkly funny profession. The subject will obviously fascinate political aficionados, but for anyone with an interest in human foibles it is worth a read.
Catullus’ Bedspread by Daisy Dunn (William Collins, £16.99). Catullus – “Rome’s Most Erotic Poet”, as the subtitle has it – might not be the sort of classical writer one would want a servant to read, but the 1st century BC poet remains a fascinating figure. A relentless mocker of the great figures of his age, including Julius Caesar and Pompey, he is best known for his erotic elegies, mostly to married women he called “Lesbia”. In this hugely enjoyable study of his life and work, Daisy Dunn lifts the lid on an era and world that remains engrossing two millennia on.
The Anglo-Saxon World by Nicholas Higham and MJ Ryan (Yale University, £16.99). Almost no area of British history has been more illuminated in recent years than the days before the Norman invasion, with previously obscure centuries coming to life thanks to archaeology. Using all the latest findings, as well as contemporary sources, this large, bountiful book tells us almost everything we need to know about the period. As with all Yale books, the production is superb, and the quality and quantity of illustrations, maps and other useful guides second to none.
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