❌

Reading view

Long Hot Summer

In this week's bumper podcast, George Berridge assesses the legacy of Cormac McCarthy; Toby Lichtig on this summer's ideal reads; and an interview with American novelist Brandon Taylor.


'The Late Americans', by Brandon Taylor



Produced by Charlotte Pardy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

💾

Sauce Bolognese

This week, an exhibition of the Italian Renaissance painter Lavinia Fontana's work thrills Norma Clarke; and Kieran Setiya on Sarah Bakewell's bravura survey of the history of humanism.


'Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, rule breaker', at the National Gallery of Ireland until August 27, with accompanying book by Aoife Brady, Babette Bohn and Jonquil O'Reilly

'Humanly Possible: Seven hundred years of humanist freethinking, enquiry and hope' by Sarah Bakewell


Produced by Charlotte Pardy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

💾

Hay Festival Special

This week, Lucy and Alex head to Hay, and find guest stars Eleanor Catton and Sarah Raven.


Produced by Charlotte Pardy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

💾

Inheritance Taxes

This week, Norma Clarke unpicks the complicated business of family legacy in Polly Toynbee’s memoir; and Nicholas Clee immerses himself in Paul Murray’s multi-generational saga of Irish small-town life.



'An Uneasy Inheritance: My Family and Other Radicals’ by Polly Toynbee

’The Bee Sting’ by Paul Murray


Produced by Charlotte Pardy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

💾

O Tempora! O Mores!

This week, TLS contributors on what art and literature mean in a time of crisis; and we take a trip to the melancholy, beautiful, faded English seaside.


‘The Seaside: England’s Love Affair’, by Madeleine Bunting


Produced by Charlotte Pardy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

💾

Life In The Slow Lane

This week, Kate Simpson introduces us to the precarious and vital world of the gastropods; and James McConnachie plunges into the teeming waters of the St George’s Channel.


‘A World in a Shell: Snail Stories for a Time of Extinctions’ by Thom van Dooren

’The Turning Tide: A Biography of the Irish Sea’ by Jon Gower


Produced by Charlotte Pardy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

💾

All The News That’s Fit To Print

This week, Ben Hutchinson takes us to Paris to survey the invention of type; and Joe Moran on giving your creativity a workout.


‘Imprimer! L’Europe de Gutenberg’, Bibliothèque nationale de France, until July 16

'Imprimer! L’Europe de Gutenberg 1450-1520’, edited by Nathalie Coilly and Caroline Vrand

‘The Imagination Muscle: Where good ideas come from (and how to have more of them)’, by Albert Read


Produced by Charlotte Pardy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

💾

To Thine Own Self Be True

This week, Lucy and Alex discover how James Shapiro created his landmark work on a formative year in Shakespeare’s life; and Miranda France on her spellbinding study of memoir and creative writing.


‘1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare’, by James Shapiro

‘The Writing School’, by Miranda France


Produced by Charlotte Pardy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

💾

How To Respect A Chihuahua’s Privacy

This week, Laurie Maguire is in the audience for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet; and Lucy and Alex catch up with novelist Curtis Sittenfeld on her whistle-stop visit to the UK.



‘Hamnet’, an RSC production, from the novel by Maggie O’Farrell

‘Romantic Comedy’, by Curtis Sittenfeld


Produced by Charlotte Pardy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

💾

A Place of Greater Safety

Historian Emily Baughan on two books chronicling the immense impact of the NHS and the welfare state on the lives of Britons; and a new film explores Patricia Highsmith’s hinterland.



’The Welfare State generation: Women, agency and class in Britain since 1945’, by Eve Worth

‘Poster, protests and prescriptions: Cultural histories of the National Health Service in Britain’, edited by Jennifer Crane and Jane Hand

‘Loving Highsmith’, a film by Eva Vitija


Produced by Charlotte Pardy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

💾

❌