Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy audiobook review – a thrillingly blunt take on new motherhood
A thrillingly blunt account of new motherhood, Claire Kilroy’s Soldier Sailor has been shortlisted for the Women’s prize, and finds its narrator addressing her baby, whom she calls Sailor, as she reports from life at the domestic coalface. Blending the…
Caleb Azumah Nelson: ‘James Baldwin ignited something in me that’s still burning today’
My earliest reading memoryReading Biff and Chip in my first couple of years of primary school. I loved those books and was always desperate for the next one. My favourite book growing upNoughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman. Malorie was my local author – I…
Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang review – an intimate account of how China is changing
Yuan Yang, the former Financial Times China correspondent, has written an engrossing new book that meticulously reports on a country in the throes of change, using the lives and choices of four women from her own generation as a lens. Leiya, Sam, June and…
A Man in Full to Shardlake: the seven best shows to stream this week
Pick of the weekA Man in Full Charlie Croker is a boorish property developer who trusts his charisma and deal-making smarts will carry him through any crisis. Based on Tom Wolfe’s 1998 novel of the same name, the drama stars…
Thank You, Goodnight review – Bon Jovi’s surprisingly devastating ode to lost youth
Every pop biography has the same dilemma: fans of the artist want to know all the details, while viewers with only a passing interest just want to get to the good stuff. You can tell which side of the line…
Joe and Katherine’s Bargain Holidays review – comedians slum it with a ‘spa day’ in a pub car park
Channel 4 has carved out a particular niche in daytime-shaped TV shows airing at night. This largely means that an afternoon-ish format, of the sort that would usually be broken up with ads for life insurance, animal charities and conservatories,…
Booker prize urged to consider name change over slavery link
The Radio 1Xtra host Richie Brave has said the Booker prize should consider changing its name because of its links to enslavement. Brave’s legal surname is Booker and his ancestors were enslaved by the founders of the company that originally…
‘She was tough, but it broke her’: why There’s Something About Miriam was reality TV’s most shameful low
It was the very definition of “different times”. In summer 2003, a TV dating series saw men compete for the affections of a 21-year-old Mexican model named Miriam Rivera. What her suitors didn’t realise was that the glamorous star of…
French national library quarantines books believed to be laced with arsenic
France’s national library has removed four 19th-century books from its shelves whose emerald green covers are believed to be laced with arsenic. The library said on Thursday that handling the books, which were printed in Britain, would probably cause only…
Testmatch review – smart satire hits casual racism for six
Stepping up to bat in this show of two very different innings are the enduring legacies of vitriolic nationalism and the violence of colonialism. But for the most part, in this story of sport and superiority, we’re just watching people…