Category: Books

Game of Thrones: The Mad King review – an action-packed saga of dry ice and fire

Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonThis prequel to the TV series has one joust after another, spectacular stagecraft and plenty of modern resonanceDuring the RSC’s 65 years, numerous Lears have lost their minds and...

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The right hates The Odyssey because of its ‘wokeness’ – but it missed an even bigger threat to its worldview | Peter Swallow

The new film extols the value of a rules-based world order. That’s far more radical than any casting decisionPeter Swallow is Labour MP for Bracknell, and the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on classics. Before his...

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‘Am I 68? 69?’ Irvine Welsh on growing old, getting clean, bashing out his new novel – and flirting with guns

Three decades after he channelled his heroin addiction into the cult classic Trainspotting, the Scottish author has discovered the joys of yoga, breathwork and standing desks. But is he quite as ‘Zen’ as he claims?By rights,...

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‘Everywhere there were pitifully injured people’: how a newly unearthed memoir captures the devastation of Hiroshima

In an exclusive extract from his memoir, Kiyoshi Tanimoto describes the terrifying trip across the city to locate his wife and child• ‘I didn’t want to be a victim of the bomb’: read an interview with Tanimoto’s daughter Koko...

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‘I never mentioned it for 25 years. I didn’t want to be a victim of the bomb’: Hiroshima survivor Koko Kondo on horror, anger and forgiveness

On that fateful day in 1945, Kondo was just a baby in her mother’s arms. She talks about her father’s newly discovered eye-witness account of the aftermath – and why she decided to continue his work as a peace campaigner•...

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‘At times I felt I’d bitten off more than I could chew’: Christopher Nolan on sweeping the Oscars, making The Odyssey – and getting a puppy

How do you follow Oppenheimer? By spending £250m bringing Homer’s epic poem to the big screen in Imax. Today’s most powerful director talks big swings, trauma-bonding and the healing powers of chocolate labrador Charlie“I’m in...

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The Odyssey review – Nolan goes god-tier with breathtaking epic of men, monsters and moral metamorphosis

Doing full justice to the Homeric legend, Christopher Nolan amasses an epic cast to convey the true cost of war with film-making of thrilling ambitionA classicist’s verdict: soulful hero flatters our times as women and nuance...

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‘I was a captive in this water prison with over 1,000 miles left to sail’: how an ocean odyssey with my old flame turned into a nightmare

I had always longed for adventure, so when ‘the Captain’ invited me on a 4,000-mile sailing trip, I took the plunge. Then coronavirus hit, and I found myself stuck in a relationship as choppy as the sea we were navigating. Who...

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