Written by Sheila Liming In Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time, author Shiela Liming tells us why we’ve overlooked the magic of simply spending time with people. Real, in-person time.  In the following extract, Shiela makes a case for quality, incidental, IRL time that, even when complicated by conflict, always trumps digital communication.  A few months ago, I […]

When Sesame Street went to Russia with love Producer Natasha Lance Rogoff helped bring Sesame Street to Russian screens Rogoff faced funding being pulled and cultural clashes between US and Russia  Show was fixture on Russian screens until Vladimir Putin’s people cancelled it READ MORE: How Russian soldiers stole life-sized Elmo puppet when Kremlin raided studios in bid to cancel Russia’s […]

RETRO THE PYRAMID by William Golding (Faber £9.99, 262pp) This tragi-comedy is written in three sections, each of which narrates a period in the life of Oliver, 18, about to leave Silbourne, his small home town, to study chemistry at Oxford This tragi-comedy is written in three sections, each of which narrates a period in the life of Oliver, 18, […]

Real or fake, the art business didn’t care! As Tony Tetro discovered, there was a fortune in forging art. Until, that is, he was caught Con/Artist is the compulsively readable memoir of Tony Tetro, the prolific art forger of the twentieth century  The renowned art forger reveals the secrets behind his decades of painting  Tetro was a largely self-taught artist […]

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info “Can we talk about Peep Show now?” asks the 58-year-old with a relieved baritone laugh, after our lengthy discussion about […]

CHRISTMAS BOOKS: Festive gifts of comfort and joy POETRY  The time of ‘comfort and joy’ doesn’t always deliver either, which is why some people (more than one might expect) turn to poetry for consolation and confirmation. Why? Because you discover that your longings are universal and your pain is not unique. So a poetry book can be a gift of […]

Traitorous royals? Terrible tyrants? Yes, history really does repeat itself… HISTORY  DIARY OF AN INVASION   by Andrey Kurkov (Mountain Leopard £16.99, 304pp)  History is playing out before our eyes — that’s why this very current book on Ukraine’s struggle against Putin’s Russia tops my History list. It’s also because, as we learn from this personal account of the war […]

Guests coming? Time for a scurryfunge! Tom Read Wilson has found the perfect word for every one of life’s moments Tom Read Wilson has found the lost words to match every one of life’s moments From Treppenwitz (in German) to L’esprit de l’escalier (French) and Scurryfunge He has uncovered lost words that have disappeared from language use On the Tip […]

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info Sentenced to 12 months in Wormwood Scrubs for assault during the Brixton uprising of April 1981, the 18-year-old clenched his […]

One in three children feel they are not well represented in books We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info And of the 37 percent of girls who […]