From Bront毛 to Le Carr茅: The year in books
23 December 2016
January
Newcomer Amy Liptrot 's Orkney odyssey on addiction and nature
Amy Liptrot in Orkney
As well as Orkney and London, this book explores an additional landscape, that of the internet itself
The Outrun is Amy Liptrot’s memoir about overcoming addiction while exploring the Orkney landscape. After a spell in rehab after becoming addicted to alcohol and drugs in London, she returned to her parent's sheep farm on her native islands and discovered that the place she once longed to escape offers her a cure; its wildness plays a crucial part in her recovery.
February
Master of espionage John le Carré's The Night Manager hits the small screen
Hugh Laurie in The Night Manager, 成人快手 One
I wouldn鈥檛 have trusted Kim Philby with my cat for the weekend
John le Carré is the former British spy (or was he?) whose best-selling novels captured the drama, paranoia and fear at the heart of the Cold War. Far from the glamour of James Bond, le Carré’s spies inhabited a bleak, grey world of double-agents and treachery that - even if it was fictional - reeked of authenticity. To tie in with the major 成人快手 adaptation of le Carré's book The Night Manager, our man in the know broke cover to let us in on nine secrets about le Carré, his life and his work.
March
Bards at the 成人快手: Our picks for World Poetry Day
Sylvia Plath
Readings of poems from Ariel by Plath herself powerfully illustrate its confessional nature
To celebrate World Poetry Day we cherry-picked some gems from across the 成人快手 for your viewing and listening pleasure: from Sylvia Plath and Philip Larkin to George the Poet and Allan Ginsberg.
April
Charlotte Brontë at 200: Weird, windswept and wonderful
Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska in the 2011 film adaptation of Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre reproaches our complacency about social and sexual politics on almost every page
To mark the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth, her biographer Claire Harman – author of the critically acclaimed Charlotte Brontë: A Life – revealed how she got under the skin of the unique and pioneering writer.
May
How do your favourite books compare with Hay Festival stars' choices?
Choices include Norman Mailer's The Fight, Joyce's Dubliners and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
My favourite book of all time is Wuthering HeightsMaxine Peake
The Hay Festival attracts some of the top names in literature, film, comedy and television to its 10 days of ideas, insight and inspiration. We put some of them on the spot to find out the title of their favourite EVER book.
June
Dahl 100: Illustrator Quentin Blake's friendship with Roald Dahl
The Enormous Crocodile was the first Roald Dahl book to be illustrated by Quentin Blake
I drew Willy Wonka like a sprite because everything that happened inside his factory was unreal, like a fairy tale
The drawings of Quentin Blake are immediately recognisable. He is best known for his illustrations to the stories of Roald Dahl, whose 100th birthday was ‘gloriumptiously’ feted throughout this year. Their working partnership was not an instant success, as Blake's first two sets of drawings for The BFG were rejected by the author. We caught up with Sir Quentin at his studio for a deeply personal insight into is work with Dahl, which started with a handshake and ended up as a friendship.
July
Stepping out from the shadows: Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent returns to the small screen after 24 years
Toby Jones as Verloc in The Secret Agent, 成人快手 One
We understand more about Conrad鈥檚 world now because we live in a latter-day version of it...
A 成人快手 adaptation of The Secret Agent, starring Toby Jones and Vicky McClure, aired on 成人快手 One in July. Published in 1907, Joseph Conrad's tale of radicalised individuals, suicide bombers and shadowy espionage activities feels like it could have been written yesterday. With our age practically defined by acts of terror, Conrad's story, with its paranoia and its enemies within, holds a mirror up to our deepest fears. 成人快手 Arts takes another look at the epoch explored in Conrad's novel to find out what it says about our own.
August
What we learned at the Edinburgh International Book Festival
(l-r) Marina Warner, James Kelman, Irvine Welsh, Nicola Sturgeon and Alan Cumming
Even the tea boy returned for the filming of Trainspotting 2Irvine Welsh
The Edinburgh International Book Festival features a host of talent from the worlds of literature, comedy, music and film, taking part in more than 700 events throughout August. We filmed a selection of sessions; here are some choice words of wisdom from the biggest names...
September
John le Carré memoirs are published
John le Carré pictured in 1964
The Cold War is still Le Carr茅鈥檚 big subject because the Cold War has never ended; it is merely carried forward by different means and different men
From his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War, to a career as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut, and Russia before and after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the fiction of David Cornwell - better known as John le Carré - has always got to the heart of modern times. As his first memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life, was published in September, we took a look at the life, work and philosophy of one of Britain's greatest living writers, alongside highlights from his many 成人快手 interviews over the past five decades.
October
Man Booker 2016: The 'best shortlist in years'
Satire or reality? George the Poet explores the themes of The Sellout
It is the UK’s most important prize for fiction, and critics called it the best shortlist in years. Excitingly, almost all of the authors were new. Ahead of the ceremony on 25 October, six champions - comedians David Baddiel and Sara Pascoe, presenter Mariella Frostrup, pianist Steven Osborne and crime writer Val McDermid - made the case for their shortlist favourites in a series of special films, and George the Poet explored the themes of the winner, Paul Beatty's The Sellout.
November
Utopia at 500: Did Thomas More’s book really predict the future?
In Search of Utopia at Leuven’s M-Museum | Photo by Dirk Pauwels
More's Utopia was an instant hit. Readers were intrigued by his vision of an earthly idyll where happiness is the norm.
In November, as the Belgian city of Leuven celebrated five centuries since the publication of Utopia, we considered Thomas More’s prophecies for an ideal society. From 'property is theft' to free education and euthanasia, how many did he get right?
December
Will Self: Does the novel matter any more?
When I started out as a novelist, we were considered to be gods.Will Self
In an exclusive film for 成人快手 Arts, writer Will Self considers the potential impact of society’s increasing indifference to the novel and to reading for pleasure. Asked by scientists to respond to their research that reading fiction may help us to form episodic memory, he discusses what impact technology has had on the novel and why our new digital culture may be just the latest in a line of fleeting knowledge technologies.
Books, Art and Photography in 2016
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Relive the literary year with our best features on books from the past 12 months.
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Life through a lens: showcasing the world's greatest photographers.
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Relive the year in art with our features on paintings, exhibitions and museums.
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Frida: Fiery, fierce and passionate
The extraordinary life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, in her own words
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Proms 2023: The best bits
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