Inside Books
Unflinching Athill lands Costa book award at 91
Former literary editor is oldest winner of prize, for memoir that drew plaudits for its honesty about sex and death
Forgotten authors No 18: Oscar Wilde
Hang on. Hang on. Dear Oscar? Never off the London stage, Dame Judi, a handbag, that Oscar? There's another type of forgetfulness that occurs when we choose to remember authors by their most famous books or plays. Their lesser works get lost or sidelined. Few readers of Oliver Twist recall Dickens' round-robin collections such as The Haunted House. Tennessee Williams is treasured for A Streetcar Named Desire but not for "The Mysteries of the Joy Rio", one of around 50 exquisite short stories he penned. The collected fairy tales of Oscar Wilde are almost unknown. Although still available, they are rarely bought and read aloud any more, as they were designed to be.
Mr Dick, or The Tenth Book, By Jean-Pierre Ohl, trans. Christine Donougher
An old curiosity shop of a book – with a twist of literary malice
- Maps of my life, By Guy Browning
- Bad Vibes: Britpop and my part in its downfall, By Luke Haines
- A Night Out with Robert Burns: The greatest poems, ed Andrew O'Hagan (Rated 4/ 5 )
- The Error World: A memoir of obsession and desire, By Simon Garfield (Rated 4/ 5 )
- Cleaning Up: How I gave up drinking and lived, By Tania Glyde (Rated 3/ 5 )
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