Book Reviews

There is an evil genius in Peckham Library. Not among the patrons: the book stock is sound enough, but, were you researching a plan for world domination, you’d want more extensive reference shelves and perhaps quicker Wi-Fi.   No, the evil genius is on the staff. He or she was responsible for the offer that marked the library’s 10th anniversary: a free canvas bag for any user who withdrew ten books in one go.   Some readers may already be snorting at the spendthrift generosity of this. But Peckham Library’s anniversary is worth marking – it is, for better or worse, an icon of regeneration. And the offer is more

Ageing roué Michel Houellebecq, the Serge Gainsbourg of the literary world, has won France’s most prestigious literary prize for his latest novel, La Carte et le Territoire (The Map and the Territory). Not before time, his supporters will say. But, then again, Houellebecq has long polarised opinion, and Les Cartes et le Territoire – featuring a foul-smelling, alcoholic, atrociously dressed writer called Michel Houellebecq, who is murdered in brutal fashion – promises to entrench that reputation. He was interviewed by the Paris Review last month. He discussed his literary influences, his upbringing in France and Algeria, his avant garde family life, the art of fiction, sex and love in a

There are few heretics before the Church of Ian McEwan, but Thomas Jones’ uses his review of Solar in the London Review of Books to make two points. Monomania is a feature of English writing – think motherhood to Mrs Bennett, hypochondria to Mr Wodehouse or climate change to James Delingpole. McEwan is unusual in that many of his protagonists are monomaniacs. Jones argues that this robs them of their humanity. Henry Perowne, the neurosurgeon in Saturday, is an extreme example. He perceives everything from the perspective of his profession. Occasionally that drives the plot – notably when confronted by a threatening and neurologically unhinged man in the street –