Provence: just knowing it's there helpsEncore Provence. by Peter Mayle. Hamish Hamilton. 195pp, £16.99 in UKSat Jun 26 1999 - 01:00
Twelve Gothic Tales, edited by Richard Dalby (Oxford, £5.99 in UK)Haunted castles, dark passageways, witches, ghouls and black cats galore; they're all here, and Richard Dalby treads a cautious…Sat Jun 19 1999 - 01:00
Mary Magdalen, by Susan Haskins (HarperCollins, £12.99 in UK)Mary Magdalen as a more appropriate role model for contemporary women than the Virgin of the same name? It sounds like one of…Sat Jun 12 1999 - 01:00
Pig Earth, by John Berger (Bloomsbury, £6.99 in UK)The out-there, off-centre tone of this book seems quite extraordinary until you remember that its author, having won what was…Sat Jun 12 1999 - 01:00
Various artists: Simply the Best Night at the Opera (Erato)The cover of this 2-CD compilation is an exercise in diplomacy. "Alagna," it goes, "Bartoli, Carreras, Cura, Gheorghiu..Fri Jun 11 1999 - 01:00
You're not singing any more . . .Ask any soccer fan what was on his or her mind in the first week of June last year, and it's most unlikely that they will reply…Sat May 22 1999 - 01:00
Tara Road, by Maeve Binchy (Orion, £6.99 in UK)RIA lives in a rambling, comfortable Victorian pile in a salubrious Dublin suburb, Marilyn in a spacious modern house in New …Sat May 15 1999 - 01:00
Mary Robinson: the Authorised Biography by Olivia O'Leary and Helen Burke (Sceptre/Lir, £7.99 in UK)Given the pedigree of its authors in, respectively, hard-edged current affairs journalism and academe, there are some surprisingly…Sat May 8 1999 - 01:00
If she finds it, she plays itOutside the window of the cafe on Liverpool's Albert Dock, fierce grey winds sweep the surface off the water and fling it in …Sat May 1 1999 - 01:00
The Shadow Player, by Rose Doyle (Town House, £6.99)When a woman with two children turns up on your doorstep on the day after New Year's and tells you that a) the father of your…Sat May 1 1999 - 01:00
A Name for Himself, by Catherine Dunne (Vintage, £5.99 in UK)Catherine Dunne's second novel gives a voice - and a powerful, articulate voice at that - to the sort of contemporary characters…Sat May 1 1999 - 01:00
Charpentier: Divertissements/Airs et Concerts (Erato)You could argue that they're not strictly ballroom in the opera sense, but there's no doubt that these charming little songs …Sat Apr 24 1999 - 01:00
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (Pan, £5.99 in UK)In April 1992 Chris McCandless hitch-hiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wildernessSat Apr 24 1999 - 01:00
Every Time We Say Goodbye, by Anna Blundy (Arrow, £6.99 in UK)The myth of the war correspondent - insouciant, untouchable, stylishly got up in the latest flak jacket chic - has been one of…Sat Apr 17 1999 - 01:00
Captain Corelli's Mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres (Vintage, £5.99 in UK)Set on the apparently idyllic Greek island of Cephallonia, Captain Corelli's Mandolin has been a permanent fixture on the bestseller…Sat Apr 10 1999 - 01:00
Head on a platter`It's like dying and going to heaven: it's just divine singing. You wait all your life to be able to sing that kind of musicSat Apr 10 1999 - 01:00
Ottoman exploitsBaffled by the Balkans? You could, in an effort to seek partial enlightenment, do worse than plunge into Jason Goodwin's impressionistic…Sat Apr 10 1999 - 01:00
Magnum: 50 years at the frontline of history, by Russell Miller (Pimlico, £12.50 in UK)If every picture tells a story, then Magnum's magnificent photographs have been telling the story of our century since the agency…Sat Apr 10 1999 - 01:00
Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, by Kary Mullis (Bloomsbury, £12.99 in UK)Kary Mullis is a Renaissance man for the new millennium; a brilliant chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1993 for his …Sat Apr 3 1999 - 01:00
Creating momentum`Often, as I struggled with obstacles of every kind opposed to my works - often, as my physical and mental powers sank and I …Sat Apr 3 1999 - 01:00
Traditional African and Oriental Music, by Otto Karolyi (Penguin, £7.99 in UK)The growing popularity of world music, and the enormous choice now available under that heading in record shops, has not, alas…Sat Apr 3 1999 - 01:00
Beloved, by Toni Morrison (Vintage, £6.99 in UK)Trailers for the forthcoming feature film starring Oprah Winfrey suggest that Hollywood's Beloved will be a considerably glossier…Sat Apr 3 1999 - 01:00
All That She Wants, by Maeve Haran (Warner, £5.99 in UK)Francesca Tyler is beautiful, flame-haired and the editor of a local newspaperSat Mar 27 1999 - 00:00
The city's rural gloriesThe Unofficial Country- side, by Richard Mabey (Pimlico, £10.99 in UK)Sat Mar 27 1999 - 00:00
Conjurers and cold frontsSingle and Single, by John le Carre, read by the author (Hodder Headline, 4 tapes, 6 hrs, £12.99 in UK)Sat Mar 20 1999 - 00:00
Evergreen Stories, selected by Hilary Laurie (Phoenix, £3.99 in UK)The centrepiece of a mammoth series of budget collections, this modest-looking little volume contains some eighteen classic stories…Sat Mar 6 1999 - 00:00
Real Men don't sing tenorThomas Hampson and Samuel Ramey: "No Tenors Allowed" (Teldec)Fri Mar 5 1999 - 00:00
A singular Strether comes to EuropeThe year is 2099. The world political scene is dominated by the Union - formerly known as the EU - which comprises 42 nations…Fri Mar 5 1999 - 00:00
Music for Middlebrows, by Des Keogh (Ashfield Press, £9.99)Des Keogh's genial presence has ensured that a radio show which began as a thirteen-week series in 1968 has been a permanent …Sat Feb 6 1999 - 00:00
The Acid House, by Irvine Welsh (Vintage, £6.99 in UK)The inevitable failure of the misguided film of the same name, which sought to weave four of these weird, wild stories into a…Sat Feb 6 1999 - 00:00
1001 Answers to Correspondents, edited by Andy Simpson and James Black (Robinson, £6.99 in UK)This book bills itself as "the answer to all the questions you never knew you wanted to ask" - and sure enough, unless you're…Sat Feb 6 1999 - 00:00
The Guardian Year '98, edited by John Ezard (Fourth Estate, £12.99 in UK)Fifteen quid - which it will be, more or less, by the time it gets into Irish bookshops - may seem like a lot to fork out for…Sat Jan 30 1999 - 00:00
The Salesman, by Joseph O'Connor (Vintage, £5.99 in UK)This surprisingly subdued novel follows the fortunes of a 49-year-old purveyor of satellite dishes, Billy Sweeney, whose daughter…Sat Jan 30 1999 - 00:00
The Vintage Book of Office Life, edited by Jeremy Lewis (Vintage, £7.99 in UK)Is nothing safe from the anthologiser's beady eye? Apparently not, for Jeremy Lewis has assembled a collection of your worst …Sat Jan 30 1999 - 00:00
Mrs Einstein, by Anna McGrail (Anchor, £6.99 in UK)What an inspired idea for a story - to trace the life of the illegitimate daughter who was given away in 1902 by the young Einstein…Sat Jan 23 1999 - 00:00
Requiem for a Family Business, by Jonathan Guinness (Pan, £7.99 in UK)The gospel according to Guinness? Well, not quite; Jonathan Guinness worked for Reuters news agency for a few years, and he not…Sat Jan 23 1999 - 00:00
The ultimate man of lettersThis comprehensive biography of the ultimate man of letters - novelist, playwright, screenwriter, biographer, essayist and critic…Sat Jan 23 1999 - 00:00
Maid of the Mist, by Colin Bateman (HarperCollins, 10.99 in UK)The film of his first novel, Divorcing Jack, will have brought this Northern thriller writer to the attention of a wider audience…Sat Jan 23 1999 - 00:00
The Thieves' Opera, by Lucy Moore (Penguin, £7.99 in UK)Anyone who hankers after the good old days should peruse these pages, crammed as they are with the noises, smells and skullduggery…Sat Jan 23 1999 - 00:00
Love and Music: The Glorious History of the Dublin Grand Opera Society 1941-1998, by Gus Smith (Atlantic Publishers, £10.95)It was founded as the result of a 1941 newspaper advertisement; it now stands on the threshold of a brave and, with the demise…Sat Jan 23 1999 - 00:00
Open to whatever breeze there isThe sights, sounds and extraordinary colours of a year in the life of the Mayo coast are triumphantly captured in this magical…Sat Jan 16 1999 - 00:00
A Perfect Wife, by Christina Odone (Phoenix, £6.99 in UK)When Michael is, after years of grafting, plotting and scheming, finally appointed editor of a national newspaper, his clever…Sat Jan 16 1999 - 00:00
Sounds Good: 101 Poems to be Heard, edited with an introduction by Christopher Reid (Faber & Faber, £7.99 in UK)All together, now: "O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,/ So haggard and so woe-be-gone?" Or here's another: "But at my back …Sat Jan 16 1999 - 00:00
Joe Gould's Secret, by Joseph Mitchell (Vintage, £6.99 in UK)The English pride themselves on the quality of their eccentrics, but New York can throw up arcane individuals of a high order…Sat Jan 16 1999 - 00:00
The Daily Telegraph Third Book of Obituaries: Entertainers, edited by Hugh Massingberd (Pan, £6.99 in UK)Hugh Massingberd made obituaries into oddities during his decade as obituaries editor at the Daily Telegraph, and this selection…Sat Jan 16 1999 - 00:00
Good Enough To Eat: How We Shop, What We Eat, by Maureen Tatlow (Gill & Macmillan, no price given)Maureen Tatlow is a mine of information concerning BSE, antibiotics in pork, genetic modification and other trendy food topics…Sat Jan 9 1999 - 00:00
After the feast is overIf you have eaten too much during the festive season, fear not, for this witty anthology will allow you to taste of all manner…Sat Jan 9 1999 - 00:00
Sex Lives of the Great Artists, and Sex Lives of the Great Composers, by Nigel Cawthorne (Prion, £6.99 each in UK)What made Picasso insatiable? Why did Van Gogh present his severed ear to a prostitute? What did Chopin mean when he referred…Sat Jan 9 1999 - 00:00
Continuing our critics' fast-forward through the year aheadDistinguished mezzo-soprano Ann Murray visits the NCH on January 15th on a rare visit here to sing Berlioz's Les Nuits d'Ete (…Sat Jan 2 1999 - 00:00