A talent for friendship
John Sutherland reveals Stephen Spender's true talents in his biography of a poet who was undervalued, not least by himself. Blake Morrison on his former PhD supervisor
Sugar and spice
Gretchen Gerzina's biography of Frances Hodgson Burnett shows how she placed her trust in fantasy and it paid off, says Natasha Walter
Words on wheels
Laura Smith looks at a scheme in Essex that has brought libraries to the traveller community - and is helping to dispel widely held stereotypes.
Megaton megalomaniac
Despite pulling some punches, Peter Goodchild's new biography presents a compelling portrait of Edward Teller, the Darth Vader figure behind the H bomb
Swerving Berlin
Henry Hardy's selection of Isaiah Berlin's early letters, Flourishing, brings alive the brilliant insights into people and places that made him such an influential figure in 20th-century politics and thought
British libraries could shut by 2020
Report urges cuts in backroom staff, more late-night opening, and treble spending on books to reverse falling membership and lending.
‘The computers have made my life happy’
Stroud Green library receives visitors you might not expect: busy young people, stressed-out parents and sharp-suited businesswomen.
When Einstein was left as sick as a parrot
An assistant's newly discovered diary casts fresh light on the final years of one of the 20th century's greatest scientists.
Claws out for Crabbe
Alan Hollinghurst finds the creator of Peter Grimes unkindly served in Neil Powell's new study of George Crabbe
Auction of James Joyce’s love letter
A pulsating gusset-ripper letter from James Joyce to his lover, Nora Barnacle, has been discovered tucked into a book.
For a long life, choose prose not poetry
Writing poetry may pose a health threat, according to research published in the Journal of Death Studies.