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Robbie Millen

@robbiemillen.bsky.social

Literary Editor of The Times/Sunday Times. thetimes.com/culture/books

58 Posts1452 Follower152 Folgt
John Self@john-self.bsky.social · 9mo ago

"Where else will you read that the octogenarian Jean Rhys loved to shop at Miss Selfridge?" I reviewed Margaret Atwood's memoir Book of Lives - her 65th book in 65 years - featuring school bullies, an opera about home economics, and the end of the Second World War ("As I recall, it was drizzling").

Margaret Atwood’s memoir: ‘I cackle as I give the plot a good twist’

In Book of Lives, the Canadian novelist talks about her writing and life, from being a bullied ‘flat-chested weirdo’ to losing her partner of 46 years

thetimes.com

Robbie Millen@robbiemillen.bsky.social · 10mo ago

“Formidable female novelists, ghastly literary men, a faith-shaken poet, eunuchs, pirates, horny wolves, international terrorists…" It's been great fun to judge this prize ... and here are the six finalists ... www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/inside-the-c...

The Prize announces 2025 shortlist

The Baillie Gifford Prize rewards excellence in non-fiction writing, bringing the best in intelligent reflection on the world to new readers.

thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk

John Self@john-self.bsky.social · 12mo ago

"Barker can turn on a traditional novelist’s skills. But mostly she chooses not to follow the trad path. She would rather be the Picasso of fiction, breaking the rules to see what comes out." Me on Nicola Barker's energising and exasperating new novel, TonyInterruptor:

Viral madness and jazz riffs: a chaotic comedy for our times

Weird vibes, eccentric characters, odd punctuation — it’s all here in Nicola Barker’s energising and exasperating novel, TonyInterruptor

thetimes.com

John Self@john-self.bsky.social · 12mo ago

"He was a logophile, and loved obscure and little-used words, such as logophile." John Banville on the new biography of William F Buckley, one of the old arch-conservatives who "would have deplored Donald Trump as a vulgar arriviste, but by jingo they would have voted for him."

William F Buckley, gentleman revolutionary and word-drunk dandy

Sam Tanenhaus in his biography, Buckley, chronicles the life of the combative conservative intellectual

thetimes.com

John Self@john-self.bsky.social · 12mo ago

“I was born for something more than mere sanity. I was born for so much joy.” My review of Jennifer Dawson's 1961 novel The Ha-Ha, reissued by Faber Editions, a story of a woman in and out of a mental institution, whose "emotions surge and plunge, and she’s left hanging on like a sailor in a gale."

‘I was born for more than mere sanity’: life in a 1950s institution

Jennifer Dawson’s reissued 1961 novel, The Ha-Ha, draws on her own experience — she had a breakdown in her final year at Oxford and spent six months on a psychiatric ward

thetimes.com

Jay Rayner@jayrayner1.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Ever wondered what the deal is with the InsideSuccess kids outside London stations who tell you they are raising money to stop knife crime? I have. Well @jim.londoncentric.media of London Centric has done the leg work, as ever. substack.com/inbox/post/1...

Why can't anyone stop the fundraisers outside London stations?

Inside Success and WeRBlighty have broken the law with their fundraising activities. So why are they are allowed to continue operating outside the capital's busiest railway stations?

substack.com

Robbie Millen@robbiemillen.bsky.social · last yr.

I reviewed this history of organised crime. Full of fascinating stuff ... and I loved the story about the owner of Porky's, a Miami topless bar, who tried to buy a Russian submarine www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

It’s a gangster’s paradise — how crime organises our world

Mark Galeotti in his excitable history, Homo Criminalis, shows the ways that the underworld shapes society, from Aztec cocoa bean counterfeiting to nefarious dealings on the dark web

thetimes.com

John Self@john-self.bsky.social · last yr.

In the wake of Salt-Path-gate, I wrote about some of the juiciest literary frauds, including JT Leroy (whose fright wig made Warhol’s look understated), Eugenio Montale (did Clive James ever recover?), William Boyd, and of course the guv’nor, the constitutionally shameless James Frey:

Salt Path scandal: the juiciest literary scams, from James Frey to JT LeRoy

As accusations around Raynor Winn’s bestseller come to light, our critic rounds up the greatest scams, hoaxes and frauds in publishing history

thetimes.com

John Self@john-self.bsky.social · last yr.

The washed-up actress amid Rome's ruins; the smugglers and gossip-mongers of Morocco; the Sicilian heart-throb who couldn't get it up; and Maigret on holiday ("It was a crime of passion." "Don't be ridiculous! She was nearly fifty"). I wrote about great novels set in favourite holiday destinations:

Around the world in 12 novels — an expert’s guide

You’ve booked your holiday destination — now pack a book to match. John Self picks a dozen titles with a vivid sense of place

thetimes.com

John Self@john-self.bsky.social · last yr.

"It wasn't just a monetary robbery, but a symbolic one. The Northern Bank building is a great 1970s edifice in concrete: a building you can imagine Bill Bixby walking out of, coat over shoulder, in the credits for The Incredible Hulk." Me on Glenn Patterson's book about the IRA's £26.5m bank job:

How the IRA stole £26.5 million in a single night — and got away with it

In The Northern Bank Job, Glenn Patterson masterfully narrates the details of the infamous Belfast heist. But the bigger question, he argues, is why the thieves did it

thetimes.com