Open City by Teju Cole
A novel about spatial relations, it is also effective at dramatising the relationship between objective and subjective experienceJulius is an American psychiatrist training in Manhattan. Of German and Nigerian extraction, he is rootless in New York. En...
The Last Gift by Abdulrazak Gurnah – review
Abdulrazak Gurnah's novel explores immigrant experiences of identity, roots and family"It was late in the day when it happened, returning home from work, but it was also late in the day altogether. He had left things for too long and there was no one t...
The Devil’s Garden by Edward Docx
Edward Docx's satisfying novel follows in Conrad's footstepsWilbur Smith once told me that adventure novels set in South America don't really work. Well, it always takes a young pup to prove an old dog wrong. Here comes Edward Docx, author of the accla...
Bin Laden and science fiction
It has become synonymous with the terrorist attacks of September 11 - but what is the origin of the name al-Qaida? Giles Foden on how Bin Laden may have been inspired by Isaac Asimov's FoundationIn October last year, an item appeared on an authoritativ...
The Masque of Africa by VS Naipaul | Book review
The great novelist seems to have had an unhappy time, Giles Foden discoversThe throwing of mud at an older author by a younger one is never pretty, and Paul Theroux was naughty to have done it. But with the passing of time, some of the judgments cast a...
Unreliable Sources: How the 20th Century Was Reported, by John Simpson | Book review
Giles Foden agrees with John Simpson that news gathering is a form of escapology
Colleagues at the BBC and elsewhere will not be able to resist a chuckle at John Simpson's summation of the art of journalism at the start of this book. "Journalists are like portrait painters:...
