Tiger Woods’ bid for redemption at Augusta threatened by dark clouds
Tiger Woods is favourite once more at the Masters as ex-coach's tell-all book stirs controversyWhen Tiger Woods tees off in the first round of the Masters in Augusta on Thursday, millions of golf fans will be wondering if the former world No 1 can...
Kurt Vonnegut’s dark, sad, cruel side revealed
A biography of the author of Slaughterhouse Five undermines his warm, grandfatherly imageA new biography of acclaimed American author Kurt Vonnegut, beloved by fans worldwide for his work's warm humour and homespun Midwestern wisdom, has shocked many w...
Miranda July – doyenne of art-house chic or epitome of trendy indulgence?
Miranda July has been described as a leading talent of the US avant garde. Her quirky style has caused vitriol, but her new film The Future is being hailed as a left-field masterpieceA film about two annoying, self-absorbed thirtysomethings living in L...
Keep smiling… the world is doing fine, say American authors
A series of new books argues that all the essential statistics show the world is making progress, materially and ethicallyA rash of optimistic books is being published in the US, as authors do their best to lift the gloom created by a news agenda domin...
Dale Carnegie’s self-help bible gets a new life for the digital age
How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age includes advice for bloggers but keeps rules of the 1936 originalThe grandfather of all self-help books, which spawned an industry devoted to self-improvement, is being updated for the age of F...
Jonathan Ames: The X-rated Woody Allen
He's depressed, insecure and is crippled by anxiety. He's going bald, has battled with booze and boasts of his sexual inadequacy. He's also the creator of the hottest new show on American TV. So when did it all start to go right for Jonathan Ames?The m...
Hollywood wants Red Riding Hood and Snow White to weave a box office spell
Studios and A-list actors are banking on updated versions of fairytale favourites to explore darker themes about sexuality that will appeal to today's teenage audiencesPrepare for a fairytale invasion. Hollywood movie studios, in their constant quest f...
Dashiell Hammett’s unpublished works found in Texas
Fifteen lost stories found by Andrew Gulli, who is publishing one in his magazine, The Strand, later this monthA cache of new unpublished works by famed writer Dashiell Hammett, often seen as the father of hardboiled detective fiction, has been found a...
Tony Blair v Christopher Hitchens: fight the good fight
How the atheist polemicist and the Catholic politician debated whether religion is a force for good or evilChristopher Hitchens walked on stage with the evidence of his cancer plain for the world to see. His dark suit jacket hung off a much-reduced fra...
Christopher Hitchens 1-0 Tony Blair
Staunch atheist wins over audience in debate with Catholic convert over whether religion is a force for good in the worldIn theory it was not an event that should have created a stir: a philosophical debate on the moral merits of religion. In an age of...
The Great Gatsby grips US again as a classic tale of decadence and decline
Americans are flocking to a Broadway play and awaiting a new film version of F Scott Fitzgerald's novel about the golden age before the Great DepressionIt is a perfect fit for America's modern gilded, doomed age: a tale of thwarted ambition to live th...
