Rachel Cooke's shelf life Rachel Cooke sings the praises of books that fail to get the recognition they deserve.
Why Sir Henry Channon’s Chips goes with everything In her final dispatch, our columnist celebrates the former Tory MP’s gossipy diaries
The Slaves of Solitude: rationing with plenty of dark humour Patrick Hamilton’s tale of life in a wartime boarding house strikes the perfect balance between poignancy and dark hilarity
The Adversary: the man who wasn’t there – and the family he murdered The true tale of one of France’s most notorious killers makes for a grisly but thought-provoking read
So long, Shirley Hazzard, stylish doyen of passion The novelist, who died last week, was a beautiful writer whose characters never had the happiest of times
When Dior brought glamour to the convent There’s nothing black and white about the nun’s world, as this fascinating book reveals
The Bitch Is Back: How Cathi Hanauer’s female contributors have mellowed A follow-up to Hanauer’s bestselling 2002 collection of essays by female writers is gentler in tone but more revelatory
Tony and Susan: the powerfully strange novel behind Nocturnal Animals Rachel Cooke Austin Wright’s 1993 novel Tony and Susan is a coolly terrifying, cleverly crafted portrait of revenge... and is now out in cinemas as Nocturnal Animals
Why even liberal women seem to hate Hillary A fascinating set of essays by female writers, Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary, tackles the presidential candidate’s unpopularity in her homeland
Love, New York and all that jazz Rachel Cooke Don’t be put off by his name or his banking past, for Amor Towles’s first novel, Rules of Civility, is a heady cocktail of ambition and romance
Tirzah Garwood: portrait of the artist and her circle Tirzah Garwood’s autobiography, finished when she had just lost her husband, Eric Ravilious, is as evocative as her work
Short doses of fractious fun with a fierce Australian… Helen Garner inspired me to start this column. Her latest dispatches may leave you too diverted for your own good
Paul Nash: the artist in words and pictures A new edition of the war artist’s wonderful memoir Outline is out – plus Dave McKean’s dark graphic novel inspired by it
Come rain or shine… Alexandra Harris’s breathtaking Weatherland explores writers’ relationship with the British weather via everything from ferns to Hadrian’s Wall
Be still my beating heart. My teen heroine is back… Mary Stewart’s tales of glamorous adventure thrilled this young reader, so a newly unearthed novella is very welcome
Mortification in the writer’s trade Simon Armitage, Edna O’Brien, Jonathan Coe and others confess to their most humiliating moments in this delicious roundup from 2003
The doctor will see you now… or will he? Ayelet Gundar-Goshen’s overlooked thriller Waking Lions brilliantly captures how life can change in an instant
Hiroshima by John Hersey: an enduring memory of reportage Seventy years ago people hadn’t yet grasped that even the biggest stories are about everyday lives
Holiday books? I could read an essay on them Anne Fadiman’s collection of essays on the love of reading springs to mind when pondering what volumes to pack for a trip
Tales of the West Bank: Ben Ehrenreich's The Way to the Spring Ben Ehrenreich’s observations of ordinary lives in Palestine are as compelling as a racy novel
A State of Denmark: a disturbing vision of England from 1970 Derek Raymond’s chillingly prescient novel about a homegrown dictatorship is difficult to get out of your head… at the moment
About 62 results for Rachel Cooke's shelf life 
