The Triumph of Human Empire: Verne, Morris and Stevenson at the End of the World, by Rosalind Williams Tom Wright on a study of how three late 19th century writers contemplated humanity’s impact on the environment 5 December
The Hamlet Doctrine, by Simon Critchley and Jamieson Webster Peter J. Smith on non-Lit Crit efforts to find the method in the Danish prince’s madness 28 November
A Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning, by Robert Zaretsky Matthew Feldman on a study of the Nobel prize-winning existentialist author through the themes that preoccupied him 21 November
William and Dorothy Wordsworth: All in Each Other, by Lucy Newlyn Shahidha Bari on a literary biography of the siblings’ creative collaboration 21 November
Blue Mythologies: Reflections on a Colour, by Carol Mavor Philip Hoare floats away on a poetic enquiry into the extraordinary nature of what surrounds us 7 November
Shakespeare and Memory, by Hester Lees-Jeffries Jerome de Groot on time, recollection and the Bard 7 November
Against World Literature: On the Politics of Untranslatability, by Emily Apter Danielle Sands on a call for broader, more creative and politically engaged modes of thought 31 October
Richard Hoggart: Virtue and Reward, by Fred Inglis Tom Steele welcomes a painstakingly researched account of the renowned cultural critic’s legacy 10 October
Slow Reading in a Hurried Age, by David Mikics Are we losing sight of the purpose of reading? Rachel Bowlby isn’t sure she needs instruction 10 October
Musings on Mortality: From Tolstoy to Primo Levi, by Victor Brombert Robin Feuer Miller on an analysis of writers’ perceptions of death 3 October
The Lives of the Novel: A History, by Thomas G. Pavel Robert Eaglestone lauds what will become a standard work in literary criticism 26 September
Thomas Hardy: The World of His Novels, by J. B. Bullen Jane Thomas takes the Wessex trail 29 August
Music at Midnight: The Life and Poetry of George Herbert, by John Drury Hugh Adlington gains a greater appreciation of one of England’s greatest devotional poets 29 August
Mirages and Mad Beliefs: Proust the Skeptic, by Christopher Prendergast Mary Bryden on a deliciously rich interrogation of the French novelist’s oeuvre 22 August
The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History, by Emma L. E. Rees Shahidha Bari welcomes a thoughtful look at ordinary anatomy and extraordinary anxiety By Shahidha Bari 15 August
How to Read Literature, by Terry Eagleton Felicity James toasts an ideal introduction to critical analysis 25 July
Novel Science: Fiction and the Invention of Nineteenth Century Geology, by Adelene Buckland Euan Clarkson discusses a scientific discipline’s literary foundations 25 July
The Problem with Pleasure: Modernism and its Discontents, by Laura Frost Gary Day delights in a critique that sweeps aside the perceived gulf between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture 25 July
Roomscape: Women Writers in the British Museum from George Eliot to Virginia Woolf, by Susan David Bernstein Colin Higgins on Victorian women writers and poets who thrived, or not, in the atmosphere of the Round Reading Room 18 July
The Serpent’s Promise: The Bible Retold as Science by Steve Jones Alec Ryrie on an intriguing book that doesn’t do what it says on the tin 11 July
A Child of One’s Own: Parental Stories by Rachel Bowlby Bryony Randall lauds an insightful and overdue study of literary representations of parenting 11 July
Memoirs of a Leavisite: The Decline and Fall of Cambridge English by David Ellis Gary Day on a sympathetic study of influential literary critic F. R. Leavis and how the teaching of literature has changed 11 July
The Bourgeois: Between History and Literature by Franco Moretti Valerie Sanders relishes this considered study of a quietly worthy class of men 27 June
Byron’s War: Romantic Rebellion, Greek Revolution by Roderick Beaton Jane Stabler on how the great poet proved to be a great administrator 20 June
Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century: A Surrealist History by Derek Sayer Marta Filipová on compelling tales of a city’s artistic, intellectual and political cultures 30 May
Johnson and Boswell: A Biography of Friendship by John B. Radner Willy Maley finds men behaving badly in this compelling account of a literary coupling 30 May
Curious Subjects: Women and the Trials of Realism by Hilary M. Schor Shelley King on asking questions, realist fiction and female subjectivity in Victorian novels 9 May
Franz Kafka: The Poet of Shame and Guilt by Saul Friedländer Robert Eaglestone extols a great historian’s insights into a great and disquieting writer 2 May
Utopia and Terror in Contemporary American Fiction by Judie Newman Kate North recommends an analysis of the use of apparently contradictory concepts in selected texts over the past 15 years 25 April
How to Read a Latin Poem: If You Can’t Read Latin Yet by William Fitzgerald Roger Rees on gaining some understanding of the linguistic and literary richness of Latin poetry without knowing the language 4 April
The Scientific Sherlock Holmes: Cracking the Case with Science and Forensics by James O’Brien Stephen Wade on the accurate contemporary science behind the Holmesian investigations 21 March
Characters Of Blood: Black Heroism In The Transatlantic Imagination by Céleste-Marie Bernier Catherine Clinton on a creative and contextual analysis of the visual art of enslaved blacks 21 March
30 Great Myths About Shakespeare by Laurie Maguire and Emma Smith Gary Day reviews stories about the great playwright’s life - fact or fiction? 7 March
Tennyson: To Strive, To Seek, To Find by John Batchelor Gary Day hails a biography of an eminent Victorian 21 February
We Modern People by Anindita Banerjee Yvonne Howell on modernity and early Russian science fiction 14 February
Olivia Manning: A Woman At War by Deirdre David There is much to admire in this biography of the Fortunes of War author, finds Sandeep Parmar 7 February
Loving Faster than Light: Romance and Readers in Einstein's Universe by Katy Price Vike Martina Plock on literary echoes of relativity’s shockwaves 31 January
The Poet’s Mind: The Psychology of Victorian Poetry 1830-1870 by Gregory Tate Britta Martens on a lucid look at 19th-century poets’ engagement with science of the mind 31 January
In the House of the Interpreter: A Memoir by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o Willy Maley reviews an acclaimed Kenyan writer’s memoirs 31 January
Re-imagining the 'Dark Continent' in Fin de Siecle Literature Joanna Lewis hails a challenging ‘must-read’ for historians of late-Victorian imperialism 17 January
Territory of dreadful delight Joanna Lewis hails a challenging ‘must-read’ for historians of late-Victorian imperialism 17 January
Heart Beats: Everyday Life and the Memorized Poem At last, a book exploring the impact of literature on the non-academic reader, writes Chris Jones 20 December
Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American Masterpiece The story behind the writing of a literary tour de force is illuminating, finds Tessa Hadley 13 December
There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra Willy Maley on a writer of commitment’s memoir of a postcolonial nation’s descent into conflict 29 November
Student Review: The Broadview Anthology of British Literature - Concise Edition, Volume A 23 February
