A companion volume to his Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician (pbk £25), tracing Bach's evolution as a composer and looking deeply into his creative process.
The first translation by a woman, using Arabic and French sources, with detailed notes and commentary. Beautifully illustrated with Arab and Persian works of art as well as many drawn from p... read more
Elena Zelayeta, a blind chef born in Mexico; Marcella Hazan, whose book on Italian cooking is still monumental; Norma Shirley's take on Jamaican cuisine et al: a joyous celebration of these... read more
Slim but far-reaching memoir of the author's brush with suicide, framed as the consequence of familial trauma and isolation. Superbly written, this bears honourable comparison with William S... read more
The pitfalls of cultural fantasies of the north: this cultural history, rich with travellers' tales and legends, is entertaining but also disturbing as myth, reality and politics rub uncomfo... read more
The first-person recollections of a foot soldier in the Austrian Army, fresh from his student days at Cambridge, grappling with the stirrings of a forbidden sexuality and the formation of a ... read more
The cleverness of crickets, crows, cockatoos: a fascinating study of the relationship between genes and behaviour. (The book is published in the US as some eagle-eyed readers will perceive).