Review
From the sublime to the simian
Ed WrightThe commune has loomed large in the Australian imagination and has a starring role in a new work of fiction.
All our yesterdays
CHRISTOPHER ALLENThis exhibition is full of fascinating things, but can it truly be considered a history of the world?
Memoirs of a spy’s son
Tom DusevicABC journalist Mark Colvin’s memoir is as much an odyssey to find a late father as to make sense of the world.
The royal treatment
GRAEME BLUNDELLTwo top-shelf British series deserve to be welcomed with great fanfare.
Sad songs
David FreeJimmy Barnes’s brave and disturbing memoir ends before the start of his rock career.
Remember the age of chivalry?
GREG SHERIDANWhen it comes to Donald Trump’s demeaning attitude towards women, don’t blame the 1950s.
Day the Diggers beat the odds
Ross FitzgeraldWriting about defeats is a necessary part of any war historian’s job, but it’s refreshing to read about a victory.
Day the Diggers beat the odds
Writing about defeats is a necessary part of any war historian’s job, but it’s refreshing to read about a victory.
Surreal estate
Roman Polanski’s unsettling apartment films, with their heightened sense of horror and suspense, are being revisited.
Smart reading of a melodrama
Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals is head and shoulders above the typical tired films made in Hollywood these days.
On the road without a map
American Honey, starring Shia LaBeouf, is an intriguing film despite its considerable irritations.
The next step
Zadie Smith’s latest novel swings from London to Africa — and even Bendigo — as it explores race, class and fame.
To Vanya, with love
Nadia Tass, creator of the Aussie film classic Malcolm, is relishing the opportunity to stage Chekhov.
In the box
James Crabb is proving there’s much more to the accordion than keeping drinkers entertained in taverns.
Gong for a song
Darren and Sally Seltmann are the first married couple to collect a trophy at the Screen Music Awards.
Out of Africa and beyond
Lakuta and Alma Afrobeat Ensemble update the genre that Nigerian musician Fela Kuti hatched half a century ago.
PM’s night of nights
‘Malcolm Turnbull was a good boy and did as he was told.’ So said a judge of the PM’s Literary Awards, in jest.
One of a kind
A display of Australia’s first digital computer shows how far we have come in the past 60 years.
This (speechless) life
An anniversary of a family loss brings contemplation of the power of words and gestures.
Hearing strangers’ confessions
Rachel Cusk’s trilogy-in-progress is one of the finest and most compulsive novel cycles in contemporary literature.
Insouciance come what may
Teffi was one of Tsar Nicholas II’s favourite writers but, unlike the tsarina, was immune to the loathsome Rasputin.
Sex and murder in a small town
True crime is an odd category, not least because crime is such entertaining fiction yet real murder is a horror.
Myth of white-witch feminist
A new biography of British writer Angela Carter ventures beyond the hyperbole and feminist myth-making.
Booze, blokes, female convicts
Women prisoners sent to the Moreton Bay penal settlement had a little too much time on their hands.
The place we call home
Former radio star Tim Ross is taking a witty and wise look at the designs that define the way we live.
Price of fame
With a growing number of Aussie acts making waves overseas, it’s prudent to put a value on their achievements.
Study in contrast
Harold Cazneaux’s images of Sydney Harbour reflect the extraordinary artistry in his approach to photography.
Missing in Paris
Australian women’s contribution to the French arts scene during the 1920s is coming back into the light.
Witty romp through history
In True Girt, David Hunt continues the entertaining journey he began in Girt a couple of years ago.
Winner in crime fiction stakes
The latest novel by Saul Black, otherwise known as Glen Duncan, is a page-turning thriller about serial killers.
Get the gist of the list
Once the domain of Buzzfeed and Bustle, the list masquerading as journalism is no longer a fad.
Studio superstar
As the NGV prepares a survey of his work, David Hockney explains why he’s still making art in his 80th year.
Know laughing matter
A new documentary explores the humour surrounding one of the least funny events in modern history.
Gaga gets real
She’s adorned herself with raw meat and, at times, very little. Now Lady Gaga is letting her music do the talking.
Masters of their fields
A famous photograph of one of cricket’s greatest stars is the starting point for Gideon Haigh’s latest book.
A life in pieces
Elena Ferrante may be invisible but the nonfictional pieces in this book suggest her writing is deeply physical.
Star tones it down
There are surprising elements — but no shock value — in Lady Gaga’s fourth studio album.
MORE STORIES
Towering figure of harbour city
Pick of the day: Artsville: Harry Seidler — Modernist, 10pm, ABC.
Pitching picture visions
In Andrew Upton’s production the interactions between these three flawed characters are interesting.
Flatmates outshone at poker table
The Odd Couple cleverly deconstructs marriage by presenting it as a fraught male-male bond.
‘Buyers beware’ alert for art
A criminology professor has warned collectors to be wary of buying antiquities from the Raphy Star collection.
Zukerman impresses on violin
Zuckerman swapped the violin for the baton in an impassioned performance of Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony.
Actor Robert Vaughn dies
Robert Vaughn, the debonair actor in TV’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E., has died aged 83.
A little flight reading
There’s a clue to the evolving career of veteran Australian journalist and editor Helen Hutcheon on her memoir’s cover.
All our yesterdays
This exhibition is full of fascinating things, but can it truly be considered a history of the world?
The royal treatment
Two top-shelf British series deserve to be welcomed with great fanfare.