“The Dictionary People, The unsung heroes who created the Oxford English Dictionary” by Sarah Ogilvie (published by Chatto & Windus)

A-Z spells serendipity for wordsmiths

The English language is a constant delight, and we made two exciting lexical discoveries only recently. First, “spats”, a footwear word we have long known, was found to be short for the much odder “spatterdashers”. Second, we had to look up “sesquipedalianism” to find it is “The practice of using long, sometimes obscure, words in speech or writing”. Now that really is delightful, the use of a very long word – 17 letters – to describe the use of long words.

“Cassino ’44, Five Months of Hell in Italy” by James Holland (published by bantam)

Carnage, tragedy of the highest order

With some 16 war books to his credit, historian James Holland remains on full firepower in “Cassino ’44”. This follows on from his “Sicily ’43, The First Assault on Fortress Europe”, published in November 2020, and “The Savage Storm, The Brutal Battle for Italy ...

“Weird Fiction” (published by Penguin)

Unease and awe: a very different sort of horror

Penguin Random House is following the 30 archival releases in its “Crime and Espionage” series (Simenon, le Carré, Deighton, Tey, Rampo, Macdonald, Ambler, Woolrich, Hines, Forester, et al) with a new series called “Weird Fiction”, which the publisher describes as a category all its ...

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“The Penguin Book of Puzzles” edited by Doctor Gareth Moore (published by Penguin Books)

Lame brains need not apply

Don’t most people have a yearning to know how clever, or stupid, they are? Well, perhaps they do if they are astute enough, aware enough, to wonder about it in the first place. Here are dozens of riddles and trick questions to wrap your ...

“The World’s Biggest Cash Machine. Manchester United, the Glazers and the Struggle for Football’s Soul” by Chris Blackhurst (published by Pan Books)

The bootyful game: folly and lolly at gold Trafford

At the same moment as we are reading this rivetting but depressing account of how money men – the “suits” – have fattened themselves on Manchester United, overworked elite players are battling in the UEFA Nations League. But wasn’t it a mere two months ...

“From The Moment They Met it Was Murder: Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir” by Alain Silver and James Ursini (published by Running Press)

He didn’t get the money or the woman; we get the facts

It is the 80th anniversary of the masterful “Double Indemnity”, released in July 1944, and to mark the occasion here is an in-depth book exploring multiple aspects of what is considered the quintessential film noir. We’ve watched the movie two or three times and ...

"Hitler's People, The Faces of the Third Reich” by Richard J. Evans (published by allen lane)

Fresh look at Nazism is a warning for future

These potted biographies open with the mostly familiar stories of Adolf Hitler and his immediate henchmen, and then come the lesser known human instruments of the trumpeted Thousand-Year Third Reich that actually lasted for twelve, from 1933 to 1945. All in all, here are ...

“Mosquito: The RAF's Legendary Wooden Wonder and Its Most Extraordinary Mission” by Rowland White (published by Penguin Books)

Bombs away: more accurately, more destructive than ever

World War Two rages on, 80 years after the fact – death and derring-do, resistance versus occupation, sabotage and torture. Horror. Historians continue to unearth fresh stories, and here is the tale of the 'Wooden Wonder”, the aircraft Britain’s Royal Air Force didn't want ...

“The Night Manager” by John le Carré (published by Penguin Books)

Out of the Cold War and into another murky world

Of the 30 vintage “crime and espionage” novels reissued by Penguin in the past year – and we’ve now read the whole bunch – a definite feeling has arisen that we prefer a good slaying or heist to the clandestine capers of snoops. And ...

”Gold Mask” by Edogawa Rampo (published by Penguin Books)

Dear readers, jumping and crying out in surprise

Readers introduced to Japanese mystery writer Edogawa Rampo by the two reissues of his books among 20 vintage ”Crime & Espionage” paperbacks last year may approach this third one in mid-2024 with trepidation. While ”Beast in the Shadows” was sufficiently readable, ”The Black Lizard” ...

"The Chinese Gold Murders” by Robert van Gulik (published by Penguin Books)

A fascinating world opens, in far-off places

This one is full of eastern promise. Robert van Gulik was a Dutch diplomat who lived most of his 57 years in the Far East, becoming an authority on Chinese history and culture, a sinologist. How he came to learn about an 18th-century Chinese ...

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“The Dictionary People, The unsung heroes who created the Oxford English Dictionary” by Sarah Ogilvie (published by Chatto & Windus)

A-Z spells serendipity for wordsmiths

The English language is a constant delight, and we made two exciting lexical discoveries only recently. First, “spats”, a footwear word we have long known, was found to be short for the much odder “spatterdashers”. Second, we had to look up “sesquipedalianism” to find ...

“The Penguin Book of Puzzles” edited by Doctor Gareth Moore (published by Penguin Books)

Lame brains need not apply

Don’t most people have a yearning to know how clever, or stupid, they are? Well, perhaps they do if they are astute enough, aware enough, to wonder about it in the first place. Here are dozens of riddles and trick questions to wrap your ...

“Weird Fiction” (published by Penguin)

Unease and awe: a very different sort of horror

Penguin Random House is following the 30 archival releases in its “Crime and Espionage” series (Simenon, le Carré, Deighton, Tey, Rampo, Macdonald, Ambler, Woolrich, Hines, Forester, et al) with a new series called “Weird Fiction”, which the publisher describes as a category all its ...

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“A Promenade in Parc Munkácsy” by Alexander York (published by Austin Macauley)

Colourful characters twist and turn in crime caper

Debut novelist Alexander York has seemingly gone for filmic atmosphere rather than minor style issues such as crossing the “t”s and dotting the “i”s, and Hungarians can be along for the scenic ride as the action sets out from England and passes numerous Magyarország ...

“Greyhound” by C.S. Forester (published by Penguin Books)

Dogged by death in the deep

C.S. Forester died in 1966 and he is not forgotten in The Budapest Times office, where we have a nice little collection of 18 of his books. But they don’t include “Greyhound”, and in fact we were a bit puzzled when it was published ...

Douglas Stuart wins Booker Prize for ‘Shuggie Bain’

30-plus editors rejected story of tough childhood

This year’s Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, was notable for having four debut novelists on this year’s shortlist of six books, and the award has gone to one of them, Douglas Stuart, with his autobiographical “Shuggie Bain”, ...