Maidens at the crossroadsIf you were to judge these two books by their covers, you might be deceived into thinking they were pretty much identical, for…Sat Jan 22 2000 - 00:00
The Beautiful Game: a Journey through Latin American Football, by Chris Taylor (Phoenix, £7.99 in UK)WITH the great and good of the soccer scene slogging it out in Brazil at FIFA's World Club Championships, there has never been…Sat Jan 15 2000 - 00:00
Poets, politicians, and a pet hamsterThe Year 1000, by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger, read by Derek Jacobi (HarperCollins, 2 tapes, 3 hrs, £8.99 in UK)Sat Jan 15 2000 - 00:00
Vespers evoke 17th centuryIF you aren't familiar with Claudio Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, you may be surprised to hear it described…Tue Dec 07 1999 - 00:00
MusicBoogie Man: the adventures of John Lee Hooker by Charles Shaar Murray (Viking, £18 in UK)Sat Dec 04 1999 - 00:00
Brace yourself for BridgetRemember Bridget Jones? She of the diary, of the obsessing about weight and wine and clothes and commitment, she who - in a hilarious…Sat Dec 04 1999 - 00:00
Leaving Patrick by Prue Leith (Penguin, £5.99 in UK)With this tale of a marriage that's gone past its sell-by date, cookery writer and broadcaster Prue Leith has whipped up a slice…Sat Dec 04 1999 - 00:00
We, the People by Timothy Garton Ash (Penguin, £7.99 in UK)The 10th anniversary of the fall of Communism has brought a spate of revisitations and reassessmentsSat Dec 04 1999 - 00:00
A Man in Full, by Tom Wolfe (Picador, £10 in UK)A fiercely conservative property tycoon teetering on the brink of financial ruin; a young husband struggling to support his family…Sat Nov 27 1999 - 00:00
Sensitive sweetsWhen you're told you have a dairy allergy and are advised, into the bargain, to strike eggs permanently off your shopping list…Sat Nov 20 1999 - 00:00
A bit of good news at lastShock, horror, and no mistake: what with Bill Clinton, Bertie Ahern et al in town for the OSCE security summit yesterday and …Fri Nov 19 1999 - 00:00
OperaFirst it was The Three Tenors, then The Three Irish Tenors. Now greet The three Irish SopranosSat Nov 13 1999 - 00:00
Freedom Song by Amit Chaudhuri (Picador, £5.99 in UK)ANOTHER dozy day in the life of a resolutely middle-class family in CalcuttaSat Oct 23 1999 - 01:00
Encore dredging the depths of La Divina's oft-told taleMaria Callas: Diaries of a Friendship. By Robert Sutherland. Constable. 292pp. £18.99 in UKSat Oct 23 1999 - 01:00
Stars of the New Curfew by Ben Okri (Vintage, £6.99 in UK)YOU have to keep pinching yourself to remind yourself that these stories are fictions, for the anger, despair, and sheer knee…Sat Oct 23 1999 - 01:00
Music of the decadeDuke Ellington: Ko-Ko (1943): With his sophisticated harmonies and kaleidoscopic tonal palette, Ellington gave the lie to the…Mon Oct 18 1999 - 01:00
Music of the DecadeFrank Sinatra: I'll Never Smile Again (1939): The swing era sees the development of the "big band", initially modelled on the…Mon Oct 11 1999 - 01:00
The Magdalen. By Marita Conlon-McKenna. Bantam. £5.99 in UKIn many ways it's a familiar story: innocent country girl becomes infatuated with handsome, strapping lad; bodily fluids are …Sat Oct 09 1999 - 01:00
Music of the DecadeThe first jazz record, by The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, was released in 1917, to the delight of an avid public: but the word…Mon Oct 04 1999 - 01:00
Sir Vidia's Shadow by Paul Theroux (Penguin, £7.99 in UK)Any one of us, asked to analyse a 30-year friendship, would find it a gruesome businessSat Oct 02 1999 - 01:00
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter (Vintage, £6.99 in UK)Carter's extraordinary ability to conjure up a world that is both startlingly surreal and disconcertingly familiar is given free…Sat Oct 02 1999 - 01:00
Music of the DecadeIgor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring: Rite meant riot as Stravinsky's jagged, primitive ballet score shocked music lovers out …Mon Sept 27 1999 - 01:00
The Job by Douglas Kennedy (Abacus, £6.99 in UK)This is Douglas Kennedy's third best-seller, and it proves that his ability to get those pages turning has now reached the sort…Sat Sept 18 1999 - 01:00
Cinderella and Company by Manuela Hoelterhoff (Vintage, £7.99 in UK)Cecilia Bartoli is a public relations dream - vivacious, sexy, the very model of the modern operatic diva - and this biography…Sat Sept 18 1999 - 01:00
Bed and bawdThis lively account of the comings and goings of the Ottoman sultans is packed with memorable details, but in the wake of the…Sat Sept 11 1999 - 01:00
Mindful horrorA maggot in the slaughterhouse dines only on the flesh of those who died in pain; an unloved teenager finds salvation - and self…Sat Sept 04 1999 - 01:00
Racing the Moon, by Terry Prone (Coronet, £5.99 in UK)This story begins with a pair of twins growing up in a conservative Dublin suburb; Sophia the polite one, pretty one, Darcy the…Sat Aug 28 1999 - 01:00
Ferguson scores more direct hits than Cole, is calmer under pressure than Irwin and comes up with more angles than BeckhamThe first surprise is that he was, once upon a time, a footballer: the second is that he was, once upon a time, a boySat Aug 21 1999 - 01:00
Check in and check it outAssemble a stellar cast of talented individuals, and expect them to blend together into an effortless wholeSat Aug 14 1999 - 01:00
The Way to Bright Star by Dee Brown (Arrow, £6.99 in UK)An orphaned teenager, a smooth-talking hustler, a girl disguised as a boy, an itinerant pedlar and a pair of camels, complete…Sat Aug 14 1999 - 01:00
Phoenix Irish Short Stories selected and edited by David Marcus (Phoenix, £6.99 in UK)`My sole concern", writes David Marcus in the introduction to this volume, "is to reflect the excellence of the contemporary …Sat Aug 14 1999 - 01:00
Consequences of the Heart by Peter Cunningham (Harvill, £6.99 in UK)A kind of "big house" book in which the big house is mostly absent and Irish history, for once, becomes thoroughly European, …Sat Aug 07 1999 - 01:00
Soft music and sun-drenched beaches, and a touch of frostAn Equal Music by Vikram Seth, read by Alan Bates (Orion Audiobooks, 4 tapes, 6 1/2 hrs, £12.99 in UK)Sat Aug 07 1999 - 01:00
Death in Summer by William Trevor (Penguin, £6.99 in UK)The sudden death of Thaddeus Davenant's wife leaves him with a problem: child-care for his baby daughter, GeorginaSat Jul 31 1999 - 01:00
The Loop by Nicholas Evans (Corgi, £5.99 in UK)The magnificent landscapes of Montana; an animal in trouble; an equally troubled teenager; a blossoming, but tentative, romance…Sat Jul 31 1999 - 01:00
The Hills of Tuscany By Ferenc Mate (Flamingo, £7.99 in UK)Another offering in the "let's escape to somewhere - anywhere" genre in which New World couple uproots and transplants to old…Sat Jul 17 1999 - 01:00
Angst for the memoryLara Harte seems determined to tell us more about teenage angst than we ever wanted - or, perhaps, deserved - to knowSat Jul 17 1999 - 01:00
The Artist's Widow by Shena Mackay (Vintage, £6.99 in UK)Imagine Jane Austen beamed up to 1990s London and plonked down in the middle of a private view at a desperately trendy art gallery…Sat Jul 10 1999 - 01:00
City Woman by Patricia Scanlan (Bantam, £5.99 in UK)The city girls are back, and as this bestselling sequel opens, Devlin is risking the fortune she has made through her chain of…Sat Jul 10 1999 - 01:00
England Away, by John King (Vintage, £5.99 in UK)The third in John King's acclaimed exploration of the world of ultra-right-wing English football hooliganism, England Away is…Sat Jul 03 1999 - 01:00
Provence: just knowing it's there helpsEncore Provence. by Peter Mayle. Hamish Hamilton. 195pp, £16.99 in UKSat Jun 26 1999 - 01:00
Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo (Granta, £6.99 in UK)ON a tiny Caribbean island, the air thick with the scent of flowers and the drone of insects, a demented elderly woman is brought…Sat Jun 26 1999 - 01:00
