Friendship
Why do so many of us want to be alone?
When was the last time you had a truly classic racist cab driver? Mine was a few years ago, coming…
Looking on in anger: Happiness and Love, by Zoe Dubno, reviewed
A nameless woman, joining former friends after a funeral, is left speechless with fury at their vanity and pretensions
An unlikely alliance: Drayton and Mackenzie, by Alexander Starritt, reviewed
Two university contemporaries with next to nothing in common find themselves working together to disrupt electricity generation with a scheme to turn tidal power into light
The secret to great friendships
A few years back, a friend from Newcastle was down in London and I was giving him a tour of…
Marriage, motherhood and money: Show Don’t Tell, by Curtis Sittenfeld, reviewed
Funny, smart stories explore the ‘stale’ married state, the anxieties of parenthood and the sweet-sour nature of female friendship. But do they go far enough?
Visionary tales: Mrs Calder and the Hyena, by Marjorie Ann Watts, reviewed
Sharply drawn characters, young and old, gleefully challenge conventional judgments and form liberating new friendships in this exhilarating collection of short stories
Alan Clark’s wines were as remarkable as he was
Où sont les bouteilles d’antan? For that matter, où sont les amis with whom one consumed them? These autumnally melancholic…
Nick Elliott and a life worth drinking to
The English language has immense resources, but the odd weakness. What, for instance, is the translation for ‘Auld lang syne’?…
Do I have too many friends?
Can one have too many friends? I asked myself this question as we prepared yet another dinner party for ten…
In search of kindred spirits: An Absence of Cousins, by Lore Segal, reviewed
When Ilka Weisz, a young refugee from Vienna, accepts a teaching post in smalltown Connecticut, she struggles to make friends in the close-knit academic community
Next time, I’m swimming to Calais
Friends in Calais invited me to their baby’s birthday party. He’s a year old. They suggested an overnight stay and…
My (surprisingly) decent proposal
‘Like being chained to a lunatic.’ That’s how a man feels in relation to his libido. And the lunatic latches…
Seize the moment
A group of students in Iowa City meet in bars and seminar rooms, but, separated by class, race and wealth, their connection is only fleeting
True intellectual happiness
Nikhil Krishnan provides many amusing vignettes of Isaiah Berlin, A.J. Ayer, Gilbert Ryle and others in the heyday of linguistic philosophy
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. We have made available our mews cottage – 30 yards from our main house – to a woman with…
Written out
How success kills friendships
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. How can I find out, without making things awkward, whether one of my close male friends fancies one of…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. My 74-year-old husband was having drinks in the garden of some young clients when he bit down on an…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. Everyone was divine at a very jolly lunch I attended in the Cotswolds with the exception of one person,…
Basketball talk
On the cover of The Sidekick, just below a broken basketball hoop, a quote from Jonathan Lethem suggests Benjamin Markovits…
The good friend I never knew
I have just read an extraordinary new book. It’s by a close and old pal whom I’d count as one…
Nattery and nice
Have you ever taken a piece of advice? I’m not asking a rhetorical question. Have you ever once in your…
The worst of friends
First the bad news: Nina Stibbe’s new novel does not feature Lizzie Vogel, the engaging narrator of the trilogy that…
Ever decreasing circles
The decline of male friendship
