From The Hudson Review, a review of Naked in the Marketplace: The Lives of George Sand by Benita Eisler; an essay on The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets; With Critical Observations on Their Works by Samuel Johnson; "I've been reading Schopenhauer to cheer me up": David Mason on The Poetry Circus; Street Dance could be thought of as conceptual art: once you’d read a description of it, you could imagine it or create your own street dance by making up your own score. An interview with Roger Kimball on Counterpoints: 25 Years of The New Criterion on Culture and the Arts.
From TLS, a review of The Letters of A. E. Houseman: Volume One, 1872–1928 and Volume Two, 1929–1936; and a review of Police at the Funeral, More Work for the Undertaker, and The Beckoning Lady by Margery Allingham. From Eurozine, while the Northern Irish literary tradition is closely bound up with the experience of sectarian violence, contemporary poets and prose writers defy the assumption that "the troubles" are all there is to the country's literature.
From Spiked, a review of Welcome to Everytown: a journey into the English mind by Julian Baggini; Queuing for Beginners: the story of daily life from breakfast to bedtime by Joe Moran; and Watching the English: the hidden rules of English behaviour by Kate Fox; and a review of The Angry Years: The Rise and Fall of the Angry Young Men by Colin Wilson. A review of The Voice of the Hammer: The Meaning of Work in Middle English Literature by Nicola Masciandaro. Northern soul: Manchester has always occupied a special place in British culture. Could the arts be Tony Blair's brightest legacy as he steps down as prime minister on Wednesday?
The secrets behind the faces: Rembrandt, Hals and their contemporaries on show in London. Hanno Rauterberg looks at how the Venice Biennale does battle against the Documenta in Kassel. There's a lot of hot air wafting around the Venice Biennale. But one thing is for sure: the art world can party. The Art World Goes Provincial: The once-in-a-decade Sculpture Projects is on in Münster — a laid-back show for a town still thrilled by pumpernickel bread.
From PopMatters, a look at the 50 DVDs every film fan should own. A review of Karaoke: The Global Phenomenon by Zhou Xun and Francesca Tarocco. From Smithsonian, Global Weddings: A look at how "I do" is done around the world. A review of The First Man in My Life: Daughters Write About Their Fathers. Growing Up With the Girl Sleuth: An article on Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the Changing Demographic. The seven deadly sins of kid culture: One dad runs interference against the worst of children's entertainment.
