Click here to read my review of this splendid new history of the Conservative party since the fall of Thatcher.
And click here to buy it.
If you want to have another look at tonight’s BBC3 show, ‘Vampires: Why They Bite’, which was presented by the brilliant Lisa Hilton, then jog on over to BBC iPlayer. You will spot me banging on about the historical significance of the vampire myth at several points.
When you read the Millennium books it’s both easy and difficult to see why they have been so successful. Difficult, because Larsson is not a good writer. His plots are long, flabby and tenuous. Some of his action scenes are risible. Larsson’s descriptions of violence against women - his favourite hobby horse - are mawkish and distastefully graphic. Easy because Larsson invented a truly original character…
Do wander over to GQ.com to read my latest books piece. This week I reconsidered Stieg Larsson and his ‘Millennium’ trilogy, in advance of the UK release of ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ in UK cinemas on March 10th.
The piece is here.
And this is the Swedish film trailer:
This week’s GQ.com review is of ‘Inside Out: My Story of Betrayal and Cowardice at the Heart of New Labour’ by Peter Watt. Read it here.
Do please trot on over to GQ.com to read my review of Antonia Fraser’s Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter (W&N, £20).
There have been plenty of brilliant history books this year, despite the general gloom. Do click through here to read my round-up of the best of them, from The Times.
My Evening Standard column
I am covering Sam Leith’s beat while he’s away. Read my Evening Standard column here. Enjoyment guaranteed, or your money back. I can say that, now the Evening Standard is free.