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From ghoulish crime to dirty politics, here are 10 new books

Our reviewers’ picks of new and recent fiction and non-fiction releases.

  • Cameron Woodhead and Fiona Capp

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Zadie Smith, who has written a series of essays titled Dead and Alive, pictured here in 2022.

Zadie Smith on creativity, politics and falling out of a window

In this selection of essays, the award-winning author proves herself as nimble a visual arts and movie critic as she is a literary one.

  • Thuy On

Is this the world’s most infuriating comedian? He certainly hopes so

Luke McQueen lies, pours soup on his head and uses AI to take down his enemies. No wonder his audiences sometimes walk out.

  • Richard Jinman
The hodge-podge bookshelf.

Are the doomsayers right? Are we living in post-literate times?

Despite laments from cultural commentators, the book has been remarkably chirpy for a species constantly threatened with extinction.

  • Jane Sullivan

These two women changed the world, one fashionable shockwave at a time

Life would have been so much duller without Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo. A new exhibition gives thanks.

  • Lindy Percival
Hermann Georing during his Nuremberg trial, and Russell Crowe as the Nazi leader in the film Nuremberg.

Why Russell Crowe was the perfect choice for Hitler’s charming henchman

Nuremberg director James Vanderbilt says he needed an actor with as much charisma as Hermann Goering reportedly possessed.

  • Stephanie Bunbury
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My digital self is disappearing. Time to decide what I’ll leave behind

After 20 years of chronicling my life on the internet, I wonder if it’s time to start hoarding ...

  • Brodie Lancaster
Black – at age 22 – who was just 13 when her pop video went viral for all the wrong reasons.

When Rebecca was 13 she was mocked over her viral video. Now the joke’s on the haters

Rebecca Black went viral for all the wrong reasons with her song Friday – then she found her own people and became a queer icon.

  • John Bailey
Salman Rushdie, photographed by his wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths.

Unsurprisingly, death is a recurring theme in Salman Rushdie’s new book

The stories in The Eleventh Hour are variable, but Rushdie’s writing still has a spellbinding quality.

  • Peter Craven

Spooky romance, outback noir and the Antarctic life force: 10 new books

Our reviewers cast their eyes over recent fiction and non-fiction releases.

  • Cameron Woodhead and Fiona Capp

Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/topic/spectrum-the-age-1nln