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Agenda p3

Sophie Ellis Bextor: 'I think pop-ups are quite sexy'

Sophie Ellis-Bextor tells Killian Fox about juggling motherhood with a pop career and a stake in a "soirée" venue in London

Agenda p4

Is the Booker a barometer of the best literature?

The debate: Novelist Patrick Neate and the Observer's associate editor Robert McCrum debate the merits of the Booker longlist, announced last week

Agenda p5

Sue Townsend: 'I hate it when people call me a national treasure'

The Adrian Mole author talks to Kate Kellaway about seeing her best-known character grow up, blindness, and receiving a kidney from her son

Agenda p6

The 10 best dancers

From ballet to contemporary, dance is enjoying a real upsurge. But who has the best moves? Our dance critic Luke Jennings makes his selection

Agenda p7

Give me Ryanair's brazen villainy over the bogus compassion of BP

David Mitchell: Tony Hayward's departure can't disguise the fact that the oil giant's motives are purely mercenary

Features p8

Tinchy Stryder: 'Jay-Z liked what he saw in me. I reminded him of him'

The kids love him, MPs are happy to fund his records, Jay-Z wants to be his business partner… what makes London rapper Tinchy Stryder such hot property? Tom Lamont meets him

Features p10

Matteo Pericoli's rooms with a view

Gallery (6 pictures):
What inspires Tom Wolfe or Annie Leibovitz as they gaze out of their New York apartments? Matteo Pericoli's drawings detail the views that inspire writers and artists
Matteo Pericoli's New York City views

Matteo Pericoli found fame with his 22ft fold-out drawing of Manhattan's skyline. His new book shows the city through the windows of New York's artists and writers, from Annie Leibovitz to Philip Glass, David Byrne to Nora Ephron, with their thoughts on what those views mean to them. By Sean O'Hagan

Features p16

True confessions in new women's lit

Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City columns inspired some dire chick lit, but also a generation of more serious confessional writers. Elizabeth Day reports

Features p21

Göran Lindberg and Sweden's dark side

The Sweden of Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson - all shadowy rightwing conspiracies and prostitution rings - might not be so far from the truth, says Andrew Anthony

Discover p23

WikiLeaks: look before you leak…

John Naughton explains why WikiLeaks is still the safest place for whistleblowers to spill the beans
The aurochs: due for a comeback?

Robin McKie on how scientists aim to bring back the aurochs, wild ancestor of modern cows

Discover p24

Elon Musk: 'I'm planning to retire to Mars'

The SpaceX founder is convinced that humanity's survival rests on its ability to move to the red planet. He tells Paul Harris how his company is making the leap to the stars an affordable dream

Discover p26

Aubrey de Grey: We don't have to get sick as we get older

The molecular biologist explains how he aims to help human beings live to be 1,000
New to Nature No 16: Selenochlamys ysbryda

The ghost slug, discovered in south Wales, is named after its appearance and nocturnal habits, says Quentin Wheeler

Critics p27

Sherlock; Dispatches: Britain's Witch Children; Orchestra United

Benedict Cumberbatch – big brain and all – made a superb Sherlock Holmes in the BBC's reworking of the detective classic, writes Euan Ferguson

Critics p28

Down Terrace

Brighton Rock meets The Royle Family in a dry black comedy, writes Philip French
Observer Killer Sudoku

Fill the grid using the numbers 1 to 9. Each number must appear just once in every row, column and 3x3 box.
Gainsbourg

Joann Sfar's bold debut is a highly enjoyable – if low on detail – life of the charismatic French singer Serge Gainsbourg, writes Philip French

Critics p29

The film that changed my life: Beeban Kidron

The director talks to Tom Lamont about Vittorio De Sica's Miracle in Milan

Critics p30

The War Lord

Charlton Heston plays a Norman knight in Franklin J Schaffner's impressive costume drama, says Philip French
Mark Kermode's DVD round-up

Madness reigns in Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, while Jim Carrey's gurning spoils I Love You Phillip Morris, writes Mark Kermode

Critics p31

Volcano: Turner to Warhol

Gallery (8 pictures):
A new show at the Compton Verney gallery in Warwickshire examines how volcanoes have fascinated five centuries of artists. Here we show some highlights from the exhibition
Volcano: Turner to Warhol

A riveting show at Compton Verney explores the power of volcanoes over the artistic imagination, writes Laura Cumming

Charts and puzzles p32

Observer sudoku

Fill the grid using the numbers 1 to 9. Each number must appear just once in every row, column and 3x3 box
Klaxons

The Mercury prizewinners are back with a slick live show and second album, Surfing the Void. But it feels like we've heard it before, says Gareth Grundy

Critics p33

Caitlin Rose: Own Side Now

Caitlin Rose's proud, ringing voice recalls the country greats, says Neil Spencer
Best Coast: Crazy for You

Best Coast specialise in two-minute pop songs delivered in a brilliantly dumb and direct way, says Hermione Hoby
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Even a magnificently rasping voice can't rescue this unremarkable soft-rock outing, says Hugh Montgomery
Womad

While the turnout proved disappointing, writes Katie Toms, rap poet Gil Scott-Heron was anything but
Arcade Fire: The Suburbs

Arcade Fire's acutely observed third album, The Suburbs, is enthralling, and rich with drama, says Kitty Empire
Various artists: Larkin's Jazz

Philip Larkin's impeccable selections make for a rich anthology of 1920s and 30s jazz, says Dave Gelly
Paul Morley on music: Arcade Fire

The Montreal-based septet will be out to prove that a band's all-important third LP can retain the capacity to surprise, writes Paul Morley
Wavves: King of the Beach

Wavves have swapped lo-fi haze for catchy skater-punk on their polished third album, says Killian Fox
The Black Crowes: Croweology

Kitty Empire enjoys the Crowes' valedictory acoustic run-through, says

Critics p34

Bayreuth festival 2010

The subtleties of rat-infested Wagner are lost on Bayreuth's starry first-night audience, writes Fiona Maddocks
Carlos Acosta Premieres

At 37, Carlos Acosta still pushes himself – and pulls in the punters, says Ruaridh Nicoll

Critics p35

Bolshoi: Coppélia; Blue Boy: Over the Edge

The Bolshoi's Natalia Osipova is breathtaking in Coppélia, writes Luke Jennings
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos 20 & 27

Evgeny Kissin's individuality shines through in Mozart's piano concertos 20 & 27, writes Fiona Maddocks
Haydn: 12 London Symphonies Nos 93-104

Marc Minkowski and his players take Haydn's London symphonies for a spin – with exciting results, says Nicholas Kenyon
William Alwyn: Chamber Music

Stephen Pritchard finds much to admire in a Naxos recording of William Alwyn's chamber music

Critics p36

Victoria Derbyshire; Everyone Quite Likes Justin; Chris Tarrant; Liza Tarbuck

Would-be Labour leader Diane Abbott was left trailing by Victoria Derbyshire and Liza Tarbuck last week, writes Miranda Sawyer
iPhone apps: Gardening Toolkit/Real Tools

Toby Moses reviews handy new iPhone apps for gardeners and DIY fans
Limbo

Visually captivating with hints of true darkness, Playdead studio's Limbo is a valuable addition to the platform-jumping genre, says Will Freeman

Critics p37

The Wind in the Willows

The team behind a brilliant Railway Children at Waterloo station have worked their magic on Kenneth Grahame's classic, writes Clare Brennan
On a Clear Day You Can See Dover

Ice & Fire's verbatim piece raises vital issues about the plight of asylum seekers in Calais, says Kate Kellaway
Anne Boleyn; Danton's Death; The Prince of Homburg

Howard Brenton paints a very human picture of Henry VIII's second wife, but his French Revolution adaptation lacks dynamism

Books p38

Experimental fiction: is it making a comeback?

Is the tide of the mainstream realist turning? William Skidelsky looks at the resurgence of experimental fiction
Tom McCarthy: 'To ignore the avant garde is akin to ignoring Darwin'

The avant-garde writer and critic tells James Purdon why his new novel, C, acts as a bridge between the future and the past

Books p39

Lydia Davis: 'My style is a reaction to Proust's long sentences'

Lydia Davis is famous for writing short pieces that are sometimes only a sentence long. But, she tells William Skidelsky, that doesn't stop them being stories

Books p40

The Inordinately Strange Life of Dyce Sombre by Michael H Fisher

William Dalrymple marvels at the tragic and extraordinary life of David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, Britain's first Anglo-Indian MP
How I Escaped My Certain Fate: The Life and Deaths of a Stand-Up Comedian by Stewart Lee

One of Britain's most trenchant comics offers a fascinating insight into creating comedy, writes Natalie Haynes
My Life in Pieces by Simon Callow

Simon Callow's collection of his journalism and other writing displays a lust for life both infectious and exhausting, says Michael Coveney

Books p41

Room by Emma Donoghue

Inspired by the Josef Fritzl case, Emma Donoghue's much-hyped seventh novel is a gem, says Nicola Barr

Books p42

Anne Frank: was her diary intended as a work of art?

American critic Francine Prose argues that Anne Frank set out to create more than just a diary, says Robert McCrum

Books p43

The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker

Nicholson Baker's novel about a failed poet is a delight, writes Killian Fox
Thérèse Raquin by Emile Zola

Zola's 1867 tale of murderous lovers is a work of enduring fascination, says Anna Winter
Of Mutability by Jo Shapcott

Jo Shapcott's enigmatic poems fight shy of referring directly to her battle with cancer, writes Kate Kellaway

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The Observer: The New Review

Sunday 1 August 2010

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