Nicholas Lezard is a literary critic for the Guardian
May 2021
A User’s Guide to Melancholy by Mary Ann Lund review – senses of humour
A learned and readable picture of Renaissance medicine with less comic eccentricity than Robert Burton’s 1621 magnum opus
March 2020
Illustrator Albert Uderzo drew me in to Asterix's world with deftness and care
The way Uderzo’s comic book panels progressed from rudimentary was an important lesson for a child
April 2019
Philosopher of the Heart by Clare Carlisle review – the restless life of Søren Kierkegaard
Kierkegaard had no time for the conventions of ordinary life. But his severity did not stop him being witty
December 2018
Books blog
Is Watership Down really 'just a story about rabbits'?
Richard Adams’s novel is, as he insisted, about unsentimentally observed animals. But his experience as a soldier left an undeniable mark on the story, too
July 2018
Waistcoats are amazing – and not just because of Gareth Southgate
Nicholas Lezard
I’ve been wearing a waistcoat for more than 20 years. Finally my foresight and excellent taste are being vindicated, says Nicholas Lezard, a literary critic for the Guardian
May 2018
Alexa, what does the future hold? A dystopia where gadgets spy on us
Nicholas Lezard
Stories of Amazon Echo malfunctioning are creepy, but it seems that soon our technology is going to be in control of us, says Guardian critic Nicholas Lezard
September 2017
What's great about The Limehouse Golem? Glorious Victorian London grime
Smoke-blackened brick, the soot, the fog … Starring Bill Nighy, the film adaptation of Peter Ackroyd’s novel is a reminder that London is a Victorian city and its pea soupers and shadowy figures are made for cinema
August 2017
Hate hearing someone eat? It could be misophonia – or plain old misanthropy
Nicholas Lezard
I think misophonia is perhaps as much an existential condition as a physiological one, writes Guardian critic Nicholas Lezard
July 2017
The smoking ban 10 years on: what’s changed on page and screen?
Legislation that restricted smoking at work and in public in the UK now alters how readers and viewers perceive the fictional tobacco habit
June 2017
Nicholas Lezard's choice
Typewriters, Bombs, Jellyfish by Tom McCarthy review – masterful essays
Nicholas Lezard's choice
Major/Minor by Alba Arikha review – a teenager's memoir of turbulent times
May 2017
Nicholas Lezard's choice
Silage by Bethany W Pope review – poetry as salvation
Nicholas Lezard’s paperback of the week: this harrowing collection drawn from a youth spent in an orphanage delights in language as a place of private escape
Nicholas Lezard's choice
The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carré review – stories from the spy novelist’s life
Nicholas Lezard’s paperback of the week: the bestselling author pens vivid portraits from his time in MI6 and of his unreliable father
Nicholas Lezard's choice
The Middle Ages by Johannes Fried review – something extraordinary on every page
Nicholas Lezard’s paperback of the week: a monumental history that shows the birth of the age of reason in an era of cruelty and folklore
April 2017
Nicholas Lezard's choice
The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman review – a celebration of avian intelligence
Nicholas Lezard's choice
An Overcoat: Scenes from the Afterlife of H.B. by Jack Robinson review – Stendhal reincarnated
Nicholas Lezard's choice
The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman review – a sense of wonder
Nicholas Lezard's choice
The Shock of the Anthropocene review – a crisis centuries in the making
March 2017
Nicholas Lezard's choice
Like Death by Guy de Maupassant review – a sexy, intoxicating read
Nicholas Lezard's choice
The Violet Hour by Katie Roiphe review – great writers on their deathbeds
