Jonathan McAloon
@jonniemcaloon.bsky.social
Book critic. Arts and culture writer
Reading Ulysses, I went from hating the idea of offal to wanting to eat offal and then loving offal. Happy Bloomsday
June 16, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reading Ulysses, I went from hating the idea of offal to wanting to eat offal and then loving offal. Happy Bloomsday
Velvet shanks
January 3, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Velvet shanks
I reviewed Story of the Century by Michael Downes, a book about Wagner’s Ring Cycle, for the FT. In the age of IP, there must be an argument to be made that it's the first big-budget, blockbuster high fantasy www.ft.com/content/afdf...
From Game of Thrones to Star Wars: why Wagner’s Ring cycle still resonates
Michael Downes’ Story of the Century dives into the making of the composer’s monumental and controversial work
www.ft.com
January 3, 2025 at 3:18 PM
I reviewed Story of the Century by Michael Downes, a book about Wagner’s Ring Cycle, for the FT. In the age of IP, there must be an argument to be made that it's the first big-budget, blockbuster high fantasy www.ft.com/content/afdf...
2025 resolutions
January 1, 2025 at 6:13 PM
2025 resolutions
It’s hard to infer much about the “experience” of Vikings. But this book brings us as close to an intimacy with their strange past as we are likely to get. My FT review of Embers of the Hands by Eleanor Barraclough www.ft.com/content/05d9...
Embers of the Hands by Eleanor Barraclough — bogged down in Norse culture
The historian unearths a rich trove of artefacts and records to tell the tale of the ordinary lives of Vikings
www.ft.com
December 23, 2024 at 1:26 PM
It’s hard to infer much about the “experience” of Vikings. But this book brings us as close to an intimacy with their strange past as we are likely to get. My FT review of Embers of the Hands by Eleanor Barraclough www.ft.com/content/05d9...