books
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Seamus Heaney’s rendering of Virgil brings the ancient world to life with plain language and striking juxtapositions
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Judge in Alabama signs order keeping details of To Kill a Mockingbird author’s will private, with only relatives and heirs allowed to view it
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Today is International Women’s Day, and this newly translated work from an award-winning Czech writer is a passionate call to protect women everywhere from violence – in the shape of a teenager’s account of her gang rape
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At a Guardian Live Book Club event, the Norwegian literary phenomenon Karl Ove Knausgaard explains how and why he has put the most intimate details of his life into his autobiographical novels
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The award for books that aspire to ‘make political writing into an art’ has this year chosen titles whose subjects include Egypt, Syria and Iraq
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Cache of letters to a former lover, kept private until now, reveal the writer’s unorthodox passions
news
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Your space to discuss the books you are reading and what you think of them – plus our favourite literary links
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Fresh, warm light is cast on a familiar scene, as visits to the salon reveal their eternal aspect
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regulars
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Top 10sTop 10sTop 10 hateful characters you love in literatureReally awful people in Dostoevsky, DeLillo and beyond have some paradoxically endearing qualities. Debut novelist Heinz Helle explains why, and recommends some of the best of the worst
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Reading groupReading groupJG Ballard's High-Rise is the choice for March's Reading groupAfter a close-run vote of 15 Ballard novels, this tale of societal breakdown and psychosis has opened its doors in the lift lobby. Please, step inside
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PodcastPodcastKarl Ove Knausgaard, in conversation with John Mullan – books podcastAt a Guardian Live Book Club event, the Norwegian literary phenomenon Karl Ove Knausgaard explains how and why he has put the most intimate details of his life into his autobiographical novels
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Book of the dayBook of the dayAeneid Book VI by Seamus Heaney review – a pitch-perfect translationSeamus Heaney’s rendering of Virgil brings the ancient world to life with plain language and striking juxtapositions
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This first-hand account of the harsh realities of the American rental housing market is bleak and salutary
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Essays Pretentiousness: Why It Matters by Dan Fox – what’s wrong with being a great pretender?
Peter ConradThis shrewd book argues that pretentiousness is central to our progress and our individuality
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Stevenson rises above adversity in this remarkable account of her eldest daughter’s struggles with cystic fibrosis
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A new study of Thomas Mann’s son reviews old assumptions about the troubled writer’s life and death wish
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Book of the day History’s People: Personalities and the Past by Margaret MacMillan
Lucy Hughes-HallettIrreverent and highly enjoyable – history as seen by the people who were there -
Bissell was brought up within the church and leaving it has not stifled his fascination with early Christianity. This book – part history, part travelogue – is an attempt to unravel its mysteries
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Tracy Chevalier returns to America’s pioneers and a family with a secret struggling to make a living from the land
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Javier Marías’s elegant 14th novel yokes Spain’s dark past to a tale of domestic spying – but the result lacks substance
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Chigozie Obioma’s debut novel combines reminiscence, recent history and the supernatural, with dazzling results
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The journey of a transplant organ explores the metaphysical zone between life and death, in an excellent novel from the French author
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A solitary art lover peruses galleries and avoids other people in this meditative debut from a talented young Belgian
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Mark Lawson Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama – the crime thriller that is a publishing phenomenon in Japan
The plot would grip in any language, but, for readers in the west, there is an extra fascination to this prime example of the ‘box set novel’ -
Stevie Davies How to Measure a Cow by Margaret Forster – the final novel from the Georgy Girl author
A compelling portrait of a headstrong, fractured woman, who has taken on a new alias after being released from prison
people
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It’s a little way from the centre of the books world, but the wit (and tweets) of this enterprising amenity has been drawing some very starry attention, with Rowling gatecrashing their book club this week
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American author of The Prince of Tides who drew on a troubled childhood as material for his novels
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The author and professor owes her fascination with black style to her sharply dressed father, who arrived from Jamaica in the 50s. Here she talks about her book, The Birth of Cool
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The Canongate Books boss on the success of Letters Live, performances of notable correspondence by leading lights of stage and screen
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On International Women’s Day, teen author Deidre Sullivan celebrates the feminist icon Dorothy Parker, recommended reading if you like brilliant, crushing things
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Shadowhunters author Cassandra Clare tells us about the significance of the runes that run through her Mortal Instuments, Infernal Devices, Bane Chonicles, Shadowhunter Academy and now new Dark Artifices series
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The Book Doctor investigates why books starring unsuccesful outsiders are so popular now, and since forever, from Greg Heffley to Tom Gates to Stanley Yelnats – all the way back to The Bible and Arthurian legend
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Superfans get to ask Cassie Clare exclusive questions to celebrate the publication of her return to the Los Angeles Shadowhunters world with Lady Midnight, book one in The Dark Artifices series!
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Jill Murphy’s much-loved character Mrs Large searched for an elusive five minutes’ peace from her adorable but demanding little brood. On Mother’s Day, discover the story behind the book
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Dark, intense relationships can make for a good YA read, but they can also open up a conversation about the danger of toxic love in the real world
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Submissions are now open for publishers to enter the Guardian children’s fiction prize 2016. The closing date is 22 March 2016 so enter ASAP!
A selection of our favourite literary content from around the world
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The Little Library CaféThe Little Library CaféFood in books: Jollof Rice from Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieA second reading of Adichie’s novel has Kate Young exploring new culinary territory and trying out this homely Nigerian dish
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Translation Tuesdays by AsymptoteTranslation Tuesdays by AsymptoteTranslation Tuesday: excerpt from A Contribution to the History of Joy by Radka DenemarkováToday is International Women’s Day, and this newly translated work from an award-winning Czech writer is a passionate call to protect women everywhere from violence – in the shape of a teenager’s account of her gang rape
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pictures, video & audio
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What is the threat from Islamic militancy and how do we start to care for the carers? The 13 books contending for the UK’s top political prize tackle key issue of today
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We travel around the human body with GP Gavin Francis, venture into the operating theatre with surgeon Samer Nashef and join investigative reporter Jack Parlabane on the trail of ‘blade bitch’
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The perils of a path to personal literary success, inspired by Karl Ove Knausgaard’s reflections on exposing intimate details of his life and his family
you may have missed
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‘Gunvor didn’t mind my erectile dysfunction and it was all very nice apart from the times when I was unfaithful to her’
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My mother, before I knew her
Jeanette Winterson, Julia Donaldson, Julian Barnes, David Hare and othersInspired by Carol Ann Duffy’s poem Before You Were Mine, writers reflect on photographs of their mothers before they were born -
Science and nature 'I let the country flow under my wheels …'
Melissa HarrisonFrom Kipling’s first car journey to JG Ballard’s motorway dystopias – our growing disconnection from the outdoors can be traced in literature -
The mega-selling author on faith, animals and his new novel – and his insant rise from struggling writer to literary household name
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Topics
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- Autobiography and memoir
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Baileys women's prize for fiction 2016 longlists includes self-published debut and 10 other first novels
In pictures Baileys women's prize for fiction 2016 longlist