books
-
The $50,000 prize will honour a living international author whose work is ‘of enduring originality and consummate craftsmanship’
-
While being incredibly moreish in both summer and winter, piccalilli is also the perfect recipe to make now for Christmas gifts, writes Kate Young
-
The 1958 tale of lost souls in a lay community has an almost Wodehousian charm – and offers the reader some uplifting lessons in love
-
Syria Speaks, which made headlines after it led to a honeymooning airline passenger being questioned under the Terrorism Act, sees surge of interest
-
The Macmillan Open Dictionary recognises Scottish slang word for scrotum, which has been used to describe both terrible weather and Donald Trump in Aberdeen
-
A timely reminder of the human cost and miscalculations of Mao’s last experiment, fifty years on
news
-
Robert Stroud, the real Birdman made famous by the film, drew a checkerboard on the inside covers to keep himself occupied while in isolation cells
-
Contrary to what the officials who held a woman for reading it, a book on their work is the last place to look for evidence of extremism
-
Why does literature so often depict the onset of sexuality – or indeed any aspect of girls’ growing up – as a strange, feverish thing? Two recent novels, by women, are redressing the balance with heartfelt depictions of teenagers that ring true
-
summer reading
-
From Essex serpents to chimpanzees, political satire to the best new thrillers … leading writers reveal which books they will be taking to the beach
regulars
-
100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time100 Best Nonfiction Books of All TimeThe 100 best nonfiction books: No 28 – The Hedgehog and the Fox by Isaiah Berlin (1953)The great historian of ideas starts with an animal parable and ends, via a dissection of Tolstoy’s work, in an existential system of thought
-
The first book interviewThe first book interviewJack Urwin: 'We don’t need to be the men our grandfathers were'First book interview: The debut author’s study of ‘toxic masculinity’ was uncomfortable to write, but he says it’s fired with hope that clichéd male behaviour can be unlearned
-
Top 10sTop 10sTop 10 books writers should readFrom unforgiving French sociology to Machiavelli’s manual for realpolitik, the Booker prize-winning author DBC Pierre recommends books that helped him write
-
PodcastPodcastWalking in cities with Lauren Elkin and music by the Bookshop Band - books podcastWe take a stroll through the streets of history and talk about women who wandered with author of Flâneuse, Lauren Elkin, and enjoy some great literary lyrics from the Bookshop Band
-
Nicholas Lezard’s paperbck of the week: Richard J Evans is no fan of ‘What if?’ speculation, unless it is used for humorous purposes
-
What would Churchill think of Brexit? Benjamin Grob-Fitzgibbon’s history of the European project brings an outsider’s perspective to our current squabbles
-
The French photographer’s playful restaging of some of the world’s most celebrated images is both mischievous and thought-provoking
-
Our map of gender has been radically redrawn in recent years, and Frank Browning offers an accessible guide to complex new terrain
-
History Ancient Worlds: An Epic History of East and West
Michael ScottMichael Scott’s novel approach to an overview of world affairs from 500BC to AD300 reaps rich rewards -
Biography Labyrinths: Emma Jung, Her Marriage to Carl and the Early Years of Psychoanalysis by Catrine Clay
Lucy ScholesEmma Jung’s role in the growth of psychoanalysis – and her scandalous life with Carl – is revealed in this absorbing new biography
-
Modern neurological theories and Buddhist meditations converge in an allegorical tale of seven lives from the great travel writer
-
This tale of a likable but hubristic home secretary rings refreshingly true
-
The Lauras by Sara Taylor Elegiac and beautifully observed
Hannah BeckermanSara Taylor’s second novel, charting a road trip and touching on themes of gender, loss and identity, is as evocative as her debut
-
Alex doesn’t have a gender – and Ma is OK with that as they cross America in search of the past in this exploration of identity and the bond between mother and child
-
An inspector searches for a young man who may or may not be there in this serpentine inquiry into the nature of reality
-
The Many by Wyl Menmuir A disturbing debut
Catherine TaylorA surprising inclusion on the Man Booker prize longlist exerts an uneasy power -
Viral by Helen Fitzgerald This page-turner had me turning pages
Nicholas LezardNicholas Lezard’s paperback of the week: I was sceptical about such a salacious novel but it is clever, funny and psychologically astute
people
-
Original Rockers’ author explains how a Bristol record shop he worked at tells a chapter of the city’s cultural history – and an intimate part of his own story
-
The series of books predates Game of Thrones by a decade and boasts a universe as populous as Westeros, with a huge tapestry of stories to be mined
-
The New Yorker writer who profiled Donald Trump in the 90s delves into the Republican’s mentality, and explains why he thinks he’s destined to drop out
-
The US novelist on the effect of her home state’s landscape and light on her period fiction
children's books
-
We announce the eight wonderful authors and books that have been longlisted for our prize, this year judged by David Almond, SF Said and Kate Saunders
-
Review one of the Guardian children’s fiction prize 2016 longlisted books as an individual or a school book group and be in with a chance of winning books, national book tokens and an invite to meet authors at our award ceremony – enter here!
-
The Guardian is changing how it covers children’s books – here we look back at some of the highlights of the Guardian children’s books site since 2011
A selection of our favourite literary content from around the world
-
The Little Library CaféThe Little Library CaféFood in books: piccalilli from Life After Life by Kate AtkinsonWhile being incredibly moreish in both summer and winter, piccalilli is also the perfect recipe to make now for Christmas gifts, writes Kate Young
-
Interview with a Bookstore by Literary HubInterview with a Bookstore by Literary HubInterview with a Bookstore: Heffers in Cambridge, celebrating 140 years of booksellingRun by staff that pride themselves on identifying and championing ‘Heffers books’, Heffers is the largest bookstore in the UK university town
-
pictures, video & audio
-
French author and illustrator double act Bessora and Barroux share their new graphic novel Alpha, the story of a migrant desperately searching for his family
-
We take a stroll through the streets of history and talk about women who wandered with author of Flâneuse, Lauren Elkin, and enjoy some great literary lyrics from the Bookshop Band
-
As part of the World of Illustration series, we head to Romania and Moldova to meet goats, princesses and cats – plus eat bread with dew
you may have missed
-
Top 10 Books writers should read
DBC PierreFrom unforgiving French sociology to Machiavelli’s manual for realpolitik, the Booker prize-winning author DBC Pierre recommends books that helped him write -
The creators of the revered comic book about Southern California punks are back on newsstands next month, their characters looking back on their lives and varying fortunes
-
Written in the shadow of the approaching second world war, the novel tells the tale of a man at battle with himself and the world around him
-
Forget wives and mothers, the heroines of new books by Deborah Levy, Emma Cline and Zadie Smith are defined by the other women in their lives
popular
-
1
Young adult readers 'prefer printed to ebooks'
This article is 2 years old
Books blog So the Cloud Atlas novel differs in the US and UK? No change there then …
David Mitchell Cloud Atlas 'astonishingly different' in US and UK editions, study finds