books
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Nothing actually ‘goes viral’, and consumers are both conservative and curious, argues this engaging cultural study
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Review Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak – a rich journey into romance and religion
Natasha WalterA young Muslim woman’s spiritual quest takes her from Istanbul to Oxford as she learns about love, faith and real life
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Book of the day Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There by Rutger Bregman – visionary ideas for a dark time
Richard SeymourAn optimistic book argues with gusto for universal basic income and other policies but lacks a broad or deep perspective -
Paperback of the week The Dedalus Book of Gin by Richard Barnett
Nicholas LezardNicholas Lezard’s paperback of the week: an entertaining look at the drink’s history – complete with ‘Hogarth-rating’ tasting notes -
The Image imprint continues to thrive, plus a cherubic demon-hunter protects Prague from ancient threats
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Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith and others say ‘writers, artists, musicians and filmmakers are often at the vanguard in the fights against terror’
news
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The Forrest Gump star has turned his hand to short fiction with a collection of 17 tales, all themed around his passion for typewriters
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Angela Carter’s heroine’s adventures, bouncing off patriarchal barriers, are full of ideas – but the author’s extravagant invention is never merely didactic
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The Books for Grown Ups series is worth nearly £30m – so it’s no wonder that retro books for ‘kids’ have spread to other publishers. Now, serious subjects are getting the toilet-book treatment, too
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books in 2017
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Jane Austen’s bicentenary, Arundhati Roy’s first novel in 20 years, and unpublished F Scott Fitzgerald ... the literary year ahead
regulars
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PodcastPodcastReclaiming history with Yaa Gyasi and Chibundu Onuzo - books podcastThe authors of two buzzy new novels, Homegoing and Welcome to Lagos, explore ancient and modern stories of west Africa
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Reading groupReading groupNights at the Circus is feminist, but its 'psychedelic Dickens' is not a lectureAngela Carter’s heroine’s adventures, bouncing off patriarchal barriers, are full of ideas – but the author’s extravagant invention is never merely didactic
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The first book interviewThe first book interviewAlice Broadway: 'I guess it's inevitable that I became a bit death-obsessed'Ink’s heroine loses faith in a culture where people’s histories are etched on their skin – reflecting its author’s own disaffection from evangelical Christianity
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Book of the dayBook of the dayUtopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There by Rutger Bregman review – visionary ideas for a dark timeAn optimistic book argues with gusto for universal basic income and other policies but lacks a broad or deep perspective
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Daniel Swift’s account of the disgraced poet’s years in a mental hospital is enthralling but leaves us little wiser as to his state of mind
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History The Last of the Tsars: Nicholas II and the Russian Revolution by Robert Service
Catherine MerridaleThe prolific historian’s account of the doomed Romanovs is rich in drama
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Biography Theresa May by Rosa Prince – a sphinx without a riddle
Andrew RawnsleyA biography of the prime minister reveals a politician of steely self-control with a taste for vengeance -
This roving study of our fascination with time travel covers well trodden ground but finds the concept constantly evolving
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Casaubon’s unfinished Key to All Mythologies was not, by the lights of his time, out of touch or deluded
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History The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker: The Story of Britain Through Its Census
Stephen MossRoger Hutchinson’s breezily anecdotal book reveals the history and controversy behind the UK census
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Fiction Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson – dreams and danger on the streets of New York
Bernardine EvaristoAn allusive, less-is-more approach works beautifully in this coming-of-age novel -
A war reporter heads home to Herne Bay, but is haunted by Aleppo and childhood abuse
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Fiction The Crime Writer by Jill Dawson – suspense in 60s Suffolk
Hannah BeckermanPatricia Highsmith is involved with a married woman in this fascinating fictional biography of the late writer
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A promising poet’s second collection delivers work full of subtle music that wears its heart on its sleeve
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Fiction The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne – sin and torment in Catholic Ireland
Helen DunmoreA picaresque odyssey tracks changing attitudes towards sexual freedoms over the last 70 years and rages against the church -
A portrait of a fictional Airdrie rock group morphs into a haunting, hallucinatory vision of the early 80s
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The Nazis control Paris in 1950 and the art world’s surrealist visions have come to life in this dreamlike vision of an alternative history
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The bond between schoolchildren and their teachers is lovingly explored in this story of a boy who loses the class bear
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A shoplifter falls for a Romanian immigrant in a beautiful collaboration from Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan
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Creator of Miffy, the little rabbit who became a star of children’s literature
people
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The American journalist on ageing, coming to terms with Parkinson’s disease and why baby boomers should be taxed
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The author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas on the explosion in YA fiction, the abandonment of the Catholic church and why he couldn’t live anywhere other than Dublin
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The author on walking London’s streets, siestas and the daily creative struggle
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The author recalls her youthful dreams of a Turner prize victory and the run-in with doctors that led to her second novel
A selection of our favourite literary content from around the world
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The Little Library CaféThe Little Library CaféFood in books: breakfast rolls from The School at the ChaletKate Young seeks some escapist fiction and bakes a breakfast enjoyed by the children in the Austrian boarding school in Brent-Dyer’s novel
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Interview with a Bookstore by Literary HubInterview with a Bookstore by Literary HubInterview with a Bookstore: Blue Willow Bookshop in HoustonCelebrating 20 years since owner Valerie took over, Blue Willow Bookshop is equally split between adults and children’s books, and staffed with knowledgable booksellers who can do anything - including fixing vacuum cleaners
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pictures, video & audio
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The Pulitzer prize-winning novelist looks back on a modern classic at a Guardian book club event
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In the week Sebastian Barry picked up his second Costa book of the year award, he joins us in the studio to read from and discuss Days Without End
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Here are the 23 competition finalists in the running to illustrate The Folio Society’s new edition of the classic story of Fanny Price
you may have missed
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As Nazis occupy our TV screens in the adaptation of Len Deighton’s novel, DJ Taylor explores the alternative world of counter-factual novels
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We must take back our stories and reverse the gaze
Aminatta FornaWriters of African heritage must resist the attempts of others to define us and our history -
Terry Pratchett docudrama is a fittingly imaginative tribute to Discworld's genius
Frank Cottrell BoyceBack in Black’s inventive life story eschews the usual talking heads to focus on the author’s devoted fans – of whom I am one -
The French literary sensation and debut author of The End of Eddy on growing up without books
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