This first novel by 'The Independent's' TV writer moves in unexpected directions and will keep you gripped until the end 

Over the next five days we will be running extracts from the best essays, concluding on Saturday with the winner. Today we feature an extract from an essay by Garret Keizer

His virtue rings through time

The writer could just as easily be remembered as a politician or a saint

HP Lovecraft wrote his first story a hundred years ago, leaving a legacy of horror writing that has seeped into popular culture and profoundly influenced cinema and literature to this day. He was also an out-and-out racist. David Barnett peers into the darkness

JK Rowling's first novel in the series published on 26 June 1997 and went on to sell 450 million copies in 79 languages

The crime writer's third book about four old schoolfriends with a terrible secret might be long, but you won't be able to put it down 

Decades of contemplation are compounded in the ‘The God of Small Things’ author’s new novel 

You've spent too many summers reading novels, isn't it about time you started to write one yourself. Jennifer Howard selects the best of the world's writing retreats 

The ‘Now With Even Less Austerity’ version will be available later this month

Tapes reportedly recorded by Diana in 1991 were made as her marriage to Prince Charles began to disintegrate

This second novel by the Bailey's Prize-shortlisted author is a timely warning of the coming dangers of global warming

Facebook CEO's recommended reading list

'People often long to know if the eternal spinster Jane Austen ever had sex with a man. The answer is almost certainly not,' says Lucy Worsley

Following previous autobiographies My Word is My Bond and Last Man Standing

Author says there is a 'chain of thought in America that it is inappropriate for white writers to try and create black characters'

His brother said 'it will be lovely' to see him

Kureishi's novella about a once famous film director confined to his London flat due to ill health and old age who suspects his younger wife of infidelity has an unconvincing plot 

The author chronicles London through the history of its gay population from pre-Roman times to the present day