books
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Book of the day The Long March from Jarrow by Stuart Maconie – ‘a tribute and a rallying call’
Rachel ReevesIn retracing the steps of the Jarrow march of 1936, Stuart Maconie finds that much of the past remains with us -
This huge work is one of the greatest of all English biographies and a testament to one of the great literary friendships
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John Crace ventures to Middle-earth to retrieve a shorter version of the elf legend that Christopher Tolkien, son of JRR the Hobbit, found there
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The ‘bard of Barnsley’ on his new libretto for Ice-Cream: The Opera – and living in the village where he grew up
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The author, whose stories focus on young Chinese Americans and the immigrant experience, talks imagination, childhood and having Lena Dunham as fairy godmother
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Soviet women recall their wartime lives in these epic first-person accounts, translated into English for the first time
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From George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, fantastical tales with women centre stage are everywhere. Feminist? Misogynist? That’s not the point …
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The author of The Bicycle Book on the literature no self-respecting bike fan should be without
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regulars
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Book of the dayBook of the dayThe Long March from Jarrow by Stuart Maconie review – ‘a tribute and a rallying call’In retracing the steps of the Jarrow march of 1936, Stuart Maconie finds that much of the past remains with us
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PodcastPodcastSara Pascoe and Lucy Worsley on Jane Austen – books podcastTwo centuries after the death of the great English novelist, historian Lucy Worsley and comedian Sara Pascoe join us to talk about her life and work
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Novel recipesNovel recipesNovel recipes: cream puffs from The Garden Party by Katherine MansfieldMansfield’s 1922 short story, set around the wealthy Sheridan family’s shindig, inspires Kate to make a dessert from their elegant spread
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Reading groupReading groupPersuasion: Jane Austen's kung fu novel?For all the gentility, the characters in Austen’s last novel face real peril, and contend with dramatic reversals and bruising verbal blows
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Spanish flu in 1918-19 killed vastly more people than the world war it followed, yet has remained in the shadows
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Science Growth and Form by D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson – centenary of a Darwin-challenging classic
Steven RoseHoneycombs, snail shells, a tiger’s stripes … The celebrated study of how physical forces and mathematical laws affect natural selection has just been reissued
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Biography M by Henry Hemming – the fascist spymaster of MI5
Bernard PorterA superb book on the naturalist turned intelligence officer discloses new information on agents within far right and communist organisations -
History Koh-i-Noor by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand – an infamous diamond and imperial bloodshed
Maya JasanoffA dynamic and gory history of the celebrated gem, from emperor Shah Jahan’s peacock throne in the 1600s to present-day demands for its return -
A brilliantly researched study explores the poet’s difficult relationship with his farmer father and his guilt-ridden need to conceal his sexuality
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A catalogue of horrors and public humiliations, Gay’s memoir responds to society’s condescension and disgust about her body size
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Thriller Under the Sun by Lottie Moggach review – summer noir on the Spanish coast
Emma Jane UnsworthA dark underside to expat life is revealed in this nimble thriller exploring ideas of home, migration and loneliness -
Sex and mythology collide in a novel with insights into contemporary coupledom
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Fiction in translation To Die in Spring by Ralf Rothmann – a brutal coming of age in Nazi Germany
Rachel SeiffertThe final weeks of the second world war are hauntingly portrayed in a German novel that bears comparison with Erich Maria Remarque and Günter Grass
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The final part in the Plague Times trilogy adds fresh ideas to the tropes of apocalyptic fiction
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Fiction How to Stop Time by Matt Haig – provokes wonder and delight
William SkidelskyA teacher’s rare genetic condition prevents him from ageing at the normal rate in the talented Haig’s clever time-hopping fantasy -
This collection of graphic short stories, quirky and ephemeral though they seem at first, are indelible in the mind
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Art reflects life in this pitch-perfect novel set on a 60s film shoot, the third part of a loosely linked trilogy
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Children and teenagers The Lotterys Plus One by Emma Donoghue – it’s a family affair
Linda Buckley-ArcherBig is beautiful in the Room author’s tale of seven children, four parents (and a three-legged dog) who follow their dreams -
The award-winning author gets to the raw heart of her diverse characters in this winning sixth form tale of romance and identity
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It’s exactly two decades since the first of JK Rowling’s books was published. Try our Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test to see how much you have learned since then
from the archive
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Bond, who died on 28 June, on his lovable bear’s enduring appeal in this 2014 interview by Michelle Pauli
people
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The Nobel prize-winning author talks about the pressures of life in the Putin era, as her bestselling book on Russian women’s wartime heroism is republished
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The likes of Sarah Perry, Jeanette Winterson and Mark Haddon have penned dark tales of ancient houses and hauntings, spanning the country from Audley End in Essex to York Cold War Bunker
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Dante and Milton are recast through the eyes of a redneck Jesus in Gary Panter’s latest graphic novel. He opens up about the nightmare hallucinations and comic-book disasters that led him there
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After watching the destructive and unjust workings of international relations, former diplomat Carne Ross explains why direct democracy now makes more sense to him
pictures, video & audio
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Since the 19th century, artists have depicted colourful – if sometimes fictional – dinosaurs and prehistoric environments, mingling science with unbridled fantasy
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Two centuries after the death of the great English novelist, historian Lucy Worsley and comedian Sara Pascoe join us to talk about her life and work
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How to adapt Jane Austen for the screen with Andrew Davies
you may have missed
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Far from being the epitome of genteel propriety, her earliest fiction reveals an anarchic spirit with a disdain for authority to match any modern adolescent
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High on vodka and crack, Curtis Dawkins shot a stranger dead. Sentenced to life in prison, he went back to his first love – writing. He tells Chris McGreal about his controversial new book
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Which is the greatest Jane Austen novel?
Margaret Drabble, Tessa Hadley, Hilary Mantel, Ian McEwan, Joyce Carol Oates, Claire Tomalin and Ahdaf SoueifIt is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen is one of the greatest English novelists. On the 200th anniversary of her death, writers make the case for the novel closest to their hearts -
Gruffalo, laundry, fishfinger sandwiches, writing, often no writing … the author on taking inspiration from her two-year-old daughter and short story writing
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Beatrix Potter-pinching and Žižekian swipes The strange world of book thefts