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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Books

  • Simon Armitage in the Arctic with an iceberg behind him

    Simon Armitage’s Arctic expedition
    Washy clouds and a weepy sky floating upside down

  • picture of angry people

    Orwellian nightmares
    What I learned about today’s rage culture from rewriting 1984

    ‘Orwellian’ is an accusation increasingly levelled by both right and left but what does it mean, asks author Sandra Newman, who has reimagined Orwell’s novel – and why does Orwell’s dystopian classic speak so powerfully to our current moment?
  • Terry Pratchett

    Pratchett power
    From lost stories to new adaptations, how the late Discworld author lives on

    It’s 40 years since The Colour of Magic hit the shelves. As newly unearthed short stories are published, fans and friends celebrate the late author’s enduring legacy
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What to read

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Non-fiction reviews

  • Madonna

    Music books
    Madonna by Mary Gabriel review – the definitive life of a pop colossus

    Fiona Sturges
  • Two boiled eggs in egg cups

    Food and drink books
    Comfort Eating by Grace Dent review – private passions

    Nell Frizzell
    The restaurant critic’s exploration of the delicious things we snack on is shot through with nostalgia for childhood, family and home
  • A black and white photograph of Ian Fleming sitting at his desk.

    Biography books
    Ian Fleming: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare review – the other international man of mystery

    Anthony Cummins
    An elegant and painstakingly researched biography of the 007 author attempts to strip away the novels to reveal the intriguing figure beneath
    • Joan Didion sitting on a sofa with a painting in the background a coffee table with books on in front of her.

      Biography books
      The World According to Joan Didion by Evelyn McDonnell review – bits and pieces of a literary pioneer

      Rachel Cooke
    • News Corp. Annual General Meeting<br>Rupert Murdoch (center), CEO, News Corp. speaks to the media after the company's annual general meeting in Adelaide, Australia on October 9, 2002. He is flanked by his sons, Lachlan Keith Murdoch (left), Deputy COO, News Corp. and James Murdoch, Executive Vice-President, News Corp. News Corp., which last year had Australia's biggest loss, won't change its earnings forecasts ``at this stage,'' Murdoch said. Photographer: Ian Routledge/ Bloomberg News.

      Politics books
      The Fall: The End of the Murdoch Empire by Michael Wolff review – Succession without a sense of humour

      Andrew Anthony
    • UK Justice HMP Pentonville<br>Landscape view across the central hall to the multiple levels of Wing C and E and of Her Majestys Prison Pentonville, London, United Kingdom. Pentonville is a local prison and holds Category B and C males and A Wing is for this who are on remand and convicted. The prison was built in 1816 as a modern prison and was uniquely designed for rehabilitation. It was the first radial design prison which allowed staff to view all 5 wings from the central hall. The prison remains largely untouched from its original design. (photo by Andrew Aitchison / In pictures via Getty Images)

      Society books
      Time After Time by Chris Atkins review – a former inmate explores the reasons for reoffending

      Andy West
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Fiction & poetry reviews

  • Amy Acre’s Mothersong.

    Poetry roundup
    The best recent poetry – review roundup

    Philip Terry
  • Karl Ove Knausgård.

    Fiction
    The Wolves of Eternity by Karl Ove Knausgård review – cosmic mysteries

    Tanjil Rashid
    Long-lost siblings are linked across time and space in this expansive novel of ideas from the author of My Struggle
  • Monica by Daniel Clowes

    Comics and graphic novels
    Monica by Daniel Clowes review – a thrilling kaleidoscopic journey

    James Smart
    A woman sets out to uncover the truth about her mother’s disappearance in this genre-hopping celebration of visual storytelling
  • Anne Berest.

    Fiction in translation
    The Postcard by Anne Berest review – an autofictional tale of family survival

    Rachel Seiffert
  • JOHN von NEUMANN (1903-1957)./nThe American (Hungarian-born) mathematician, right, with J. Robert Oppenheimer at the 1952 dedication ceremony for the computer built at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, of which Neumann was director.<br>FF8X90 JOHN von NEUMANN (1903-1957)./nThe American (Hungarian-born) mathematician, right, with J. Robert Oppenheimer at the 1952 dedication ceremony for the computer built at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, of which Neumann was director.

    Fiction
    The Maniac by Benjamín Labatut review – genius and madness in the shadow of the atomic bomb

    Killian Fox
  • Nora Joyce (Nora Barnacle). Museum: PRIVATE COLLECTION.<br>P9DRKM Nora Joyce (Nora Barnacle). Museum: PRIVATE COLLECTION.

    Fiction
    Penelope Unbound by Mary Morrissy review – masterly alternative life of Nora Barnacle

    John Banville
  • 408683,Strike - Troubled Blood<br>Strike - Troubled Blood,Cormoran Strike (TOM BURKE);Dr Margot Bamborough (ABIGAIL LAWRIE);Robin Ellacott (HOLLIDAY GRAINGER),Digital artwork: Matt Burlem,Troubled Blood Limited MMXXII,Sam Taylor

    Thrillers of the month
    The best recent crime and thriller writing – review roundup

    Alison Flood
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Children's and YA books

  • A page from Mama’s Sleeping Scarf by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and illustrator Joelle Avelino.

    Children's book roundup
    Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

    Imogen Russell Williams
  • Rear view two teen girls best friends holding hands behind back and hugging<br>2M6XDJC Rear view two teen girls best friends holding hands behind back and hugging

    Children's book reviews round-up
    Young adult books roundup – reviews

    Fiona Noble
    Slapstick murders, a deadly competition between thieves and the very different fortunes of three Victorian-era girls are among this month’s highlights
  • The Best Bad Day Ever by Marianna Coppo

    Children's book roundup
    Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

    A very grumpy toddler; poems for the planet; ancient demons unleashed; and a moving YA trafficking tale
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Interviews

  • The writer and translator Jhumpa Lahiri.

    Jhumpa Lahiri
    Translation is an act of radical change

  • Anne Heltzel.

    'Motherhood is a cult, to a degree'
    Anne Heltzel on her horror novel about parenthood

    The author explains how Just Like Mother, her gothic horror tale of a cult fixated on childbearing, is uncomfortably close to reality
  • Lydia davis Theo Cote tree cleared

    'I’m not worried about fame or glory'
    Lydia Davis, the author who has refused to sell her book on Amazon

    The award-winning short story writer talks about her boycott of the world’s biggest marketplace, her love of languages and living with Paul Auster in Paris
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Regulars

  • Paul Lynch.

    The books of my life
    Paul Lynch: ‘After major illness Robinson Crusoe was the only thing I wanted to read’

  • Storm cloud

    Big idea
    The big idea: can we predict the climate of the future?

    We’re pouring money into computer models – but could they lead us astray?
  • Young woman sleeping in bed beside the window.

    The last word
    ‘A painful absence all of the time’: the best descriptions of loneliness in literature

    The last word, our series about emotions in books, focuses on depictions of isolation this month, from a memoir of grief to Sam Selvon’s Windrush chronicle
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You may have missed

  • Megan Kakimoto.

    ‘Our Hawaiian stories are not meant to be easy for you’
    Megan Kamalei Kakimoto on telling her ancestral tales

  • A bust of Nero looking into a mirror

    Mary Beard
    We’re not the first generation to wonder how genuine our leaders are

  • Maureen Freely, author, photographed in her home in Batheaston.

    Maureen Freely
    Turkey is a place where writers matter

    Anthony Cummins
  • Howl’s Moving Castle.

    ‘A true original’
    Katherine Rundell on the genius of Diana Wynne Jones

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