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Books

  • Heather Parry author portrait

    Book of the day
    Carrion Crow by Heather Parry review – a stomach-clenching contender for awards

    Nick Duerden
  • View of the highway through the windshield of a car<br>modern expressway in the Middle East desert. View of the road through the windshield of a car

    Fiction
    The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits review – a triumphant twist on the great American road novel

    Fleeing a failing marriage and culture war battles, a man drives away from the wreckage of his past
  • illustration referencing Munch's The Scream

    The big idea
    Should we abolish art?

    Down with expensive trophies at art fairs: it’s time to reclaim a more radical vision of creativity
  • The North Pole 1990 2 - Erling Kagge

    Travel writing
    The North Pole: The History of an Obsession by Erling Kagge review – an adventure that can’t be topped

    Stuart Jeffries
  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Wrecking Ball, by Jeff Kinney

    News
    ‘Something magical is happening’: sales boom for children’s comics creating young readers of the future

  • detail from In a Cafe or Absinthe by Edgar Degas.

    Carol Rumens's poem of the week
    Veteran Sirens by Edwin Arlington Robinson

  • Detail from Cry When the Baby Cries by Becky Barnicoat.

    Graphic novel of the month
    Cry When the Baby Cries by Becky Barnicoat review – the black and white truth about motherhood

    Rachel Cooke
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What to read

  • Haruki Murakami, Cher, Neneh Cherry, Angela Merkel and Alan Hollinghurst Autumn Books

    Autumn books
    From a new Murakami to a memoir by Cher: the best books of the autumn

  • Composite image of best paperbacks March 2025

    Paperbacks
    This month’s best paperbacks: Mick Herron, Armistead Maupin and more

    • Jane Austen.

      Where to start with
      Where to start with: Jane Austen

    • The Trees by Percival Everett; American Pastoral by Philip Roth; Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan.

      What we're reading
      What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in February

Non-fiction reviews

  • Tuppence Middleton

    Autobiography and memoir
    Scorpions by Tuppence Middleton review – living with OCD

    Fiona Sturges
  • A member of Amazon's staff pushing a trolley among rows of shelves.

    Society books
    Is This Working? by Charlie Colenutt review – labours of love in unexpected places

    Ian Cobain
    The author’s study of UK workers and their feelings about their jobs uncovers mushrooming red tape and an enduring sense of fatigue, but also a sense of pride
  • A skyline picture of New York, June 1964. View from the top of the Empire State Building looking over the Chrysler Building and the Pan Am Building.

    Journalism books
    A Town Without Time by Gay Talese review – New York by an old master

    Stephen Smith
    The colour and detail in this collection of nonfiction by the grandfather of New Journalism brings the city to gripping, dazzling life
  • Watch out for Smashy McDeathrock …

    Society books
    A Brief History of the End of the F*cking World by Tom Phillips review – apocalypse not

    Stuart Jeffries
  • Mary McCarthy Holding Fruit<br>(Original Caption) This photo shows Mary McCarthy, (1912-1989), American writer, in her younger years in an outside scene. (Photo by Sylvia Salmi/Bettmann via Getty Images)

    Autobiography and memoir
    Memories of a Catholic Girlhood by Mary McCarthy review – incurable sadness if bravely borne

    John Banville
  • Elizabeth Inchbald (1753 – 1821) English novelist and actress. Portrait of Elizabeth Inchbald painting by Thomas Lawrence, c.?1796<br>2X88H5A Elizabeth Inchbald (1753 – 1821) English novelist and actress. Portrait of Elizabeth Inchbald painting by Thomas Lawrence, c.?1796

    Literature books
    Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney review – the women behind the woman

    Tom Shone
  • Gabriel Weston.

    Science and nature books
    Alive by Gabriel Weston review – a revelatory study of the body

    Sophie McBain
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Fiction & poetry reviews

  • ‘Nowhere is free from human-made rubbish’ … communication cables on the ocean floor.

    Fiction
    Twist by Colum McCann review – globalism and a voyage into danger

    Marcel Theroux
  • A black-and-white image of William Herbert Wallace with a man either side of him.

    Fiction
    The Mouthless Dead by Anthony Quinn review – murder most unsolvable

    Alexander Larman
    The author’s haunting and highly readable fictionalisation of a high-profile killing in prewar Liverpool is rich in legal and procedural detail
  • A head shot of bearded author Anthony Shapland.

    Fiction
    A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland review – a striking story of concealed love

    John Self
    This unforgettable tale of two men in late-80s Wales deals with the emotions and repercussions of their intimacy – and is one of the best debut novels in years
  • Saou Ichikawa

    Fiction in translation
    Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa review – favours for furikake

    Camilla Grudova
  • willows on a river bank

    Science fiction and fantasy
    The best recent science fiction and fantasy – review roundup

  • David Szalay.

    Fiction
    Flesh by David Szalay review – brilliantly spare portrait of a man

    Keiran Goddard
  • dust storm

    Fiction
    The Antidote by Karen Russell review – a magical realist Dust Bowl tale

    Sandra Newman
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Children's and YA books

  • Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob, Huw Aaron

    Children's books
    Picture book reviews

  • The Gnome Book by Loes Riphagen

    Children's book roundup
    The best new picture books and novels

    Imogen Russell Williams
    A boy with his head in the clouds; a Kurdish refugee’s tale; helicopter heists, a dancer’s dreams, a mission to save Mars and more
  • Ravena Guron: ‘rising star’

    Children's book reviews
    Young adult books roundup

    Fiona Noble
    A bookshop becomes a sanctuary in a post-apocalyptic romance, a connection is forged through food – and a codebreaker learns the language of big beasts
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Interviews

  • Kazuo Ishiguro

    Interview
    ‘AI will become very good at manipulating emotions’: Kazuo Ishiguro on the future of fiction and truth

  • Xiaolu Guo.

    Interview
    Xiaolu Guo: ‘Write less, in order to write stronger’

    The author and film-maker on why she was inspired to reimagine Moby-Dick in her new novel, her love of Coleridge and returning to the ‘addictive power of fiction’
  • Virginia Feito

    Interview
    ‘What’s wrong with us?’ : Novelist Virginia Feito on our morbid obsession with true crime

    Her debut, Mrs March, is being adapted by Elisabeth Moss, and her new novel has already been snapped up for the screen. Virginia Feito reveals the real-life inspiration for her shocking story of a psychopathic Victorian nanny
  • A close-up of author Colum McCann, photographed in New York in February 2025.

    Interview
    Colum McCann: ‘I like having my back against the wall’

  • David Szalay.

    Interview
    Writer David Szalay: ‘We live in an era of short attention spans – we have to work with it the best we can’

  • Anne Tyler.

    Interview
    ‘It seemed wrong to write about normal life after that horrendous election’: US novelist Anne Tyler

  • DO NOT USE BEFORE SATURDAY FEB 15 2025. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie photographed in January 2025 by Jared Soares. Hair: Carla Pressley; Make up: Brittany Rogers. Styled by Somi Nwandu of Nwanyi Oma Style Curating

    Interview
    ‘Cancel culture? We should stop it. End of story’: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on backlash, writer’s block – and her new baby twins

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Regulars

  • Andrey Kurkov.

    The books of my life
    Andrey Kurkov: ‘At 17, I got my hands on an illegal copy of The Gulag Archipelago’

  • illustration referencing Munch's The Scream

    Big idea
    The big idea: should we abolish art?

    Down with expensive trophies at art fairs: it’s time to reclaim a more radical vision of creativity
  • Alan Bennett.

    Audiobook of the week
    Killing Time by Alan Bennett audiobook review – quietly subversive comedy

    The author narrates his darkly comic novella about lockdown life in a care home during the pandemic
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You may have missed

  • Lucy Mangan in her library at her home in north Norfolk.

    Feature
    ‘Books picked me up on bad days’: how reading romance helped Lucy Mangan through grief

  • Gabriel Weston

    Feature
    ‘I am changed in every cell of my body’: what surgeon Gabriel Weston learned when she faced serious illness at home

  • collage featuring cold war cultural landmarks

    Extract
    ‘It allowed us to survive, to not go mad’: the CIA book smuggling operation that helped bring down communism

  • Curtis Sittenfeld.

    Feature
    ‘The essential ingredient is openness’: Curtis Sittenfeld on the deep joy of midlife friendship

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