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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Books

  • Port of Spain, Trinidad, in 1946.

    Book of the day
    The Lost Love Songs of Boysie Singh by Ingrid Persaud review – a bad man in Trinidad

    Shahidha Bari
  • a key held held aloft to a drawer

    Tom Gauld's cultural cartoons
    Bluebeard – cartoon

    The drawer of doom …
  • Amor Towles.

    The books of my life
    Amor Towles: ‘When I reread Ulysses I found it insufferable. Don’t @ me’

    The American author on being paid to read in his teens, the allure of graphic novels and the brilliance of Iris Murdoch
  • To be, or not to be … The Chandos portrait of William Shakespeare, by John Taylor

    News
    Questions over Shakespeare’s authorship began in his lifetime, scholar claims

  • The hair-loss treatment industry survives by making people feel bad about themselves.

    Autobiography and memoir
    Bald by Stuart Heritage review – hair today, gone tomorrow

    Simon Usborne
  • Brick Lane

    Crime and thrillers roundup
    The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

    Laura Wilson
  • Andrew Scott

    Audiobook of the week
    1984 by George Orwell audiobook review – a starry cast drive this powerful dramatisation

    Fiona Sturges
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What to read

  • Composite image of best paperbacks April 2024

    Paperbacks
    This month’s best paperbacks: Anne Enright, Sarah Bernstein and more

  • Making its power felt … China

    Five of the best
    Five of the best books to understand modern China

    • Read on

      100 best novels of all time
      From The Pilgrim's Progress to True History of the Kelly Gang

    • Books of the century so far

      The 100 best books of the 21st century

    • Composite for the 100 best nonfiction books of all time list

      100 best nonfiction books of all time
      From Naomi Klein to the Bible – the full list

Non-fiction reviews

  • A nuclear weapon test in Nevada, 1952

    Society books
    Everything Must Go by Dorian Lynskey review – apocalypse now

    Fara Dabhoiwala
  • A volcanic eruption in the 2022 Werner Herzog documentary, The Fire Within, about Katia and Maurice Krafft.

    Science and nature books
    Adventures in Volcanoland by Tamsin Mather review – fire and brimstone

    Rachel Aspden
    A magical scientific exploration of volcanoes, and how they’ve shaped both nature and human destiny
  • Liz Truss

    Liz Truss
    Ten Years to Save the West review – shamelessly unrepentant

    The former PM’s account of her time in office is unstoppably self-serving, petulant, and politically jejune
  • A screengrab from the trailer for "Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell"

    Biography books
    Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, a Life by Richard King review – Village voice

    Sukhdev Sandhu
  • Salman Rushdie.

    Memoir
    Knife by Salman Rushdie review – a story of hatred defeated by love

    Blake Morrison
  • Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, a Life Richard King AR_8.1

    Music books
    Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, a Life review – down the rabbit hole with a musical maverick

    Kitty Empire
  • Rooftop Beatles<br>30th January 1969: British rock group the Beatles performing their last live public concert on the rooftop of the Apple Organization building for director Michael Lindsey-Hogg's film documentary, 'Let It Be,' on Savile Row, London, England. Drummer Ringo Starr sits behind his kit. Singer/songwriters Paul McCartney and John Lennon perform at their microphones, and guitarist George Harrison (1943 - 2001) stands behind them. Lennon's wife Yoko Ono sits at right. (Photo by Express/Express/Getty Images) white;format landscape;male;musical instrument;audio equipment;equipment;Music;Pop;Songwriter;Drummer;Guitarist;Film; P/BEATLES/1969;The

    Music books
    All You Need Is Love: The End of the Beatles by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines review – from best man to muckraker

    Tim Adams
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Fiction & poetry reviews

  • Sunjeev Sahota

    Fiction
    The Spoiled Heart by Sunjeev Sahota review – the political is personal

    Sam Byers
  • A stranded whale

    Fiction
    Whale Fall by Elizabeth O’Connor review – a debut with dark undercurrents

    Jude Cook
    In this haunting and restrained novel, a young woman sets out to escape the confines of a Welsh island
  • teenager reading

    Fiction
    Reading Lessons by Carol Atherton review – breathing new life into old texts

    Kathryn Hughes
    How one teacher wrestles meaning and relevance from classics of English literature
  • Sicily.

    Fiction
    The Hypocrite by Jo Hamya review – sun, sex, scenery and family guilt

    Sarah Moss
  • A lightning strike over a church in Santorini, Greece.

    Thrillers of the month
    Crime and thrillers of the month – review

    Alison Flood
  • Lionel Shriver.

    Fiction
    Mania by Lionel Shriver review – we need to talk about stupidity

    Anthony Cummins
  • The author David Nicholls, sitting at a table.

    Fiction
    You Are Here by David Nicholls review – love is in the fresh air

    Alex Preston
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Children's and YA books

  • Terrible Horses, by Raymond Antrobus and Ken Wilson-Max. PR pics from Walker Books - with words removed

    Children's book reviews round-up
    Picture books for children – reviews

    Imogen Carter
  • I’ll See You in Ijebu, illustrated by Diana Ejaita

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

    Farming adventures; tales from the set of The Sound of Music; King Arthur reimagined; unrest in near-future London and more
  • Cross My Heart and Never Lie by Nora Dasnes

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

    Fiona Noble
    First crushes, Rachel Greenlaw’s YA debut and the story of an improbable affair will make your heart beat faster this month
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Interviews

  • ‘There is something ghostly about being adopted. A set of tiny details is not much to make into a whole person’ Jackie Kay.

    Poet Jackie Kay
    I could have been brought up by Tories!

  • Sunjeev Sahota<br>Booker prize nominee Sunjeev Sahota at home. Author of 'Our Are the Street,' ''China Room,' The Year of the Runaways,' and his latest novel 'The Spoiled Heart.'

    Sunjeev Sahota
    I’ve always been in labour movements – but I’m critical of identity politics

    The Booker shortlisted novelist on writing his first significant non-working-class character, the literary critics who inspired him and why he’s not on Facebook
  • Percival Everett in his studio in LA March 11th 2024

    ‘I’d love a scathing review’
    Novelist Percival Everett on American Fiction and rewriting Huckleberry Finn

    His work triumphed at the Oscars, but the Booker-shortlisted author isn’t interested in acclaim. He talks to the Guardian about race, taking on Mark Twain and why there’s nothing worse than preaching to the choir
  • Author Michael Magee for Q &amp; A, New Review, Trafalgar Square area, Central London, 18/03/2024. Sophia Evans for The Observer

    Michael Magee
    There’s a disbelief at how I’ve ended up

  • Holly Jackson.

    ‘I will defeat Richard Osman!’
    Holly Jackson on being Britain’s top selling female crime author

    Lucy Knight
  • Helen Garner<br>Helen Garner author portrait

    Helen Garner
    People would give me death stares in the street

    Rachel Cooke
  • ‘Like a rock star’ … Liu Cixin

    Liu Cixin
    I’m often asked – there’s science fiction in China?

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Regulars

  • Amor Towles.

    The books of my life
    Amor Towles: ‘When I reread Ulysses I found it insufferable. Don’t @ me’

  • A wand pointing at a top hat with atoms coming out of it

    Big idea
    The big idea: are we about to discover a new force of nature?

    The wealth of emerging evidence suggest that physics may be on the brink of something big
  • Expertly mined human treachery … Patricia Highsmith.

    Where to start with
    Where to start with: Patricia Highsmith

    Thanks to Netflix’s moody adaptation, Ripley, there’s more awareness of Highsmith’s skills as an expert writer of guilt, ambivalence and moral dilemmas at odds with reality
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