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The Guardian - Back to home

Books

  • International Booker prize
    The 2023 shortlist – review

    John Self

  • Carol Rumens's poem of the week
    Poem XVII by WH Auden

  • Graphic short story prize
    The Faber/Observer/Comica graphic short story prize 2023 – enter now!

  • Observer book of the week
    Foreign Bodies by Simon Schama review – pandemics and prejudice

    Mark Honigsbaum
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What to read

  • Ukraine
    Beyond the fog of war: books to help us understand the invasion

    From Ukrainian history to Putin’s kleptocracy and Gogol’s stories, author and former Russia correspondent Oliver Bullough chooses the best titles

  • Paperbacks
    This month’s best paperbacks: Salman Rushdie, Margo Jefferson and more

    Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some excellent new paperbacks, from an astonishing study of premonitions to a Booker prize-winning novel

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

    • The 100 best books of the 21st century

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

Non-fiction reviews

  • Politics books
    Tory Nation by Samuel Earle review – tangled up in blue

    John Harris

  • Politics books
    The Russo-Ukrainian War by Serhii Plokhy review – the first draft of history

    John Simpson
    An impressive account of the origins and early stages of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

  • Autobiography and memoir
    Is This OK? by Harriet Gibsone review – second life

    Maeve Higgins
    A woman comes of age on the internet in a memoir that swings between funny and profound

    • Society books
      Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer review – beauty and the beast

    • Film books
      Depp v Heard: The Unreal Story by Nick Wallis review – fear and loathing in Hollywood

      Peter Conrad

    • Autobiography and memoir
      Wish I Was Here by M John Harrison review – a masterly ‘anti-memoir’

      Nina Allan
Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Fiction & poetry reviews

  • Fiction
    The Imposters by Tom Rachman review – novelists writ large

  • Fiction
    The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese review – a curse in Kerala

    Maaza Mengiste
    Water affects a family’s fate in this enthralling epic from the physician-author, set across three generations

  • Fiction
    Sparrow by James Hynes review – a boy’s life in a Roman empire brothel

    Alice Jolly
    The experiences of an orphaned slave boy are vividly and at times gratuitously described in this brutal tale

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

    Alison Flood

  • Fiction
    Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy review – immersive dive into the baby years

    Sarah Crown

  • Science fiction roundup
    The best recent sci-fi, fantasy and horror – reviews roundup

    Lisa Tuttle

  • Fiction
    The Happy Couple by Naoise Dolan review – less love triangle, more sex pentangle

    Anthony Cummins
Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Children's and YA books

  • Children's books
    The best recent picture books

  • Children's and teenager's books
    Young adult books roundup – reviews

    Fiona Noble

  • Children's book roundup
    The best new chapter books

    Kitty Empire
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Interviews

  • ‘I was a bad child actor. Extremely bad’
    Emma Cline on the follow up to her hit novel The Girls

  • Ottessa Moshfegh
    I’m not brainstorming ways to freak people out

    The acclaimed author on her post-Covid novel Lapvona, the influence of Ingmar Bergman and the Brothers Grimm, and the draw of England in the 90s for her next book

  • Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy
    This may not be the last chapter of the Russian empire, but it’s an important one

    The Harvard academic on writing while grieving – and where his country goes from here

  • Agustina Bazterrica
    Capitalism and cannibalism are almost the same

  • Guy Gunaratne
    The Abu Ghraib section of my book took its toll

  • Navalny’s press secretary Kira Yarmysh
    Justice is on our side, and Putin is old

  • Novelist Caleb Azumah Nelson
    Why would you put a ceiling on anyone?

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Regulars

  • The books of my life
    Jessie Burton: ‘When I am anxious or sad, I reach for Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall’

  • Where to start with
    Where to start with: George Eliot

  • Big idea
    The big idea: why we need a new definition of junk food

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

You may have missed

  • A superfan’s dilemma
    Can I still listen to David Bowie?

  • Antisocial
    How putting away my phone helped me recover from a heart attack

    Rafael Behr

  • Hilary Mantel was working on ‘mashup’ of Jane Austen novels before her death

  • Follow the money: the story of slavery and Shakespeare’s First Folio

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Most viewed

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Most commented

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Topics
Martin AmisFictionHistory booksPolitics booksAutobiography and memoir