Books
-
US journalist Seymour Hersh recounts in fine detail the stories that made him, from the My Lai massacre to Abu Ghraib -
According to the judges of the Wodehouse prize, this is the worst year for comic writing in the award’s 18-year history. So why the long faces? Sam Leith explores the funny side of fiction
-
Prodigious talent but also deep unhappiness … this affectionate biography charts the rise and fall of the actor deemed the best of his generation -
His debut about his violent childhood was an international sensation. Now the French author has written a novel about being brutally assaulted -
With its twisted ethic and casual cruelty, this 1933 classic about convent school life reads as dystopian fantasy today
-
The Rastafarian writer lists among his greatest achievements that he made it to 30 ‘without being shot’. This memoir is raw, yet warm -
A journey to cities on the European continent explores the author’s favourite buildings and the benefits of planning and collective provision -
The reporter who exposed the My Lai massacre and the CIA’s illegal domestic spying in the 1970s continues to be a rebel outsider
-
There is a sprinking of psychological authenticity in this bestseller mix -
The radio DJ’s first novel for adults is a sprawling yarn about American prisoners of war incarcerated in Dartmoor -
A deeply ambivalent and complex study of the choice between procreation and art
-
A former US president co-writing a thriller about a US president taking on cybergeddon was so promising – but learning that the White House has a bowling alley is about as exciting as it gets -
Michael Ondaatje is at the peak of his powers with the story of a man piecing together his troubled adolescence -
Dag Solstad’s novels about lives of no consequence may border on the boring, but that is their hypnotic beauty
-
Plus a gentle introduction to the refugee crisis -
Dogs and jungle animals for young ones, politics and mysteries for older readers -
The plot may not be very original, but Dave Eggers can’t write a boring sentence - kids will love this tale of dark underground forces
-
The author of Bad Feminist and Hunger has strong words for ‘incels’, harassers in publishing and diet gurus -
We discover the five best Booker winners, listen in to a smart rap on racial prejudice, and find out what #metoo means in India -
The US-born novelist on being published by the Sex and the City actor, taking off the hijab and taking up boxing
-
The books interview: After 12 novels and two film adaptations, is Meg Wolitzer about to become a household name? She talks the long game – and her timely new bestseller -
He is a Turkish journalist who has risked jail to write about President Erdoğan, and the son of an assassinated writer – yet Mumcu’s debut novel is a rollicking steampunk adventure -
The winner of the Dylan Thomas prize explains how his poems are infused with the rhythms and rhymes of garage, grime and hip-hop
-
Rebecca West’s novel, published when she was just 24, took a maverick line on everything from sexual politics to class and the first world war -
Your space to discuss the books you are reading and what you think of them -
What to read
-
Unconsummated passions, destructive obsessions, all-consuming desire … Aciman chooses five books about the intensity of a once-in-a-lifetime love -
The poet laureate on her deep shame at not having read Don Quixote and always laughing at Cold Comfort Farm -
Books coming in 2018
-
Which debut novel should you reach for this spring? Here’s our guide to the most exciting voices in fiction, politics, SF, graphic novels and more
You may have missed
-
Sex, money, freedom, class ... Dunn’s 1960s interviews with Edna O’Brien, Pauline Boty, Ann Quin and others are a revelation today -
That’s the claim made by the authors of The Inner Level, which furthers arguments first laid out in their 2009 work, The Spirit Level. They reveal the bleak truth about uneven societies -
Writer Philippe Ungar and photographer Franck Bohbot travelled across the Big Apple to meet 50 indie booksellers in their habitats -
This week at Hay festival, writers, artists and thinkers have been discussing the world we live in today. How do we stay positive and fight for change? Here they reveal the books that give them hope
Small Country by Gaël Faye – recalling violence