Books
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This respectful biography of one of the world’s most famous living feminists embraces the criticism that all her books have provoked -
The Social Network screenwriter’s take on Harper Lee’s novel had been opposed by her estate, and reports say portrayal of Atticus Finch has been softened
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As part of the Guardian’s 2018 in culture series we want to hear what you’ve been reading this year
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The Old English epic becomes an ambitious American fable, in this bloodthirsty novel told from the point of view of the monster’s mother -
King Arthur ‘was made up by an imaginative clerk’ … finally, the truth as to whether Camelot existed
Best books of 2018
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From Brexit satires to time-travelling murder mysteries and a former first lady’s wry observations on life in the White House, our critics pick the best novels, poetry, sports and children’s books of the year
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From West End girls to teenage runaways – three decades of euphoric, bruised pop -
A thrilling survey of bedrooms across the centuries takes in sex and privacy, God and glamour, rest and death
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As a surveyor of east-west relations, the French novelist was drawn to the idea of a Renaissance artist taking an Islamic sabbatical - but the result is fiddly and unpersuasive -
Is this historical novel, set around Kew Gardens and a Cotswolds country house, a gothic romp or a more serious exploration of empire and loss? -
This homage to PG Wodehouse is a bravura performance that twinkles with energy, puns and wisecracks
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Though it’s not an achieved literary artefact, the Croatian writer’s final novel, published in the same month as a translation of her 2002 work Doppelganger, reveals her as a writer and thinker of ever greater relevance -
A surreal, startling debut short story collection probes race and consumerism in a twisted America -
The Whisperer by Karin Fossum, Dan Fesperman’s Safe Houses, Tami Hoag’s The Boy, Murder in the Caribbean by Robert Thorogood, The Listeners by Anthony J Quinn and A Place to Lie by Rebecca Griffiths
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Tom Gates writer and illustrator Liz Pichon enjoys drama in the jungle, Milligan’s silly verse and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole -
A picture book dedicated to English’s strangest quirks has made the New York Times bestseller list with the publisher scrambling to reprint. How did the rapper behind it dream it up? -
A journey into the afterlife, a Doctor Who adventure, a boy in a blizzard, a cicada’s escape and more
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On this week’s show, we reveal the books we loved most in 2018 and discuss the future of prose poetry with poets Rankine, Jeremy Noel-Tod and Emily Berry -
The Scottish poet and editor on defying conventions of genre, the elusive nature of what he does, and the importance of external validation -
The author who went from working in telephone sales to being nominated for the Man Booker talks about his acclaimed new novel, wanderlust and making sadness funny
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Without a home, and facing terminal illness, Winn and her husband decided to walk the South West Coast Path. She talks about the experience – and her Costa-nominated memoir, The Salt Path -
Elizabeth Uviebinené and Yomi Adegoke are the co-authors of Slay in Your Lane: the Black Girl Bible. They talk to the Guardian's Iman Amrani about their experiences as black British women and why they wrote the book
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As her second novel, Normal People, is named book of the year, the 27-year-old Irish literary sensation talks about sudden fame, and why her characters don’t fit into contemporary patterns of sexual politics
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Richard Powers’s novel can be preachy, but its authentic passion for imperilled trees carries the reader through -
I loved the 1978 film as a child, even though it terrified me, says the author Stephanie Merritt -
What to read
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The novelist on Mary Portas’s call to arms, Tove Jansson’s Moomin wisdom, and not reading Thomas Pynchon -
From the magic of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to dollhouse-sized dioramas of true crime scenes … Simon Garfield celebrates the small-scale -
You may have missed
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Rose Macaulay’s What Not, which features a sinister Ministry of Brains, is little known, but there are claims it influenced both Aldous Huxley and George Orwell -
The right to live offline, to self-define, to choose, to a healthy planet ... as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights turns 70, leading authors reimagine it for today -
As a book of the singer-songwriter’s lyrics is released, the Cloud Atlas author reflects on the songs that have been the soundtrack to his life and work -
Our favourite authors on the most outstanding books they read this year
Fire and Fury Exposé wins ‘total loser’ Michael Wolff a place on authors’ rich list