books
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Book Capella opens for Russian eliteCharging around £100 per visit to its pricey collection, it’s not clear if this is an actual library or just a novel spot for wealthy Russians to hold meetings -
UK school denies visit was cancelled because she is transgenderHead teacher at St Mary’s in Preston says ‘complex themes’ of new novel Margot & Me necessitated caution but gender was never a consideration
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The Last of the Tsars by Robert Service – dispelling the mythsThe historian and biographer has written an unsentimental, surprising account of Nicholas II from his abdication in March 1917 to his execution -
Books about the VikingsIt’s not all raiding and looting – these stories and histories range from family dramas to political thrillers, not to mention man-eating trolls and bawdy gods
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Habermas by Stefan Müller-Doohm – from Hitler Youth to famed philosopherThe Holocaust, religion and the EU’s future are all central issues in the biography of a celebrated, combative thinker
news
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JK Rowling deals cunning blow in Twitter war against Piers MorganAuthor tweets writer’s previous effusive praise for her – only for him to criticise the post, apparently unaware he had written it
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Overwhelming, yet gorgeous writing: Angela Carter's excessive brillianceNights at the Circus is rich with ingenious verbal invention, extravagant plot devices and eye-popping description. Perhaps a little too rich?
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What are you reading this week?Your space to discuss the books you are reading and what you think of them
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books in 2017
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Books to watch in 2017Jane Austen’s bicentenary, Arundhati Roy’s first novel in 20 years, and unpublished F Scott Fitzgerald ... the literary year ahead
regulars
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PodcastPodcastMichael Chabon on The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay – books podcastThe Pulitzer prize-winning novelist looks back on a modern classic at a Guardian book club event
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Reading groupReading groupOverwhelming, yet gorgeous writing: Angela Carter's excessive brillianceNights at the Circus is rich with ingenious verbal invention, extravagant plot devices and eye-popping description. Perhaps a little too rich?
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The first book interviewThe first book interviewAlice Broadway: 'I guess it's inevitable that I became a bit death-obsessed'Ink’s heroine loses faith in a culture where people’s histories are etched on their skin – reflecting its author’s own disaffection from evangelical Christianity
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Book of the dayBook of the dayWhy I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto by Jessa Crispin review – it’s time to get radicalFeminism used to mean a transformed society, a challenge to romance, a new way to live. Now, Crispin argues, it has been rebranded into banality
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The Story of Pain by Joanna Bourke – from prayer to painkillersNicholas Lezard’s paperback of the week: wince-inducing stories of amputations without anaesthesia and sinister policies to withhold drugs from sections of society
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Eat Me: A Natural and Unnatural History of CannibalismForget Silence of the Lambs: Bill Schutt’s book reveals the evolutionary reasons we may end up eating each other
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Fragile Lives by Stephen Westaby; Emergency Admissions by Kit WhartonPowerful memoirs by a heart surgeon and an ambulance driver tackle the ‘live or let die’ dilemma of modern healthcare
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Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World – a seductive history of funSteven Johnson’s enjoyable new book argues that advances in society are driven by the need to keep ourselves entertained
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Lines in the Sand: Collected Journalism by AA GillThese posthumous essays reveal AA Gill’s ability to transcend the particular with wit and compassion
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Oliver Goldsmith in Grub Street by Norma ClarkeA lively account of 18th-century London’s literary underworld centres on the author of The Vicar of Wakefield
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Hame by Annalena McAfee – laughs between the linesA Hebridean poet’s secret past is unearthed in this intricate satire on Scottish nationalism
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Jackself by Jacob Polley – sinister and mysteriousPolley’s haunting verse narrative blends nursery rhymes, riddles and cautionary tales with a dash of Coleridge
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Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman – a rich retellingThe fantasy polymath reimagines Asgard, complete with giant cats, collapsible ships and gossipy squirrels
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Hame by Annalena McAfee – a metatextual Scottish taleCantankerous bards, remote islands and a US billionaire star in a novel steeped in Scots heritage
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Black Wave by Michelle Tea – a rollicking apocalypse fantasyA cult US author investigates addiction and apocalypse in a hallucinatory tale that’s as sobering as a blast of cold air
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The Transition by Luke Kennard – how to grow upThis ingenious novel about underachieving millennials is a dystopia in a velvet glove
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Wed Wabbit by Lissa Evans – a riotously funny adventureRecalling the magic of Dahl and Carroll, this tale of a tyrannical toy rabbit is the first must-read children’s book of the year
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The best new picture books and novelsA trip to the Arctic, coping with love, memory loss and OCD and the best PE excuse note ever written
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The Pomegranate Tree by Vanessa Altin – a child's-eye view of war-torn SyriaThis fictional diary of a young Kurdish teenager is harrowing, but for every barbarity there is a moment of courage or kindness
people
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Publishers assumed Trump would soon disappearThe investigative reporter explains his struggle to publish alarming findings about the US’s extraordinary new president
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Bettany Hughes: ‘I cannot write about the past unless I go where history happened’The historian and presenter on travels, mud-stained notebooks and the most expensive bottle of wine she ever bought
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We feminists don’t go in for heroines much, but Barbara Castle is mineBarbara Castle’s memoir exposed the obstacles facing women in public life, and showed how to overcome them
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For my family, a book was a kind of assaultThe French literary sensation and debut author of The End of Eddy on growing up without books
A selection of our favourite literary content from around the world
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The Little Library CaféThe Little Library CaféFood in books: breakfast rolls from The School at the ChaletKate Young seeks some escapist fiction and bakes a breakfast enjoyed by the children in the Austrian boarding school in Brent-Dyer’s novel
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Interview with a Bookstore by Literary HubInterview with a Bookstore by Literary HubInterview with a Bookstore: Blue Willow Bookshop in HoustonCelebrating 20 years since owner Valerie took over, Blue Willow Bookshop is equally split between adults and children’s books, and staffed with knowledgable booksellers who can do anything - including fixing vacuum cleaners
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pictures, video & audio
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Dahlov Ipcar's seven decades in children's booksCelebrated for her ‘non-intellectual cubist’ takes on wildlife and nature, the illustrator died last week, aged 99. Here are some highlights from a singular career
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Michael Chabon on The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and ClayThe Pulitzer prize-winning novelist looks back on a modern classic at a Guardian book club event
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Sebastian Barry on his Costa-winning novel Days Without EndIn the week Sebastian Barry picked up his second Costa book of the year award, he joins us in the studio to read from and discuss Days Without End
you may have missed
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I’ve always thought of myself as a dark writer, but this is utterly differentThe American novelist on writing horror, how Occupy gave capitalism back its name and the thunderbolt that has hit US politics
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A life in 4,000 booksWhen Nick Holdstock was asked to catalogue the books left behind in Doris Lessing’s home, he found annotations, drawings, dedications – and a few surprises
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Books about the apocalypseWeaponised flu, hoax bombs that start exploding, totalitarian America and brain-thirsty zombies – here’s a flood of fictional world endings – and one that’s real
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I like being British. Even when I’m ashamed, I’m fascinatedThe books interview: The award-winning author on his new book of Norse mythology, Brexit and being an Englishman in New York
Prequel, sequel, 'equel'? Philip Pullman's Book of Dust should learn from JK Rowling's magic
Philip Pullman Author unveils epic fantasy trilogy The Book of Dust