books
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His Dark Materials is two decades old, but its lessons are made for todayThe Book of Dust will soon expand Philip Pullman’s landmark fantasy trilogy, but the first books can still teach us a lot about how we live now -
Prison made me believe in literature moreThe Egyptian novelist, who was jailed last year for ‘violating public morality’ with his novel The Use of Life, looks back at an experience he hopes is now over
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History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund – God and groomingA teenager struggles to come of age in a world of religious zealots and predatory teachers in this stark debut -
What we owe to CarterAngela Carter died 25 years ago, but her legacy lives on – from Fifty Shades to Buffy, from Björk to The Hunger Games
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The Blot by Jonathan Lethem – high-stakes backgammon and brain surgeryA professional gambler’s journey from board games to the operating table dazzles then loses its way
news
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Canadian professor discovers what could be only footage of Marcel ProustBlack-and-white film shows man who could be French writer at wedding of daughter of one of Proust’s close friends, says Jean-Pierre Sirois-Trahan
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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
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Philip Pullman's Book of Dust should learn from JK Rowling's magicThe two authors have long written in step, and the His Dark Materials promised ‘equel’ will hopefully use similar tricks to Harry Potter’s author in extending Lyra’s story
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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Books to watch in 2017Jane Austen’s bicentenary, Arundhati Roy’s first novel in 20 years, and unpublished F Scott Fitzgerald ...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 dayTheresa May by Rosa Prince review – the anti-Cameron, Brexit PMThere is not much that’s intriguing about the determined May, apart from her class-based reaction against her predecessor’s gilded clique
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Theresa May by Rosa Prince – the anti-Cameron, Brexit PMThere is not much that’s intriguing about the determined May, apart from her class-based reaction against her predecessor’s gilded clique
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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
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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
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Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto by Jessa Crispin – 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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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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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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I guess it's inevitable that I became a bit death-obsessedInk’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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Raymond Briggs's 'captivating' work wins lifetime achievement awardDespite having insisted that ‘my lifetime hasn’t ended yet’, The Snowman author declares the BookTrust prize ‘an incredible honour’
people
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Your questions answered on Terry Pratchett, Norse gods, and his marriageThe author of Sandman, Coraline and other cult hits joined us to answer your questions, on everything from Donald Trump to American Gods
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Your questions answered on Trump, climate change and VRThe pop-science writer behind Everything Bad is Good for You and Wonderland came in to answer your questions, on everything from innovation in science and technology, to his thoughts on the Trump administration
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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
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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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
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Illustrating Jane Austen's Mansfield ParkHere are the 23 competition finalists in the running to illustrate The Folio Society’s new edition of the classic story of Fanny Price
you may have missed
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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
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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
'It's appalling' All-white Carnegie medal longlist provokes anger from children's authors
News Carnegie and Kate Greenaway awards announce 2017 longlists