books
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How many sisters did Charlotte Brontë have? Which previously male name did she popularise as a female name? Take our quiz and find out
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Each day, artists illustrate a scene from Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book. Here Robert G Fresson depicts a quiet moment between Mowgli and Bagheera, before they vanish into the jungle’s secret places
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Nothing is held back in this astonishing novel set during the Nazis’ programme of forced euthanasia for ill and disabled children
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Michael Honig wrote fiction to depict the catastrophic rise and rule of Putin in Russia, but found the most inspiration in terrifying nonfiction accounts
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The Story of the Lost Child and a posthumous collection of the great Brazilian author’s short stories among 10 finalists
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This provocative biography argues that the man who is the ‘central intelligence’ of the Marx Brothers indulged in radical, nihilistic truth-telling that masked his insecurity. Seriously?
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Swedish author David Lagercrantz, who is continuing the bestselling crime novels begun by the late Stieg Larsson, promises ‘a lighter, more hardboiled affair’
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News of a possible Jane Austen first edition that found its way to a pile of junk in South Carolina has reminded me of my own serendipitous secondhand finds – and the odd magic of strangers’ inscriptions
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Record number of female creators are on ballot and most of the comics in the best new series category feature female protagonists amid comics’ golden age
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How I became middle-class
Lynsey Hanley
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Each day, artists illustrate a scene from Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book. Here Bill Bragg captures the dark and wild nature of Mowgli and his animal companions, out on a moonlit adventure
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Each day, artists illustrate a scene from Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book. Here Sarah McIntyre illustrates her writing partner Philip Reeve’s favourite element of the book: Mowgli’s relationship with Baloo and Bagheera
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Each day, artists illustrate a scene from Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book. Here Lesley Barnes depicts her favourite character, Bagheera the panther with his companion Mowgli
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Each day, artists illustrate a scene from Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book. Here Prabha Mallya depicts Raksha – also known as Mother Wolf – defending Mowgli from the fearsome Shere Khan
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Top 10sTop 10sTop 10 books on Vladimir Putin's RussiaMichael Honig wrote fiction to depict the catastrophic rise and rule of Putin in Russia, but found the most inspiration in terrifying nonfiction accounts
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Reading groupReading groupVirginia Woolf in Brontë country: picking apart the genius in Jane EyreJane Eyre is a challenge to the imagination – even the great modernist didn’t find it easy. It’s fascinating to read about the difficulties and delights she encountered
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100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time100 Best Nonfiction Books of All TimeOliver Sacks’s moving account of how, as a doctor in the late 1960s, he revived patients who had been neurologically ‘frozen’ by sleeping sickness reverberates to this day
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PodcastPodcastReading the globe at the London book fair – books podcastWe head to the UK’s biggest book fair to find independent publishers bringing us literary gems from all over the world
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Nightwalking review Nocturnal walks with Chaucer and Dickens explore London’s seamier side
Nicholas LezardNicholas Lezard’s paperback of the week: bursting with learning and pulsing with life, Matthew Beaumont’s survey of writers from Chaucer to Dickens explores the city’s seamier side -
This follow-up to Everyday Sexism is the ideal first book on feminism for young women, but is too restrained. Bates seems scared to show her anger
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History From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime
Steven W ThrasherIn her new book, Harvard historian Elizabeth Hinton tracks the way liberal American politicians, not the conservative Republicans, brought us the mass incarceration black Americans suffer today -
Seamus Murphy’s pictures of Ireland, ranging from the beautiful to the everyday and absurd, evoke a modern country that feels both strange and familiar
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Politics The Killing of Osama bin Laden by Seymour M Hersh
Andrew AnthonySeymour Hersh’s theories surrounding the killing of Osama bin Laden and recent events in Syria are forceful but unconvincing -
This celebration of all things concrete will please both its aficionados and those who find it hard to love
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The author of the bestselling The Other Hand turns historical novelist but retains his power to locate the personal in the political
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Lawrence Osborne goes to great – sometimes tiresome – lengths to inject verisimilitude into this tale of an Englishman abroad
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Book of the day Quiet Flows the Una by Faruk Šehić – ‘a major contribution to war literature’
Kapka KassabovaA hypnotic meditation on grief, shame and conflict by a veteran of the Bosnian war
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The search for professional fulfilment drives a sparky comedy of angst and uncertainty
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Review Hotels of North America by Rick Moody – confessions of an itinerant hotel-reviewer
Charlotte JonesThe author of The Ice Storm is back on form with this comic take on the impermanence of modern life -
Nicholas Lezard’s paperback of the week: Shakespeare, Donne and Jonson are all represented in this punchy and sinuous anthology, chosen by Stoner author John Williams
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In her latest imaginative tour de force, the tale of a 19th-century guru, Barker lobs a literary hand grenade at the historical novel
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The 2015 Costa first book winner shares the language of pikes, haggs and landmarks in England’s north that inspired his novel
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This year’s Pulitzers have been awarded to books that, while highly praised, were not the most talked-about of last year. Thanks to the prize, that is set to change
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Since Noughts and Crosses was published 15 years ago, Malorie Blackman has been a permanent fixture in the hearts of countless YA readers. As she releases her new book, Chasing the Stars, we speak to her about graphic novels, saving our libraries and why she decided to set her Shakespeare tale in deep spaceRead the first chapter of Chasing the Stars
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Crime-writer alias of renowned Harry Potter author among the 18 novelists longlisted for Theakstons Old Peculier crime novel of the year prize
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From frogs and feelings to astronauts and Shakespeare, the School Library Association Award celebrates some of the best non–fiction for children.
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Celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Bronte’s birthday by finding out which starring role you’d play in Jane Eyre
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The author of Jane Eyre tells you the story of her life, with a little bit of help from Mick Manning and Brita Granström – to celebrate the 200th anniversary of her birth
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Discuss Why Jane Eyre is most definitely a YA novel
Lena Coakley‘First sparks of love, first kisses, first great disappointments’: Lena Coakley on why Jane Eyre is not just a classic, it’s classic YA -
Haven’t yet entered the Jacqueline Wilson Creative Writing prize? You have just 17 days to go! Here’s Jacky talking to TV presenter and children’s author Clare Balding to give you some more tips about how to write your story
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Author Dave Rudden was bullied when he was at school for being sensitive and bookish. He stayed silent about it for 10 years and now wishes he had spoken out instead of struggling on and suppressing the pain until the wound festered
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Unlike his cousins St Patrick and St Andrew, poor old St George is often ignored on his day of days - which happens to be 23 April 2016. A primary school teacher wants to share stories of a brave man defeating a terrible foe with her class – without focussing on the nationalistic connotations
A selection of our favourite literary content from around the world
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The Little Library CaféThe Little Library CaféFood in books: meringues and iced coffee from A Room with a ViewKate Young writes about devouring EM Forster’s classic novel as a teen and recalls her romantic wishes to live and love like its heroine, Lucy Honeychurch
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Interview with a Bookstore by Literary HubInterview with a Bookstore by Literary HubInterview with a Bookstore: The Mysterious Bookshop in New YorkBooksellers from the world’s largest and oldest mystery-specific bookshop share their workplace anecdotes and favourite reads in the genre
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pictures, video & audio
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How would you react if you saw someone reading Getting Away With Murder for Dummies on public transport? Comic Scott Rogowsky took some pretend, provocative book covers on an underground operation
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Gregory Woods’s study of how homosexuality has shaped Western culture inspired this Wilde rating system
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We head to the UK’s biggest book fair to find independent publishers bringing us literary gems from all over the world
you may have missed
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The independent chain was awarded International Bookstore of the Year this week. According to Readings’ manager Mark Rubbo, it’s all about community
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The author of Eligible on adapting Pride and Prejudice, the 21st-century woman’s lot and being stylistically subsumed by Jane Austen’s words
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Jane Eyre The shock and thrill of discovering this book continues to run in my veins
Sarah Waters, Margaret Drabble, Jeanette Winterson and othersOn the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth, writers and artists reflect on her greatest creation -
My writing day My writing day: Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mantel‘Some days I have no idea what I’ve written till I read it back. It’s a life with shocks built in’
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Topics
- All today's stories
- Fiction
- Children and teenagers
- Teen books
- Illustration
- Poetry
- Awards and prizes
- Charlotte Brontë
- History
- Children's books: 8-12 years
- Women
- Rudyard Kipling
- Biography
- Children's books: 7 and under
- Comics and graphic novels
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The secret history of Jane Eyre: Charlotte Brontë's private fantasy stories