books
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The pope is dead and cardinals are gathering to elect his successor in this portrait of power, corruption and deceit
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The bestselling tale of teenagers haunted by a demon remains effective because it’s about so much more than a scary clown
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Cancel your gym membership and come off the Paleo diet. Your basic human needs are all catered for, and life is too short to spend in the pursuit of longevity
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The books interview: As he publishes his first novel in more than a decade, the Israeli author explains why he had to rewrite the toxic story of Judas – and his complicated relationship with his homeland
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Out of Bounds by Val McDermid; Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman; Blood Wedding by Pierre Lemaitre; Black Night Falling by Rod Reynolds; Blackwater by James Henry
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Andrea Wulf’s victory in the Royal Society prize this week continues a trend that has seen female authors triumphing after many years on the margins
news
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Thriller writer had been due to publish a book about an attempt on the horror master’s life, but decided against after learning of real-life threats
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On Tuesday 27 September at 1pm, we’ll be joined by author and HG Wells fan Ali Smith to discuss his life and works, as well as her own writing
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The European Commission is looking to help authors who have lost the rights to their work. Horrid Henry creator Francesca Simon explains why the new measures should be applauded
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not the booker prize
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These stories owe a great deal to Hemingway, and if they don’t quite live up to Papa’s example they are still vivid, affecting record of soldiers’ experience in Afghanistan
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Reading the shortlist The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel – a very overheated tale
This story of dark passions in a sun-scorched small town addresses some heavy questions but cannot bear their weight -
As its title would suggest, this is flawed book, not helped by stock characters, an irritating, clever-clever style and an underdeveloped plot
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A perceptive depiction of the fragility of life in an embattled land gets drowned out by strident politics, in the first of this year’s Not the Booker shortlist
regulars
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100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time100 Best Nonfiction Books of All TimeThe 100 best nonfiction books: No 34 – Hiroshima by John Hersey (1946)Hersey’s extraordinary, gripping book tells the personal stories of six people who endured the 1945 atom bomb attack on the Japanese city
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The first book interviewThe first book interviewTiffany McDaniel: 'The novel was there saying, "Let me out!"'The author of The Summer That Melted Everything explains how her debut was forged during a fever of writing, when she finished a novel in eight days
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Top 10sTop 10sJohn Sweeney's top 10 books on corruptionFrom Macbeth to Robert Maxwell and Mussolini’s son-in-law, the investigative reporter and crime novelist picks his favourite books featuring ‘plot No 2 in literature’
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PodcastPodcastAmos Oz on his novel Judas – books podcastThe Israeli novelist Amos Oz talks about prose, poetry and politics in his latest novel, Judas
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Food and drink The Ethical Carnivore by Louise Gray – one way to stop us eating so much meat
Steven PooleGray has written a charming and eye-opening book about her year spent eating creatures only she had killed. She points the way to a reduced-meat future -
Travel writing Far & Away by Andrew Solomon – how travel makes you modest
Caroline MooreheadStylish essays, written over 25 years of travel across seven continents, explore moments of transition and argue the importance of understanding the ‘other’
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A successful sportsperson is a ‘good’ immigrant; some minorities are considered ‘model’. These essays, edited by Nikesh Shukla, cast a sharp light on ‘othering’ in the UK
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This stylish memoir from the former Times editor recalls the politics of the 1980s through the prism of ancient Rome. Parallels between Thatcher and Emperor Nero are plain to see
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Inside the mind of the Boss Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
Richard WilliamsThis highly anticipated memoir is as rich in anecdote as it is in anguish. From shameful behaviour to life in therapy, the musician lays out his search for meaning -
Churchill made his name as a daring journalist and soldier in South Africa in 1899-1900. It began a relationship between statesman and imperial moralism that lasted 60 years
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Death appears suddenly and forcefully in this collection of new and unpublished works – while actual sex is more elusive
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The Wonder by Emma Donoghue A thrilling domestic psychodrama
Justine JordanMiracle, fraud or medical anomaly? A gripping investigation into an Irish girl’s fasting by the writer of Room -
This is an extraordinary portrait of adultery, loneliness and betrayal in a closed small town community
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40 Sonnets by Don Paterson Playful poems from a master
Nicholas LezardNicholas Lezard’s paperback of the week: extraordinary, beautiful or funny – these poems from an expert in rhythm and rhyme stay with you -
Thriller The Trespasser by Tana French
Alison FloodDublin detective Antoinette Conway returns in French’s absorbing tale of a murder that looks like a lovers’ tiff -
JM Coetzee’s engaging new novel sets passion against rationality but are we missing some deeper meaning?
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A playful tale of late-life trauma in an elderly care home fizzes with poignant humour
people
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Mel Tregonning’s Small Things tells of a lonely boy, struggling with worry. But the author also had mental health issues, and died before it was finished
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The author of The Summer That Melted Everything explains how her debut was forged during a fever of writing, when she finished a novel in eight days
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Forward prize Why Vahni Capildeo deserved to win
William SieghartForward prize founder, William Sieghart, applauds a fresh new voice in poetry -
Paperback writer Scarborough was rotten, top to toe
David HewsonThe crime writer explains how memories of working as a cub reporter in a town where Jimmy Savile’s crimes were an open secret inform his new novel
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Join Mog author Judith Kerr, Charlie and Lola creator Lauren Child and other star authors and illustrators at the Unicorn theatre, London on 23 October for a day celebrating the choicest children’s books
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We announce the eight wonderful authors and books that have been longlisted for our prize, this year judged by David Almond, SF Said and Kate Saunders
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Review one of the Guardian children’s fiction prize 2016 longlisted books as an individual or a school book group and be in with a chance of winning books, national book tokens and an invite to meet authors at our award ceremony – enter here!
A selection of our favourite literary content from around the world
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The Little Library CaféThe Little Library CaféFood in books: pea soup from Roald Dahl's The WitchesDahl’s centenary and the change of the season inspire Kate Young to magic up a fresh and summery pea soup
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Interview with a Bookstore by Literary HubInterview with a Bookstore by Literary HubInterview with a Bookstore: Riverbend Books, a leading Australian indieNamed after the Indigenous name for the area – Tugulawah – Riverbend Books in Queensland champions Australian writing and campaigns to improve literacy in remote communities
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pictures, video & audio
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The Israeli novelist Amos Oz talks about prose, poetry and politics in his latest novel, Judas
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Emma Thompson, Simon Callow and the League of Gentlemen join children’s authors and illustrators in fundraiser, auctioning framed postcards for reading charity the National Literacy Trust
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As the Booker prize announces a shortlist that’s long on surprises, we talk to Deborah Levy and assess the contenders for this year’s award
you may have missed
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It was Conrad’s gateway to the heart of darkness, HG Wells envisaged Martians on its misty shores. Now artists from around the world are exploring the mysteries of the Thames Estuary
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Between the tote bags and discussions of cat puns in Margaret Atwood’s new book, worry about the future dominated the literature festival
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Author Robert Harris turns to the mysteries of the papal conclave for his new novel – ambition and intrigues are familiar ground to a former political journalist
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Fortifying the Mexican border has become central to Donald Trump’s election campaign, while Brexit has led to plans for a ‘great wall of Calais’. Andrew Solomon looks at why have walls taken on such symbolic power – and at what cost?
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A perfect storm Margaret Atwood on rewriting Shakespeare’s Tempest