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Editors' picks

- Comfort reading: The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker
  
  Lindesay Irvine picks a book that finds exquisite pleasure in the minutiae of things
  
  More comfort reading
- Apollinaire publisher on trial in Turkey
  
  News: Turkish publisher and translator of French writer's Les Exploits d'un Jeune Don Juan accused of corrupting public morality
- Poem of the week
  
  Advent by Patrick Kavanagh: This awkwardly beautiful Christmas poem plays with shape and rhyme in unexpected ways
- I remember him fondly for attending a world SF convention in my home town, Helsinki, just after Chernobyl. All the other big names chickened out
  JohntheFinn
  commenting on Interview: Brian Aldiss
- Shelf Improvement
  
  A new book subscription service from the Guardian that aims to improve the literary lives of book lovers in 2014
- This year's must-read novel
  
  Fifty years after it was first published, Stoner has become an unexpected bestseller. Julian Barnes explains why it is his book of the year
- The 100 best novels: No 13 – Wuthering Heights
  
  Robert McCrum: Emily Brontë's windswept masterpiece is notable not just for its wild beauty but for its daring reinvention of the novel form itself
- Iain Banks remembered
  
  Michelle Hodgson, once Iain Banks's press officer, recalls the warm friendship she shared with the author for nearly 25 years
  - Seamus Heaney remembered by sister-in-law Polly Devlin
- Irish literature gets €150,000 boost with laureate award
  
  News: An outstanding writer of fiction will be chosen to promote Irish literature around the world
- First time lucky
  
  Podcast: Amy Tan talks to the Guardian book club about the novel which made her name, The Joy Luck Club
- Banned in Guantánamo
  
  Clive Stafford Smith: The Guantánamo banned books list makes no sense
  - Russell Brand banned from Guantánamo Bay
  - Guantánamo's banned books – an incomplete list
- Undisputed Truth: My Autobiography by Mike Tyson
  
  Review, Geoff Dyer: Tyson's account of his gargantuan struggles inside and outside the ring makes thrilling reading
  - The best sports books of 2013
  - Psychology books of the year
- The power of fashion
  
  Review: John Mullan on an account of Georgian London which reveals how the aristocracy reinvented itself – and why culture is power
  - Ben Shephard on the history books of the year
  - Robert McCrum on the biographies of the year
- Live from Downing Street by Nick Robinson
  
  Review: Peter Preston on a likable stocking filler of a memoir that rails against the bullying of broadcast journalists by politicians
- Kerrigan in Copenhagen by Thomas E Kennedy
  
  Review: Liz Jensen embarks on a boozy odyssey around the Danish capital
- Belomor by Nicolas Rothwell
  
  Review: Alex Clark hails a captivating meditation on art, human history and spirituality
- The True History of Merlin the Magician
  
  Review: Kathryn Hughes uncovers the extraordinary textual forgery behind the story of the legendary wizard

Latest news

Carol Ann Duffy writes poem for Royal Philharmonic Society's bicentenary

13 Dec 2013:
Poet laureate celebrates 200 years of society that commissioned Beethoven's 9th with ode titled Philharmonic
Spare Rib contributors sought so editions can be digitised and saved

13 Dec 2013:
British Library aims to trace writers, photographers and artists whose work appeared in magazine from 1972 to 1993
Kindles makes up for lack of books in Ghana's reading revolution

13 Dec 2013: Guardian Christmas appeal: school turns to technology to tackle poor literacy among students – and achieves remarkable results
Children's books

Christmas library challenge encourages kids to snuggle down with books

13 Dec 2013:
Ready, set, read! Cressida Cowell launches online scheme to get kids checking out and recommending favourite books over the festive season
Beyoncé samples Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's call to feminism

13 Dec 2013:
The Nigerian writer's impassioned words from TEDx talk used by pop diva Beyoncé on her new track ***Flawless, writes Liz Bury

More books news

Regular series

Carol Rumens's poem of the week 9hr 35min ago

Patrick Kavanagh's Advent: unifying the miraculous with the banal

Carol Rumens: The Irish author's awkwardly beautiful Christmas poem plays with shape and rhyme in unexpected ways
Comfort reading 1 day ago

Comfort reading: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

Imogen Russell Williams: A great deal warmer, and much more comforting, than its title, this month's Reading group selection is a cheerful favourite of many – including me
Science fiction 3 days ago

Brian Aldiss: 'These days I don't read any science fiction. I only read Tolstoy'

The books interview: Brian Aldiss on his soldiering years, vegetarianism and the amount of people who know everything in Oxford
More books series

Latest blogposts

Books blog

Shelfie: show us a photo of your bookshelf

16 Dec 2013:
From celebrities to politicians, selfies have been all over the internet in 2013. But perhaps shelfies would be more interesting?
Books blog

16. Sixteen prophetic dreams of Queen Trishala

16 Dec 2013:
Today in Rogerson's festive countdown, 16 dreams onset by the conception of a Jain monarch's son
Books blog

Comfort reading: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

15 Dec 2013:
Imogen Russell Williams: A great deal warmer, and much more comforting, than its title, this month's Reading group selection is a cheerful favourite of many – including me
Books blog

15. Fifteen ranks of the Knights Templar

15 Dec 2013:
Today's festive countdown instalment sheds light on the influential order of crusaders
Books blog

Comfort reads: Kim by Rudyard Kipling

14 Dec 2013:
Reader Tim Hannigan finds a comfortable travelling companion in Kipling's 'little friend of all the world'

Talking points

- Geek deemed word of the year by the Collins online dictionary
  
  Dictionary changes definition of geek to 'a person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about a specific subject'

- Sycamore Row by John Grisham, reviewed by finnola
  
  Sycamore Row is a good read - some of the time. The premise for the plot - who should you leave your 'assets' to and what motivates our choices - is a great one with endless computations. But I agree that the main protagonist Jake B. is thinly sketched
  - Write your own review

Just finished reading The Man With the Compound Eyes, which was a random bookshop find and deserves a wider audience. Brilliant, weird, sad and now I feel like I know a lot more about Taiwan and trash vortexes
latenightreader
commenting on Writers and critics on the best books of 2013

- Tips, links and suggestions: What are you reading this week?
  
  The space to talk about the books you are reading and the authors and topics you would like to see covered on the site

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Help for the Haunted
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While He Was Sleeping
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Entropy & Me
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When Will There be Good News?
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Bernie and Flora
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Fred the Fabulous Flamingo
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Captain Brainpower and the Mighty Mean Machine
by Sam Lloyd

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High Minds: The Victorians and the Birth of Modern Britain
by Simon Heffer

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Veronica Roth interview - video

Veronica Roth, author of bestselling teen trilogy Divergent, talks to Guardian teen site member Readaholic about her dystopian world

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