Books
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Nine of 13 nominated titles for this year’s £50,000 award for the best translated fiction come from indie publishers -
Bookselling chain’s chief executive James Daunt says that paying entry-level staff more would betray ‘basic principle’ the business runs on -
Greta Thunberg-effect behind sales boom in books on everything from plastic waste to endangered wildlife
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A young woman working in a Northern Irish chip shop is the heroine of this hilarious exploration of the legacy of the Troubles -
Joe Dunthorne looks at the best books that deal with facing up to adulthood, including Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School
Books of 2020
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Sally Rooney’s screenplay, Hilary Mantel’s final Thomas Cromwell novel … there's a lot to look forward to in 2020
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From ‘Autobahn’ to ‘Trans-Europe Express’ … how the electronic pioneers helped shape a new Germany and changed the history of pop
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Rape is as much a weapon of war as a Kalashnikov ... the acclaimed foreign correspondent has written a harrowing but vital book -
Hadley Freeman’s gripping family biography of persecution and escape offers lessons for our own time
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From the blitz to Brighton’s end-of-the-pier shows, this is a dreamlike story of England’s suburban underbelly -
A enigmatic chancer worms his way into a world of privilege and power in this pithy satirical novel -
A remarkable murder mystery set in horror and squalor
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The long-awaited final part of the Booker-winning trilogy is a masterpiece that will keep yielding its riches -
Based on the true-life friendship of two men whose daughters were killed in the Middle East, this novel buoys the heart -
Boy meets girl in the woods, a wedding turns bloody, and two cold cases come dramatically back to life
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Author of dystopian series hopes TV adaptation will open up more nuanced debate on race in UK -
Flora and fauna loom large as authors incorporate issues around the climate crisis -
A scheme for GPs to recommend books for mental health and wellbeing is extending its reach to younger readers. Which are the best titles for anxiety, grief or online pressures?
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As the long-awaited final volume of her Thomas Cromwell trilogy is published, the twice Booker winner discusses her writing life and why she wants to write a play of her controversial Margaret Thatcher story -
The debut novelist on how to write violence, taking the same advice as Irvine Welsh, and his love of Goosebumps -
Promoting his new book, the Frenchman is happy to talk Marx and money, but less forthcoming about a domestic violence claim that has resurfaced
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Twenty years ago, Catherine Blackledge’s history of the vagina The Story of V broke boundaries. As it is reissued, she talks about anasyrma as activism and why we lie about the clitoris -
The novelist explains how she discovered her family was woven into history, plus the new wave of Ethiopian literature in English -
The bestselling author and face of Macron’s France is championing women’s rights in her native Morocco
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Concluding our look at the Inspector Maigret mysteries, the author’s son will join us on Friday 28 February at 1pm GMT to field your questions about his father’s career -
The power of memory, for ever young, resounds in this late work by the a poet balancing the ‘literary’ and the vernacular -
Your space to discuss the books you are reading and what you think of them
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Novelist Sadie Jones recommends the best books to elicit empathy by stealth
What to read
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Dazzling debut novels, searing polemics, the history of humanity and trailblazing memoirs ... Read our pick of the best books since 2000 -
The White Tiger author on Shakespeare, Clive James and sulking over Michael Chabon
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Joe Dunthorne looks at the best books that deal with facing up to adulthood, including Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School
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From Lewis Carroll to Vladimir Nabokov and Shirley Jackson, the best of these stories combine fantasy with very real psychology -
After two years of careful consideration, Robert McCrum has concluded his selection of the 100 greatest nonfiction books of all time. Take a quick look back at five centuries of great writing -
Robert McCrum has reached a verdict on his selection of the 100 greatest novels written in English. Take a look at his list
You may have missed
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The first chapter of the final volume of Mantel’s award-winning Thomas Cromwell trilogy opens at the execution of Anne Boleyn -
From Wolf Hall to Beyond Black and Giving Up The Ghost, cultural figures pick their highlights from a remarkable career -
From F Scott Fitzgerald to Bret Easton Ellis, this label has been applied to countless zeitgeisty coming-of-age novels. But is it helpful? -
Today’s thumbs-up, thumbs-down approach to feminism is boring and reductive. It is time to embrace complexity
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Reading group Georges Simenon webchat with his son John – post your questions now