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Books

  • Roddy Doyle.

    The books of my life
    Roddy Doyle: ‘A PG Wodehouse audiobook made me laugh so much I had to stop the car’

  • Cambridge college

    Book of the day
    The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe review – ingenious cosy crime spoof

    Justine Jordan
    This tricksy caper ranges from 1980s Cambridge to the rise and fall of Liz Truss with entertaining results
  • Colm Tóibín.

    Audiobook of the week
    Long Island by Colm Tóibín review – Jessie Buckley shines voicing the sequel to Brooklyn

    Fiona Sturges
    The Irish actor’s nuanced narration captures the conflicting emotions in Tóibín’s tale of infidelity, homecoming and the roads not taken
  • road in the desert

    Science fiction roundup
    The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – reviews roundup

    Lisa Tuttle
  • Margaret Atwood.

    News
    Sales surge for dystopian books after Trump election victory

  • David Graeber.

    Feature
    ‘It does not have to be this way’: the radical optimism of David Graeber

  • Rex Harrison rides a giraffe in Doctor Dolittle (1967).

    Film books
    Box Office Poison by Tim Robey review – Hollywood’s fascinating flops

    Larushka Ivan-Zadeh

What to read

  • Haruki Murakami, Cher, Neneh Cherry, Angela Merkel and Alan Hollinghurst Autumn Books

    Autumn books
    From a new Murakami to a memoir by Cher: the best books of the autumn

  • Composite image of best paperbacks October 2024

    Paperbacks
    This month’s best paperbacks: Werner Herzog, Karl Ove Knausgaard and more

    • Alan Garner.

      Where to start with
      Where to start with: Alan Garner

    • Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson; The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden; Missing Person: Alice by Simon Mason

      What we're reading
      What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in October

Non-fiction reviews

  • Colette

    Essays
    The Position of Spoons, and Other Intimacies by Deborah Levy review – portrait of the artists

    Freya Berry
  • The hare raised by Chloe Dalton.

    Autobiography and memoir
    Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton review – woman meets leveret

    Edward Posnett
    Burnt out by the London rat race, the writer retreats to the countryside where a chance encounter changes her life
  • Simon Boas

    Society books
    A Beginner’s Guide to Dying by Simon Boas review – what makes life worth living?

    Blake Morrison
    Diagnosed with cancer in his 40s, the aid worker looks back on his life and offers advice on confronting death
  • Deborah Levy seated at a table at Gökyüzü restaurant in north London

    Essays
    The Position of Spoons and Other Intimacies by Deborah Levy review – an absorbing essay collection

    John Self
  • the star of david on a rustic wooden surface<br>closeup of an old and rusty pendant in the shape of the star of david on a white rustic wooden surface, against a dark background

    Society books
    Off-White: The Truth About Antisemitism by Rachel Shabi review – racism by any other name

    Natasha Walter
  • A court sketch of the defendants at the trial of the Bataclan terror attacks

    Society books
    V13: Chronicle of a Trial by Emmanuel Carrère review – a humane and thoughtful testimony of terror and loss

    Henriette Korthals Altes
  • Robert Graves<br>English poet, novelist, essayist and critic, Robert von Ranke Graves (1895 - 1985) in the kitchen at Vale House, his home in Galmpton near Brixham, Devon, December 1941. Original Publication: Picture Post - 982 - What I Believe About Ghosts - pub. 27th December 1941. (Photo by Bill Brandt/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

    Food and drink books
    Sylvia Plath’s Tomato Soup Cake review – a writer’s place is not in the kitchen

    Rachel Cooke
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Fiction & poetry reviews

  • Tessa Hadley

    Fiction
    The Party by Tessa Hadley review – a daringly old-fashioned novella

    Sarah Moss
  • Alan Bennett author photographed by pal Hansen for the Observer New Review in our London office studio.

    Fiction
    Killing Time by Alan Bennett review – senior moments full of wit and style

    Tim Adams
    The author employs his pitch-perfect repertoire of satirical skills in his first book for five years – a novella about the residents of an upmarket care home during the pandemic
  • Ice Cream Van

    Graphic novel of the month
    Anfield Road by Chris Shepherd review – from Liverpool with love

    Rachel Cooke
    The writer and film-maker’s affection for the city of his youth shines through in this debut graphic novel about family, football and teenage dreams
  • Antique 1854 engraving, Battle of New Orleans N from a Painting by Merritt. The Battle of New Orleans was an engagement fought in January 1815, constituting the final major battle of the War of 1812, and the most one-sided battle of that war. American combatants, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, prevented an overwhelming British force, commanded by Admiral Alexander Cochrane and General Edward Pakenham, from seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the Louisiana Purchase. SOURCE: ORIGINAL ENGRAVING.<br>HTM92Y Antique 1854 engraving, Battle of New Orleans N from a Painting by Merritt. The Battle of New Orleans was an engagement fought in January 1815, constituting the final major battle of the War of 1812, and the most one-sided battle of that war. American combatants, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, prevented an overwhelming British force, commanded by Admiral Alexander Cochrane and General Edward Pakenham, from seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the Louisiana Purchase. SOURCE: ORIGINAL ENGRAVING.

    Fiction
    Season of the Swamp by Yuri Herrera review – a Mexican hero in exile

    Lucy Popescu
  • László Krasznahorkai.

    Fiction
    Herscht 07769 by László Krasznahorkai review – sinister cosmic visions

    Tanjil Rashid
  • Eliza Clark.

    Fiction
    She’s Always Hungry by Eliza Clark review – dark delights

    Yagnishsing Dawoor
  • Ali Smith

    Fiction
    Gliff by Ali Smith review – reading the signs of crisis

    Paraic O’Donnell
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Children's and YA books

  • An illustration from Gold Rush by Flora Delargy.

    Children's book roundup
    Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

    Imogen Russell Williams
  • 1 Turtle Moon 3 (c) Levi Pinfold

    Children's book reviews round-up
    Children’s and teens roundup – the best new chapter books

    Kitty Empire
    From young werewolves’ adventures with vampires to hard-up funeral crashers and the late Jeremy Strong’s wonderful final tale
  • The Café at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please, HarperCollins

    Children's book roundup
    Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

    Imogen Russell Williams
    An Olympian’s picture book; a miscellany of marvellous kids; volcanoes explained; a dark Celtic adventure; and when teen wishes go wrong
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Interviews

  • Deborah Levy

    Interview
    Deborah Levy: ‘A writer’s career is choppy – I was 50 when I found success’

  • Writer Anne Michaels at the Brickworks in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday, October 23, 2024. Photo by Chloe Ellingson

    Interview
    Anne Michaels: ‘Language can’t represent brutality’

    The Booker-shortlisted author on her inability to compromise, her friendship with John Berger, and the last book she gave as a gift
  • Alan Bennett.

    Interview
    Alan Bennett at 90: ‘What will people think? I don’t care any more’

    In his 10th decade The History Boys writer is as prolific as ever with a war film in the works and a new sex-fuelled novella set in a home for the elderly. He talks about mourning Maggie Smith, turning down a knighthood and what he makes of Donald Trump
  • The Observer/ Books<br>Eliza Clark - British Author - She's Always Hungry. (Faber) Photographer in South London.

    Interview
    Eliza Clark: ‘I don’t think we respect female writers’

    Hephzibah Anderson
  • Jonathan Coe.

    Interview
    Novelist Jonathan Coe: ‘Liz Truss was very unimpressed to meet me’

    Emma Brockes
  • Nick Harkaway at his home in north London.

    John le Carré
    ‘There was eye-watering fear’: Nick Harkaway on writing a new George Smiley novel

  • The writer Joy Williams in Amherst, Massachusetts

    Interview
    American author Joy Williams: ‘The comfy story has got to change’

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Regulars

  • Roddy Doyle.

    The books of my life
    Roddy Doyle: ‘A PG Wodehouse audiobook made me laugh so much I had to stop the car’

  • packet of french fries

    Big idea
    The big idea: is convenience making our lives more difficult?

    Everything is easier with modern technology – except fulfilling your true potential
  • Colm Tóibín.

    Audiobook of the week
    Long Island by Colm Tóibín review – Jessie Buckley shines voicing the sequel to Brooklyn

    The Irish actor’s nuanced narration captures the conflicting emotions in Tóibín’s tale of infidelity, homecoming and the roads not taken
Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

You may have missed

  • Gillian Anderson.

    Feature
    ‘Sex writing feels less cringe now’: are we entering a new era of erotic literature?

  • Alan Moore.

    Essay
    ‘Fandom has toxified the world’: Watchmen author Alan Moore on superheroes, Comicsgate and Trump

  • Ben Okri.

    Black History Month
    ‘For too long literature has been defined by one set of people’: writing back to the empire and beyond

  • A man reads in a deck chair outside a marquee with bunting on a sunny day

    Feature
    After Baillie Gifford: are literary festivals on their last legs?

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