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Books

  • ‘Technology has quickened the pace of almost every industry except publishing,’ Microsoft said.

    News
    Microsoft launches imprint that aims to be faster than traditional book publishing

  • Robin Wall Kimmerer.

    Science and nature books
    The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer review – the fruits of labour

    Rachel Aspden
    The author of Braiding Sweetgrass returns with visions of an ecologically-inspired alternative to consumerism
  • Nadine Dorries outside Downing Street, September 2021.

    Politics books
    Downfall by Nadine Dorries review – wild wild Westminster

    Zoe Williams
    The former culture secretary’s ‘real-life political thriller’ takes in sex parties and pasta plotters – but raises more questions than it answers
  • Percival Everett at the National Book Awards

    News
    Percival Everett wins National Book Award for fiction with retelling of Huckleberry Finn

  • Cormac McCarthy

    News
    Cormac McCarthy had 16-year-old ‘muse’ when he was 42, Vanity Fair reports

  • The,Great,Pagoda,At,Kew,Gardens,,Southwest,London,,Uk<br>The Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens, Southwest London, UK; Shutterstock ID 2414286739; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

    Short stories
    Duets review – co-written stories that sing

    Jude Cook
  • Ahead of his time … detail of a portrait of Augustus II the Strong, 1736.

    History books
    Augustus the Strong by Tim Blanning review – the king of bling

    Pratinav Anil
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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 November and December 2024

    Paperbacks
    This month’s best paperbacks: Leonard Cohen, Sigrid Nunez 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

  • An engraving of Satan tempting Eve inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost.

    Literary criticism
    What in Me Is Dark review – the incredible afterlife of Paradise Lost

    Joe Moshenska
  • A wild eastern screech owl camouflaged in the hollow of a tree

    Science and nature books
    The Genetic Book of the Dead by Richard Dawkins review – the great biologist’s swansong

    Adam Rutherford
    A wonderful but thoroughly conventional celebration of the science of evolution
  • Hardwick Hall<br>2T3NH0C Hardwick Hall

    Art and design books
    A Short History of British Architecture by Simon Jenkins review – Doric columns and grand designs: the greatest hits

    Rowan Moore
    In a book of two halves, Jenkins seeks to educate readers in the ‘language’ of style as well as offer a polemic on the ravages visited upon our cities by modernist planners
  • A long-haired, bearded Caleb Carr in close up, face-to-face with his cat Masha.

    Autobiography and memoir
    My Beloved Monster by Caleb Carr review – love letter to an adored companion

    Nick Duerden
  • Portrait Of Joan Didion<br>Portrait of American author Joan Didion as she sits in a chair in front of a bookshelf, Berkeley, California, April 1981. (Photo by Janet Fries/Getty Images)

    Biography books
    Didion & Babitz by Lili Anolik review –the seductress and the sphinx

    Rachel Cooke
  • 10. Nikolai Vavilov, 1933. Courtesy of the VIR.

    History books
    The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad by Simon Parkin review – the lost heroes of Soviet horticulture

    Mark Honigsbaum
  • LADY JULIAN OF NORWICH Mystic Date: 1342 - 1443<br>G3868F LADY JULIAN OF NORWICH Mystic Date: 1342 - 1443

    Religion
    On Mysticism: The Experience of Ecstasy review – in the presence of a higher power

    Rob Doyle
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Fiction & poetry reviews

  • Blackbird, male singing on roof, blackbird (Turdus merula), Germany<br>2R44301 Blackbird, male singing on roof, blackbird (Turdus merula), Germany

    Poetry
    Blackbird Singing at Dusk by Wendy Pratt review – the great smells of the north and nature

    Jade Cuttle
  • Hanne Ørstavik

    Fiction in translation
    Stay With Me by Hanne Ørstavik review – looking for love

    Erica Wagner
    The acclaimed Norwegian author explores the impact of childhood trauma in this portrait of a life lived in fear
  • Henry Porter Author Photo 1 (c) Emma Hardy

    Thrillers
    The Enigma Girl by Henry Porter review – an innovative spy tale

    Alexander Larman
    A former MI5 agent establishes herself as a heroine for the ages in a fresh thriller about intelligence-gatherers past and present
  • A desert landscape, glowing at sunset, scattered with low limestone pinnacles rising from the sand

    Fiction
    Juice by Tim Winton review – eloquent cry of a climate vigilante

    Lucy Popescu
  • Rupert Everett at the Theatre Royal, Bath, where he directed and starred in Chekov’s Uncle Vanya.

    Short stories
    The American No by Rupert Everett review – blackly comic short stories

    Neil Bartlett
  • Circular pond with autumn leaves at a manor house

    Crime and thrillers roundup
    The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

    Laura Wilson
  • Yoko Tawada

    Fiction in translation
    Suggested in the Stars by Yōko Tawada review – a linguistic odyssey

    Ellen Peirson-Hagger
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Children's and YA books

  • Twenty Four Seconds From Now Illo Twenty-Four Seconds From Now: A Regular Love Story by Jason Reynolds

    Children's books
    Young adult books roundup – reviews

    Fiona Noble
  • 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
    Spellbinding witches; memories of home; treasure hunters; fake facts; fearsome creatures; a great guide to graphic art and more
  • 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
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Interviews

  • Robin Wall Kimmerer.

    Interview
    ‘We’ve become distrustful of each other’: Braiding Sweetgrass author Robin Wall Kimmerer on Trump, rural America and resistance

  • Emmanuel Carrère.

    Interview
    ‘Why do I have an interest in such horrible things?’: Emmanuel Carrère on the Paris terror attacks trial

    Mark O’Connell
    The acclaimed French author attended the trial - the longest in French legal history – every day. As his gripping courtroom chronicle is published, he talks about trauma, justice – and being drawn to the darkest of stories
  • Sigrid Rausing, photographed in her London home looking into the distance looking happy/sad

    Interview
    Granta publisher Sigrid Rausing: ‘Working while grieving was consoling’

    Lisa Allardice
    The editor and author on completing the memoir by her late friend, Swedish writer Johanna Ekström, where she stands on the assisted dying bill and what she’s reading
  • 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’

  • Alan Bennett.

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

  • 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
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Regulars

  • Garth Greenwell

    The books of my life
    Garth Greenwell: ‘I didn’t read Middlemarch until my late 30s. Why didn’t someone intervene? ’

  • a young couple paint each other into being

    Big idea
    The big idea: why we should take teenage love more seriously

    Adolescent passions shape our future selves, and can be every bit as powerful – and perilous – as adult relationships
  • Neneh Cherry photographed for the Observer New Review in London by Phil Fisk. August 2024

    Audiobook of the week
    A Thousand Threads by Neneh Cherry audiobook review – love, chaos and creativity

    The singer-songwriter’s atmospheric memoir reveals many musical adventures and doesn’t shy away from exploring her challenging times
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