Books
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A penetrating analysis of the connections that enabled an incestuous university network to dominate Westminster and give birth to Brexit is perceptive and full of surprises
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Margo Jefferson’s follow-up to her acclaimed Negroland is another intimate and intelligent memoir that asks searching questions about her heritage and a privileged US society
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The Shakespeare critic and author on her new history of books and readers, and how it’s made her think about the contents of our shelves
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Oded Galor’s ‘Sapiens’-like history of civilisation predicts a happy ending for humanity. But should we trust him?
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A brilliantly unjaded exploration of the power of songs to intoxicate, enthuse and reassure
What to read
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From Ukrainian history to Putin’s kleptocracy and Gogol’s stories, author and former Russia correspondent Oliver Bullough chooses the best titles
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Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some enticing new paperbacks, including honest and funny memoirs and fascinating fiction
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Rundell captures John Donne’s unique vision in all its power, eloquence and strangeness
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From ancient China to Marilyn Monroe – this fascinating history celebrates the joy of ‘bookhood’
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From Franz Kafka to Anne Tyler, literature amplifies the author’s moving insights into living with agoraphobia and the remedies that have helped him
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This companion novel to A Visit from the Goon Squad, in which memories are uploaded and shared, explores the loneliness of hyper-connectivity
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The breezily enjoyable follow-up to Queenie explores the legacy of a gallivanting Jamaican patriarch, when his five adult children are unexpectedly thrown together
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A radio DJ’s road trip across a near-future Ireland is interwoven with disembodied voices and listener contributions
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An Albanian and a Serbian in Kosovo are wrenched apart by homophobia and conflict in this dark, powerful novel
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Astral phenomena, Greek goddesses, deadly family curses and the best new YA fiction
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Eight years after her vision of a mythical beast, the author is about to publish the first novel in the Skandar Smith trilogy. She talks about childhood and taking a chance on a dream career
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How do you follow a game-changing, award-winning debut? Candice Carty-Williams on Queenie, binning her second novel, and how People Person draws on life with eight siblings
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The young Brazilian-British writer on wanting to agitate readers with her new Brexit-era novel and how MSN Messenger has informed her writing style
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Ahead of her new memoir, the critic talks about her current pop culture obsessions and why she identifies with Nina Simone
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The Pulitzer prize-winning author discusses her follow up to A Visit from the Goon Squad and how imagining a new technology set her writing free
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The American crime writer on the inspiration for his new book about warring gangs, his sudden thirst for poetry and why reading Jane Austen wears him out
Regulars
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The author on his early love of the Narnia Chronicles, the allure of spontaneous combustion – and one of the great neglected children’s authors of the 20th century
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What we see online can have real world effects, for good or ill
You may have missed
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Ashley Tisdale admitted she’d bought all her books for a photoshoot – and as Adele and Gwyneth Paltrow will attest, her hankering for a brainy backdrop is anything but novel
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Putin loves to evoke the family to describe the relationship between our countries. But we have always known our identities are quite distinct
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