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Books

  • Margaret Thatcher at a pro-European rally in Parliament Square, before the EEC referendum in 1975.

    Book of the day
    Between the Waves by Tom McTague review – the long view on Brexit

    An ambitious history of Britain’s volatile relationship with Europe, culminating in the 2016 referendum
  • Sculpture of a scallop on a beach.

    Poetry
    Scallop Shell by Grace Schulman

  • Claire-Louise Bennett, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Salman Rushdie, Patricia Lockwood and RF Kuang

    Autumn reading
    From a new Thomas Pynchon novel to a memoir by Margaret Atwood: the biggest books of the autumn

  • Mona Awad.

    Interview
    Bunny author Mona Awad: ‘I’m a dark-minded soul’

  • Mick Herron.

    Thrillers
    Slow Horses author Mick Herron: ‘I love doing things that are against the rules’

  • A fifth-century mosaic in the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome

    History
    Domination by Alice Roberts review – a brilliant but cynical history of Christianity

  • Rumaan Alam.

    The books of my life
    Rumaan Alam: ‘Reading JD Salinger now is like running into that particular ex at a cafe’

What to read

  1. Best Paperbacks September 2025

    This month's best paperbacks
    This month’s best paperbacks: Haruki Murakami, Richard Powers and more

  2. Who Owns England by Guy Shrubsole, Easy Beauty by Chloe Cooper Jones, and Childish Literature by Alejandro Zambra.

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

  3. John Burnside

    Where to start with
    Where to start with: John Burnside

Non-fiction reviews

  • Lea Ypi’s grandparents

    History books
    Indignity: A Life Reimagined by Lea Ypi review – love, war and betrayal

    Sami Kent
  • Joe Dixon as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

    Philosophy books
    A Short History of Stupidity by Stuart Jeffries review – comfortably dumb?

    Sam Leith
  • Arundhati Roy standing by a door

    Autobiography and memoir
    Mother Mary Comes To Me by Arundhati Roy review – brave and absorbing

    Amit Chaudhuri
  • Dhaulagiri and Prayer Flags at Sunrise from Poon Hill, Ghorepani, Nepal.

    Philosophy books
    Transcendence for Beginners by Clare Carlisle review – a philosopher’s guide to enlightenment

    Sarah Bakewell

Fiction & poetry reviews

  1. Brian Chikwava

    Fiction
    Shamiso by Brian Chikwava review – a globe-trotting coming-of-age story

    Michael Donkor
  2. Tom Burke as Cormoran Strike in the TV adaptation of Rowling’s crime series.

    Fiction
    The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith review – a terrific, tightly plotted romp

  3. Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus)

    Carol Rumens's poem of the week
    Poem of the week: Solitude by Peter McDonald

  4. A portrait of artists Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde in 1937, by Ian Fleming

    Fiction
    The Two Roberts by Damian Barr review – lost story of a gay art duo

    Lara Feigel

Children's and YA books

  1. illustration of

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

    Imogen Russell Williams
  2. A detail from put Your Shoes On by Polly Dunbar.

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

    Imogen Russell Williams
  3. Wild by Katya Balen, illustrated by Gill Smith.

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

    Imogen Russell Williams
  4. gozzle

    Children and teenagers
    The best new picture books and novels

    Imogen Russell Williams

Interviews

  1. Lea Ypi.

    Censorship
    ‘Literature can be a form of resistance’: Lea Ypi talks to Elif Shafak about writing in the age of demagogues

    Alex Clark
  2. A woman with her blonde hair in a ponytail wears a green blazer and poses

    Interview
    ‘My sister, my God. It’s a visceral pain that never goes away’: Miriam Toews on a memoir of suicide and silence

    Hannah Kingsley-Ma
  3. Rie Qudan

    Interview
    Author Rie Qudan: Why I used ChatGPT to write my prize-winning novel

    John Self

Regulars

  • Rumaan Alam.

    The books of my life
    Rumaan Alam: ‘Reading JD Salinger now is like running into that particular ex at a cafe’

  • doctors plugged into a hardrive

    Big idea
    The Big Idea: why we should embrace AI doctors

  • Anne Tyler.

    Audiobook of the week
    Three Days in June by Anne Tyler audiobook review – a masterclass in marital disharmony

  • Sculpture of a scallop on a beach.

    Poem of the week
    Poem of the week: Scallop Shell by Grace Schulman

You may have missed

  1. The Two Roberts<br>circa 1945: Scottish painters Robert Colquhoun (1914 - 1962) and Robert MacBryde (1913 - 1966) in the studio they share in Kensington, London. (Photo by Felix Man/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

    Essay
    ‘They had everything, then nothing’: the prodigies the art world forgot

    Damian Barr
  2. Tove Ditlevsen holding a cigarette

    Fiction in translation
    Vilhelm’s Room by Tove Ditlevsen review – a portrait of catastrophic mental illness

    Sandra Newman
  3. doctors plugged into a hardrive

    The big idea
    The Big Idea: why we should embrace AI doctors

    Charlotte Blease

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