Books

Why does everyone like East of Eden so much?

A beautiful book, written in a determinedly readable style, is bound to become popular, not to mention the endless power of nostalgia.

Seasonal reads: On childhood hobbies, growing up, and guilt

Reconnecting with reading is something many people tend to do on a summer holiday,...

Diverse voices: ‘Inshallah, Madonna, Inshallah’ by Miljenko Jergović 

‘When he created Earth and these lands upon it, when he divided people into...

YA Thrills: Escapism and disguise

An issue that has been encountered by authors since the dawn of time, perhaps one that feels too obvious to even state, is that some readers will not enjoy their books.

A beastly tale of life and death

Josephine Southon reflects on the animals and beasts in Grimms' fairy tales

Science fiction that shaped the Revolution

Daniel Antonio Villar looks at the impact of Red Star, by Alexander Bognadov

Philip Pullman’s La Belle Sauvage: His Darkest One Yet

Raffaella Sero reviews Philip Pullman's latest novel

Rock’s best storyteller

"Darnielle's new novel confirms the status that Rolling Stone granted him; Rock's best storyteller", writes Barney Pite.

House of Fear and the reinvention of fairytale

Libby Cherry writes about the feminist undertones to Leonora Carrington's The Hearing Trumpet

Nancy Drew – feminist icon or tired corporate creation?

Ellie Duncan explores whether the children's detective series Nancy Drew is progressive or not

Not Forgetting William Hazlitt

Despite critical acclaim, William Hazlitt is now scarcely read.

Turtles All The Way Down review: messy, clichéd, and pretentious

John Green’s latest novel is a messy, sprawling cliché, writes Barney Pite

Angel Hill review – ‘It may be simple, but it isn’t empty’

Michael Longley’s Forward Prize short-listed collection is elegant and timeless, writes Barney Pite

An improbable journey to the East

Sam Dalrymple reflects on mundanity and self-discovery in Bouvier’s The Way of the World

Reconsidering the Lobster: Wallace’s Dostoyevsky

David Foster Wallace cuts to the core of what makes Dostoyevsky invaluable, writes Barney Pite.

Project 1917: The revolution will be tweeted

The historical Project 1917 is bringing new life to the Russian Revolution, writes Lucy Enderby

Assassination attempts amid the violence that tore Kingston apart

The first book written by a Jamaican to win the Man Booker Prize is an epic in the truest sense of the word, writes Jacob Cheli

Exploring the poetry of the everyday world

Quiet, mysterious Haruki Murakami fuses local culture with global emotions, writes Lucy Enderby

Alain de Botton: “The university system is failing people”

Author Alain de Botton, founder of the School of Life, talks philosophy, mental health and the education system

Meet Woolf’s doll house inspiration

A miniaturised book which inspired Woolf's Orlando is to be published

In this fractured world, does empathy really hold us all together?

Against Empathy is a compelling and relevant reevaluation of compassion

There’s more to prehistory than cave drawings and diplodocuses

Katie Sayer revisits Yuval Noah Harari's tale of a revolutionary world

A flawed man with a revolutionary aim

Ethan Croft explores Philippe Girard's admirable Toussaint Louverture: a revolutionary life

The science books that every non-scientist should read

Rosalie Wells lists the best science and medicine books to read this summer

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