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Books

  • Large pink brain looks like a tree against a blue background. Two people in white suits hold a ladder that another person is climbing into the canopy. Another person sweeps up fallen debris

    The big idea
    Why your brain needs other people

  • Jack Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier<br>John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier sit together in the sunshine at Kennedy's family home at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, a few months before their wedding.

    Book of the day
    Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed by Maureen Callahan review – a lacerating exposé

    Peter Conrad
    The journalist’s sickening account of how generations of Kennedys casually abused the women around them with impunity is a timely reminder of the dangers posed by damaged men who crave power
  • Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 09/12/2023<br>Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Adjei Brenyah) 09/12/2023 © Basso Cannarsa/opale.photo / eyevine For further information please contact eyevine tel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709 e-mail: info@eyevine.com www.eyevine.com

    Books interview
    Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah: ‘Satire is a way to make myself less depressed’

    The US author on dystopian fiction, the experience of speaking to prisoners about his debut novel and why both of America’s major parties ‘love the war machine’
  • detail from Nativity by Giotto.

    Carol Rumens's poem of the week
    Whilst the Ox and Ass by Paul Muldoon

  • Head and shoulders portrait of Rebecca Watson.

    Fiction
    I Will Crash by Rebecca Watson – family dynamics poisonously awry

    Anthony Cummins
  • A Rear View Of Bush House Showing St Margarets Church In The Strand On The Right Hand Side Is The Bus Stop Where Bulgarian Dissident Georgi Markov Was Murdered By A Ricin Spiked Umbrella In 1978. Markov A Bbc World Service Journalist And A Strong Cri<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by Paul Fievez / Associated Newspapers / Rex Features (1481803a) A Rear View Of Bush House Showing St Margarets Church In The Strand On The Right Hand Side Is The Bus Stop Where Bulgarian Dissident Georgi Markov Was Murdered By A Ricin Spiked Umbrella In 1978. Markov A Bbc World Service Journalist And A Strong Critic Of The Communist Regime Was Killed In London When He Was Injected With Ricin While He Waited At A Bus Stop. Nobody Has Ever Been Charged With The Murder But It Is Widely Believed That The Bulgarian Secret Service And The Kgb Were Behind It. A Rear View Of Bush House Showing St Margarets Church In The Strand On The Right Hand Side Is The Bus Stop Where Bulgarian Dissident Georgi Markov Was Murdered By A Ricin Spiked Umbrella In 1978. Markov A Bbc World Service Journalist And A Strong Cri

    Observer book of the week
    The Umbrella Murder by Ulrik Skotte review – the tireless pursuit of Agent Piccadilly

    Tobias Jones
  • Ella Frears

    Fiction
    Goodlord by Ella Frears review – this email to a landlord is dark and dazzling

    Holly Williams
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What to read

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Non-fiction reviews

  • Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma in 2010.

    Autobiography and memoir
    All the Worst Humans by Phil Elwood review – confessions of a cleanup man

    Charlie English
  • Chelsea fans at the Women’s FA Cup final 2023.

    Science and nature books
    Inheritance by Harvey Whitehouse review – the power of unity

    Sophie McBain
    A thought provoking look at social forces, and the ways ordinary people can change the world
  • A patient's couch belonging to the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud at the Freud Museum, London.

    Essays
    On the Couch: Writers Analyze Sigmund Freud review – the shrink’s shrink engagingly examined by Siri Hustvedt, Susie Boyt and others

    Stuart Jeffries
    Authors reassess the legacy of the father of psychotherapy in a lovely grab bag of essays
  • FILE PHOTO: Ghislaine Maxwell trial in New York<br>FILE PHOTO: Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell sits as the guilty verdict in her sex abuse trial is read in a courtroom sketch in New York City, U.S., December 29, 2021. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg/File Photo

    Society books
    The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell by Lucia Osborne-Crowley review – a voice for the powerless

    Stephanie Merritt
  • Oleksandr Mykhed: ‘Every warm memory of home is destroyed’.

    Politics books
    The Language of War by Oleksandr Mykhed review – what role for the artist in times of catastrophe?

    Luke Harding
  • From the series Zwischen den Jahren ( Between the Years) by Valentin Goppel. Published by Gost books £40 https://gostbooks.com/products/zwischen-den-jahren

    Health, mind and body books
    Coming of Age: How Adolescence Shapes Us by Lucy Foulkes review – deep dive into the teenage mind

    Kate Womersley
  • Josephine Butler fought for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts of the 1860s.

    Society books
    Sexed by Susanna Rustin review – the fraught battle for feminism

    Yvonne Roberts
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Fiction & poetry reviews

  • Silhouette of Man Walking Cross the Big Window with Cityscape Landscape in Background<br>S1CAF9 Silhouette of Man Walking Cross the Big Window with Cityscape Landscape in Background

    Poetry book of the month
    Why Are You Shouting? by James Womack review – tales of the metropolis

    Kadish Morris
  • Mariel Franklin (credit Maxim Vinciguerra)

    Fiction
    Bonding by Mariel Franklin review – a comprehensive vision of a devastated society

    Rob Doyle
    Populated by tech and pharma hustlers, this bold and highly impressive debut novel has its thumb right over the sore spots of modern life
  • Rebecca Watson

    Fiction
    I Will Crash by Rebecca Watson review – a unique take on sibling torment

    Nina Allan
    A woman is haunted by her abusive relationship with her brother in this experimental novel of family trauma and memory
  • Belgrade: a city of competing historical narratives.

    Fiction
    Monumenta by Lara Haworth review – Serbian house of horrors

    Lucy Popescu
  • A house on Long Island, with a large US flag hanging in the front porch.

    Fiction
    Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner review – an old-fashioned maximalist rush of storytelling

    John Self
  • Biyi Bándélé

    Fiction
    Yorùbá Boy Running by Biyi Bándélé review – a historic hero

    Helon Habila
  • A large seagull

    Fiction
    Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands review – growing up with ADHD

    Sarah Crown
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Children's and YA books

  • Grotti by Leonie Lord

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

    Imogen Russell Williams
  • Hot Dog by Doug Salati

    Children's books
    Picture books for children – reviews

    Imogen Carter
    From the tale of a dog taking a much-needed beach break to a fact-filled dive into the monsters of the deep – and an ode to the skies above
  • Adiba Jaigar author photo to be used with collab with Faridah credit Aleksandria Rudenko

    Children's book reviews round-up
    Young adult books roundup – reviews

    Fiona Noble
    A teen romance centred on Eid, an exploration of toxic masculinity and a thriller from the queen of YA crime are among this month’s highlights
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Interviews

  • Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

    Children’s laureate
    ‘Reading’s in danger’: Frank Cottrell-Boyce on books, kids – and the explosive power of Heidi

  • Anita Desai

    Interview
    Anita Desai: ‘After I left India, I had to train myself to express my opinions’

    Emma Brockes
    At 87, the Indian author has been shortlisted for the Booker prize three times, and has written her first novel in a decade. She talks about leaving India to teach and write around the world – and feeling like a stranger everywhere
  • Author Maggie Nelson in Cindy’s diner in Eagle Rock California on 4th May 2017. Please credit Cindy’s diner in caption if used. Pic © Dan Tuffs dan@dantuffs.com +1 310 774 1780

    Interview
    Maggie Nelson: ‘I was overwhelmed with grief when Prince died’

    Alex Clark
    The American author of The Argonauts on her latest collection of essays, how the Purple Rain star shaped her sexual development and the risks she takes in her writing
  • Jeremy Cooper, author, photographed at his home near Taunton, Somerset

    Interview
    Jeremy Cooper: 'My agent strongly advised me against writing fiction'

  • Sulaiman Adonnia<br>20240530 Brussels, Belgium: Author Sulaiman Adonnia in his home

    Sulaiman Addonia
    I’m taking writing back to the rock’n’roll era!

  • Naomi Klein.

    Naomi Klein
    Nobody’s perfect – but that’s not an excuse for doing nothing

  • VV Ganeshananthan: she is pictured standing outdoors in a park with trees in the background; she is in her mid-40s and has shoulder-length dark, wavy hair; she wears a black dress with a lighter pattern plus a gold pendant necklace.

    ‘Don’t read just one book about Sri Lanka’
    VV Ganeshananthan on her civil war novel

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Regulars

  • Garth Risk Hallberg (c) Michael Lionstar

    The books of my life
    Garth Risk Hallberg: ‘David Foster Wallace convinced me to change the way I was living’

  • Large pink brain looks like a tree against a blue background. Two people in white suits hold a ladder that another person is climbing into the canopy. Another person sweeps up fallen debris

    Big idea
    The big idea: why your brain needs other people

    Your own thoughts are just part of the picture – relationships are vital to the way you think
  • Rachel Cusk.

    Where to start with
    Where to start with: Rachel Cusk

    From a novel sequence that dispenses with much of what we expect from fiction to fearlessly honest memoirs of motherhood and divorce, Cusk is a challenging writer. But also a genius
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