1+ mon, 1+ week ago  (654+ words) The Pulitzer-winning author of Less has crafted a breezy confection of fish-out-of-water wit, insecurity and self-discovery set in an Italian paradise‘There’s a place in Italy in need of someone. Why don’t you look into that?” Inspired by his two-year…...

1+ mon, 2+ week ago  (916+ words) From a young age, the author was told that one of her ancestors had drawn some of the first maps of Ireland. Then she found a photograph, and embarked on a journey to discover his story Every family has its…...

1+ mon, 3+ week ago  (211+ words) This compendium of 49 of Britain’s threatened species features lyrical prose poems evoking each bird’s unique qualities and beautiful recordings of their distinctive calls The Book of Birds delivers a stark warning in its introduction about the “great thinning of the…...

1+ mon, 3+ week ago  (332+ words) Hum, Helen Phillips’ third novel, featuring a woman whose job is taken by a humanoid robot, is a terrifying look into a future where AI rules and nature is scarce A novel featuring a protagonist whose job is taken by…...

1+ mon, 3+ week ago  (213+ words) The second series of Rivals has put the bestselling author’s brand of saucy jollity back on screen, but what is her bonkbuster nonpareil? Classic Jilly themes Underdogs triumph; dogs also triumph. Classic Jilly themes Artistic people are naturally hornier; also,…...

1+ mon, 3+ week ago  (226+ words) A woman’s encounter with the stepfather she hasn’t seen for decades leads to a revived bond – but is it all too perfect? Tom Lake is a lovely book, indulgently so. A pandemic novel that imagines the crisis as Edenic: a…...

1+ mon, 3+ week ago  (217+ words) After visiting an island brothel in Bangladesh, the novelist was inspired to write an imagined uprising. She explores the radical fictional worlds where women have the power We live in a time of malignant patriarchy, one that spreads aggressively through…...

1+ mon, 4+ week ago  (924+ words) The Guardian ‘I laughed out loud dozens of times’: authors choose books to make you fall back in love with reading From a darkly comic new novel to a gripping 1950s memoir – Katherine Rundell, Malala Yousafzai, Matt Haig and others appearing…...

1+ mon, 4+ week ago  (367+ words) A bunny who loves to bake, illustrated poems about amazing animals and a YA verse novel of dancefloor salvation Ban Ban’s Bakery by Elena Hiroko Magee, Do Re Mi, £12.99 Ban Ban the bunny loves baking with Grandma – but will she…...

1+ mon, 4+ week ago  (329+ words) The author of historical novel Taiwan Travelogue, and its translator Lin King, discuss the threat from Beijing, LGBTQ+ rights and the island’s culinary delicacies “I appreciate that it’s a really hard book to read,” King says, laughing. “It’s been really…...