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Editors' picks

- Martin Amis: a new chapter in America
  
  When Martin Amis moved to New York it gave rise to reports that he loathed England. Not so. His new novel is, he tells Tom Lamont, no "V sign" to Britain…
- Gold by Chris Cleave
  
  Chris Cleave's Olympics-themed novel is timely, heavily-hyped… and thrillingly good, writes Alex Preston
- This much I know: Joanna Trollope
  
  The author on living alone, the Orange prize, and the "cupcake image"
- It's tiresome hearing failed businesses accuse their successful rivals of being monopolies
  undersinged
  commenting on Publishers hit back vigorously against accusations of ebook price-fixing
- Shelf mapping
  
  We've built a map showing Britain's best bookshops and literary locations – and we need you to help us expand it
  - Interactive map: The UK's literary highlights
  - Podcast series: Writers' gifts
- Terrifying French children's books
  
  Gallery: Jenny Colgan was so alarmed by French children's books that she decided to blog about the scariest. Here are some
- How to draw... the Queen
  
  Gallery: Illustrator Nicholas Allan helps you celebrate the jubilee weekend with a royal portrait of her majesty (and her majesty's royal undies)
- Christopher and his kind
  
  Christopher Isherwood certainly had his faults, but as the last volume of his diaries reveals, he could be clever and kind, and had a gift for love, says Edmund White
- Gory tories
  
  David Barnett: Perhaps it's only natural that horror's rise in popularity – in film as well as books – tends to mirror that of the Conservative party
- Banksy, Vettriano and Cook are the only genuine artists here, because they all decided for themselves what to paint - as all artists should
  Masistios
  commenting on Review: Banksy by Will Ellsworth-Jones
- Sea creatures and ocean vistas
  
  Gallery: Earth's oceans have changed more in the last 30 years than in all human history. Callum Roberts' new book, The Ocean of Life, takes us on a panoramic tour
- Just Send Me Word by Orlando Figes
  
  Review: Letters to and from the gulag
  - News: Russia scraps Figes translation
- The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane
  
  Review: Alexandra Harris admires a meditation on pathways that always leads back to the human heart
- The Deadman's Pedal by Alan Warner
  
  Review: Alan Warner has realised his potential triumphantly, argues Stuart Kelly
- The Lower River by Paul Theroux
  
  Review: Christopher Hope predicts a stormy reception for Paul Theroux's new novel
- Nightwoods by Charles Frazier
  
  Archive review: John Burnside salutes Charles Frazier's subtle meditation on progress
- Me and You by Niccolo Ammaniti
  
  Reader review: One of those books that somehow manage, in an almost magical way, to steal a reader's heart, says Lakis

Latest news

Kensal Rise library offered lifeline after council's night-time book clearance

2 Jun 2012: Brent council officials agree to discuss campaigners' proposal of running library at no ongoing cost to local authority
Green Lantern to be reintroduced as gay by DC Comics

1 Jun 2012: Revelation ends days of speculation among comics fans after publisher let slip that a superhero would come out
Radio 4 to dramatise Ulysses

31 May 2012: Station announces five-and-a-half-hour celebration of James Joyce's 'difficult' novel on 16 June – 'Bloomsday'

More books news

Regular series

My hero 1 day ago

My hero: Homer by Madeline Miller

'From the very first sentence - "Sing, O goddess, the destructive rage of Achilles" - I fell completely in love'
Reading group 3 days ago

Choose June's Reading group book: summer

Sam Jordison: The sun is out, the flip-flops are retrieved from the back of the wardrobe and we want suggestions on books that say summer
Paperback Q&A; 3 days ago

Matthew Sweet on West End Front: Paperback Q&A

Matthew Sweet says the best bit was drinking tea – or gin – with witnesses for his history of London's grand hotels in the second world war
More books series

Latest blogposts

Books blog

Reader reviews roundup

1 Jun 2012:
Hilary Mantel is lauded in rhyme, / While Updike and Franzen get along just fine
Books blog

Banning Kindles is no way of celebrating books

1 Jun 2012: Alison Flood: Is your e-reader turning you into a 'robot'? A campaign from Hay bookseller Derek Addyman to drive Amazon's Kindle out of town is just silly
Books blog

Madeline Miller's faithful approach to Homer was key to her Orange prize win

1 Jun 2012:
Justine Jordan: The Song of Achilles makes old stories feel fresh while staying true to the literary fabric of the ancient world depicted in the Iliad

Talking points

- Terrifying French children's books - in pictures
  
  When Jenny Colgan moved to France with her family, she was so alarmed by the terrifying children's books that she decided to blog about the scariest

In essence he was a diplomat, he took the best from his father, and from his background, curiosity, openness to other cultures while never losing his original Mexican essence. And never sold himself to commercial values
myherojimmydainty
commenting on Listening to Carlos Fuentes with my eyes

- Tips, links and suggestions: Our review list and what you're reading
  
  Take a look at this week's list, and tell us what you'd like us to cover on the site

Latest Guardian and Observer reviews

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Margaret Atwood watches Anne Boleyn's downfall in the sequel to Wolf Hall
Why Spencer Perceval Had to Die by Andro Linklater

John Barrell is intrigued by a new theory on Britain's only prime ministerial assassination
Dear Lupin by Roger Mortimer and Charlie Mortimer

Sam Leith on the very amusing ramblings of an English curmudgeon
In One Person by John Irving

Steven Poole applauds a comic celebration of polymorphous perversity
The Red House by Mark Haddon

Mark Haddon's glimpse into the heart of a family impresses Carol Birch
All in a Don's Day by Mary Beard

Frances Spalding dips into Mary Beard's entertaining blog
Seasons in the Sun by Dominic Sandbrook

David Edgar challenges an entertaining analysis of a decade of great change
Mrs Robinson's Disgrace by Kate Summerscale

Alexandra Harris is engrossed by a landmark divorce case - but is it as good as Mr Whicher?
Introduction to Antiphilosophy by Boris Groys

Stuart Kelly admires an electrifying set of essays on continental thinkers
Memoirs of an Addicted Brain by Marc Lewis

David Shariatmadari is both fascinated and irritated by an addict turned neuroscientist
The Juice: Vinous Veritas by Jay McInerney

Is Jay McInerney the best wine writer in the world? Or just a bragger about women and cars? By Steven Shapin
Going Solo by Eric Klinenberg

If we can afford to live alone, we do. Kathryn Hughes on the rush to singleness
Opposed Positions by Gwendoline Riley

Anne Enright acclaims a narrator who walks the high wire of the reader's sympathy
My Sister Rosalind Franklin by Jenifer Glynn

Why does the woman behind the discovery of DNA's structure still not get the recognition she deserves, asks Peter Forbes
Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell by Tom Bower

He's been the linchpin of top-rating TV for a decade, but what are Simon Cowell's secrets? By Marina Hyde
Dial M for Murdoch by Tom Watson and Martin Hickman

Will the phone-hacking scandal be bigger than Watergate? Peter Wilby on a gobsmacking account of the problems engulfing News International
Home by Toni Morrison

Does Toni Morrison's latest novel stand up to her best? By Sarah Churchwell
Skios by Michael Frayn

It has charm and a few good jokes, but is it more than a farce? By Theo Tait
Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer

Steven Poole challenges a self-regarding how-to guide
A History of Singing by John Potter and Neil Sorrell

The tenor Ian Bostridge on song – from lullabies to opera
The Real Romney by Michael Kranish and Scott Helman

Sexism, plutocracy, bigotry? What does the Republican nominee stand for, wonders Katha Pollitt
Pure by Timothy Mo

Mo's linguistic tricks make Mark Lawson feel like a Berlitz student being taught by James Joyce
The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

Alison Flood is caught up by an enchanted series

Latest reader reviews

Bao Bao's Odyssey: From Mao's Shanghai to Capitalist Hong Kong
by Paul Ting

Reviewed by fredkkc
Shadows
by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma

Reviewed by Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire
Echelons' Rest
by Mike Peterson

Reviewed by harro180
Semper Fi: The Story of a Vietnam Era Marine
by Orville Leverne Clubb

Reviewed by andymartin9495
The Book of Summers
by Emylia Hall

Reviewed by Alex Evans
Measuring the World
by Daniel Kehlmann

Reviewed by EKareno
Sorrows of Young Werther
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (author) and Bayard Quincy Morgan (translator)

Reviewed by EKareno
Wolf Hall
by Hilary Mantel

Reviewed by darnac
Gulls and Chuffs
by E C Love

Reviewed by eclove
Revolutionary Road
by Richard Yates

Reviewed by tenuousfives
Wayward Daughter: An Official Biography of Eliza Carthy
by Sophie Parkes

Reviewed by SueGodsell
Do Me No Harm
by Julie Corbin

Reviewed by Jackie25
Me and You
by Niccolo Ammaniti (author) and Kylee Doust (translator)

Reviewed by Lakis
Gone to Bed: a Memoir
by Charles Bryce

Reviewed by Cathymacleod
The Closing
by Stella K (author) and Miriam Pirolo (edited by)

Reviewed by AndyBrooks
The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Invincible
by Jack Campbell

Reviewed by acorn01
Grosse Fugue
by Ian Phillips

Reviewed by jojames100
Madame Mephisto
by A. M. Bakalar

Reviewed by rbilton
The Ascent of Man
by Jacob Bronowski

Reviewed by AJNorth
Everything Flows
by Vasily Grossman (author) and Robert Chandler (translator)

Reviewed by comradedyl
Dead Men
by Richard Pierce

Reviewed by VanessaWu
Bring Up the Bodies
by Hilary Mantel

Reviewed by Simon92
Central Reservation
by Will le Fleming

Reviewed by keepswim22
The Magus
by John Fowles

Reviewed by julian6
Junction X
by Erastes

Reviewed by SalDavis
A Blight of Mages
by Karen Miller

Reviewed by acorn01
The Plaza
by Guillermo Paxton

Reviewed by EstrellaOrtega
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared
by Jonas Jonasson

Reviewed by AggieH
The Backslider
by Sean McGrady

Reviewed by DzancBooks
Everything's Fine
by Socrates Adams

Reviewed by wordmole
The Banned Underground: The Amulet of Kings
by Will Macmillan Jones

Reviewed by WillatSafkhet
Magnificent Britain
by Michael Murray

Reviewed by Cathy60
Recipes for Disaster
by Sheryl Browne

Reviewed by KimatSafkhet
Walker's Vale
by John J Zelenski

Reviewed by jb2001
The Struggle Trilogy
by Nelson Lowhim

Reviewed by saw240
The Light Between Oceans
by M. L. Stedman

Reviewed by petrasluka
Loser's Memorial
by Larry Nocella

Reviewed by Laughing13
Perfect Score
by Susan Roebuck

Reviewed by AndyPandy61
Oscar's Missing Oranges
by Elizabeth Mary Flynn (author) and Animatzione (illustrator)

Reviewed by 0641chris
Diavolino
by Steve Emmett

Reviewed by suemont

See all reader reviews

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Jarvis Cocker reads from The Hueys - video

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Guardian Books podcast extra: Madeline Miller on her Orange prize win
Gay superheroes under fire from US pressure group
Terrifying French children's books - in pictures
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