books
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Test your knowledge of literature, music and art on our Christmas quizWhat food did Samuel Pepys bury in his backyard? Which dystopian novelist had a ‘hopeless’ love affair with cricket? And how many words did Enid Blyton write per day? -
It’s been a long time since I wrote the words ‘snowed in’. If I ever didI email to cancel engagements in London. In Cotswolds, roads impassable, see you when I see you
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A New Map of Wonders by Caspar Henderson – scientific approach akin to spiritual visionA wunderkammer of amazing facts inspires a better appreciation of the world and celebrates the wonder and explanatory power of science -
The big trouble with Little WomenWill the BBC’s new version solve the problem of Louisa May Alcott’s novel?
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Reading group webchat with Eley WilliamsWilliams’s Attrib. is a joyful experiment in wordplay – and she’ll be here to answer your questions about her stories, lexicography and anything else on 29 December at 1pm GMT
news
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What are you reading this week?Your space to discuss the books you are reading and what you think of them
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Fire caught on and unicorns took offThe ancient art of fire-making and the return of unicorns were just two of the unlikely enthusiasms setting shop tills ringing this year
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best books of 2017
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Best books of 2017 – part one‘Funny, outrageous, touching, intimate, gorgeous’ … writers from George Saunders to Ali Smith pick their favourite reads of the past year
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The best fiction of 2017We look back on a year that saw Arundhati Roy’s return and George Saunders’ Man Booker victory, along with dark short stories and a haunting last novel
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The best science books of 2017Why good health requires good sleep, the role our senses play in what we choose to consume, and some mind-boggling maths about the air that we breathe
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The best children’s books of 2017Whatever their age, kids will be engaged and inspired by this year’s diverse offerings
regulars
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Book of the dayBook of the dayA New Map of Wonders by Caspar Henderson review – scientific approach akin to spiritual visionA wunderkammer of amazing facts inspires a better appreciation of the world and celebrates the wonder and explanatory power of science
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PodcastPodcastEdward St Aubyn's King Lear and the future of literary fiction - books podcastThe author explains how he reimagined Shakespeare’s thundering patriarch as a modern media baron in Dunbar, and we consider the plight of literary novelists
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Novel recipesNovel recipesNovel recipes: eggnog from The Fir Tree by Tove JanssonMoomins and eggnog: how better to enjoy Christmas? Avoid the supermarket imitations and make this rich and boozy festive treat at home, says Kate Young
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Reading groupReading groupReading group webchat with Eley Williams – post your questions now!Williams’s Attrib. is a joyful experiment in wordplay – and she’ll be here to answer your questions about her stories, lexicography and anything else on 29 December at 1pm GMT
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Six Minutes in May: How Churchill Unexpectedly Became Prime Minister by Nicholas Shakespeare
History Six Minutes in May: How Churchill Unexpectedly Became Prime Minister by Nicholas Shakespeare
An engaging blow-by-blow account of the negotiations over Britain’s wartime leadership
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The World Broke in Two by Bill Goldstein – modernism’s annus mirabilisThe story of 1922, an extraordinary year in literature as told through the lives of four key writers, unsettles our notions of modernism
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The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober and A Short History of DrunkennessBooze – a demon we’re better off without, or a social lubricant down the ages? You decide …
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Down Girl by Kate Manne – #MeToo and the logic of misogynyA philosopher is compelling on misogyny and sexism but it is crucial to understand how neoliberalism and anti-feminism work together. There is an alternative
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Why Dylan Matters by Richard F Thomas – Virgil, Homer, Ovid… Dylan?An academic’s attempt to shoehorn Dylan into the pantheon of literary greats misunderstands the singer’s appeal
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Six Minutes in May: How Churchill Unexpectedly Became Prime MinisterNicholas Shakespeare’s flair as a novelist makes a gripping story of Churchill’s unlikely rise to power in 1940
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Grandville Force Majeure by Bryan Talbot – finale of a joyful seriesBadger-headed detective LeBrock of Scotland Yard clashes with a T rex criminal mastermind in the fifth and final volume of Talbot’s anthropomorphic graphic novels
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The Future Won’t Be Long by Jarett Kobek – follow-up to I Hate the InternetAn aggressively unconventional novel of outsiders in 80s New York is brattishly entertaining
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In White Ink by Elske Rahill – the dark side of motherhoodFrom young mothers to aging brides, the characters in this exhilarating short story collection are motivated by repressed feelings which barely show on the page but lead to terrible consequences
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Darker With the Lights On by David Hayden – stories of the subconsciousAn undercurrent of primal violence runs through this Irish author’s brilliantly disturbing and unclassifiable debut collection
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Stories by Susan Sontag – the great essayist’s experiments in short fictionMarriage, loss and meeting Thomas Mann … these stories are rich in autobiographical insights, but Sontag lacks the craft to carry them off
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House of Lords and Commons by Ishion Hutchinson – new literary territorySlavery, a dub musician as Noah and memories of a Jamaican childhood inform a collection that subverts history’s grand narratives
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Tinselly tales for a child’s ChristmasFrom Quentin Blake’s Scrooge to Judith Kerr’s new cat Katinka and beyond, picture book present ideas abound…
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Snow quests, standup and skullduggeryA well-plotted comic quest from Harry Hill, a treat of a seafaring saga, and a Dickensian dystopia in which a fox leaves an orphanage in search of home
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Thrills, spills and girl powerA boarding school for self-absorbed artists, a handbook on changing the world, and bright young women standing up to the bullies
people
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The Gruffalo’s not a curse … it can be a burdenThe author and llustrator on their long partnership and what Brexit would have meant for The Gruffalo
pictures, video & audio
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Edward St Aubyn's King Lear and the future of literary fictionThe author explains how he reimagined Shakespeare’s thundering patriarch as a modern media baron in Dunbar, and we consider the plight of literary novelists
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1947: When Now Begins and the best books of 2017On this week’s show, we look at the political and social upheaval of 1947 with journalist Elisabeth Åsbrink, and consider the best books of 2017
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Stephen Fry and Emily Wilson on Greek mythsThis week, the beloved broadcaster leads us back to the classical age, introducing his book Mythos, and we meet Homer’s first female English translator
you may have missed
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Dickens’s Victorian meals in the age of ‘clean eating’Many of Charles Dickens’s characters struggle to put food on the table – they certainly wouldn’t turn their noses up at a bit of mould on their adulterated brea
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Writers choose books to give to their younger selvesJulian Barnes, Margaret Drabble, Tessa Hadley, David Nicholls and others choose reading matter that would have been useful when young
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How to rewrite A Christmas Carol for the digital ageDickens’s A Christmas Carol has become too familiar – it’s time to revisit it’s original meaning and capture what Scrooge stood for
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Writers reminisce on their relationship with EuropeFrom cappuccinos to constitutional rights, Stieg Larsson to Smetana – writers reflect on what Europe means to them
Children’s books roundup The best new picture books and novels