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Books

  • Demonstration by Gay Rights Pressure Group, Outrage - 'Drop Your Trousers and Bend Over Your Member' Campaign, Westminster, London, Britain - 1992<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by Tim Rooke/Shutterstock (198931a) Lesbians kissing Demonstration by Gay Rights Pressure Group, Outrage - 'Drop Your Trousers and Bend Over Your Member' Campaign, Westminster, London, Britain - 1992

    Book of the day
    Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line by Elizabeth Lovatt – a heartfelt history of the gay community

    Kerry Hudson
  • Neil Gaiman in Los Angeles in January.

    Neil Gaiman
    Neil Gaiman dropped by US comics publisher after sexual misconduct allegations

    Dark Horse Comics has cancelled the Anansi Boys series after seven issues, following accusations of misconduct made against the author by multiple women
  • Elia Barbieri - The Guardian Saturday - 25 January 2025 - The key to a good life might not be what you think-01

    The big idea
    What’s the real key to a fulfilling life?

    For centuries, we’ve pursued happiness and meaning. But what does that leave out?
  • A robin perched on a branch on a sunny day in the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin.

    Carol Rumens's poem of the week
    Poem of the week: there’s a bird … by Billy Mills

  • Uketsu … his name means rain hole.

    Interview
    ‘Am I a Cyclopian monster?’ How masked writer Uketsu went from asparagus videos to literary sensation

  • The 11 15 Gang (Eric Tucker) - Cover Painting

    Book of the day
    The Secret Painter by Joe Tucker review – art for art’s sake

    Andrew Martin
  • This Beautiful, Ridiculous City by Kay Sohini

    Graphic novel of the month
    This Beautiful, Ridiculous City review – New York state of mind

    Rachel Cooke
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Books of the year

What to read

  • Haruki Murakami, Cher, Neneh Cherry, Angela Merkel and Alan Hollinghurst Autumn Books

    Autumn books
    From a new Murakami to a memoir by Cher: the best books of the autumn

  • Composite image of best paperbacks January 2025

    Paperbacks
    This month’s best paperbacks: Ferdia Lennon, Lemn Sissay and more

    • Zora Neale Hurston.

      Where to start with
      Where to start with: Zora Neale Hurston

    • A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel; Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions by Omolola Ijeoma; Private Rites by Julia Armfield.

      What we're reading
      What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in December

Non-fiction reviews

  • Divided loyalties … a 19th century painting of the battle of Edgehill.

    History books
    Friends in Youth by Minoo Dinshaw review – parallel lives in England’s civil war

    Kathryn Hughes
  • With a torn picture of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad, top, a Syrian fighter helps a woman outside the palace of justice in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

    History books
    Prosecuting the Powerful by Steve Crawshaw review – from the Nuremberg trials to the pursuit of Putin and Assad

    Luke Harding
    This history of international justice is an important primer for our dark times and surprisingly optimistic about our chances of putting today’s despots in the dock
  • Edmund White in 1988

    Autobiography and memoir
    The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir by Edmund White review – a glorious celebration of queer love

    Ralf Webb
    In frank and hilarious style, the author recounts the significant encounters that helped make him who he is
  • Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463 – 1494).

    Biography books
    The Grammar of Angels by Edward Wilson-Lee review – spellbound

    Dennis Duncan
  • Head and shoulders portrait of Anna Beecher

    Autobiography and memoir
    We All Come Home Alive by Anna Beecher review – the pain of grief and joy of living

    Stephanie Merritt
  • National Day Of Workplace Action For Palestine<br>LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 28: Staff and students attend a rally in support of Palestine during a national day of workplace action at SOAS University on November 28, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Guy Smallman/Getty Images)

    Politics books
    Bad Education by Matt Goodwin review – a lapsed liberal’s war on ‘woke’ lecture

    Andrew Anthony
  • A black and white image of Edmund White sitting in a book-lined office.

    Autobiography and memoir
    The Loves of My Life by Edmund White – sex on the brain… and in the bathhouse

    Peter Conrad
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Fiction & poetry reviews

  • from Uketsu’s&nbsp;Strange Pictures&nbsp;(Pushkin Vertigo)

    Thrillers of the month
    Crime and thrillers of the month

    Alison Flood
  • Statues on the Amalfi Coast.

    Fiction
    The Gorgeous Inertia of the Earth by Adrian Duncan review – the meaning of beauty

    Keiran Goddard
    A sculptor embarks on a philosophical quest in this revelatory tale of love and loss, exploring our relationship with the divine
  • Pedro Lemebel

    Fiction in translation
    My Tender Matador by Pedro Lemebel review – queer love in Pinochet’s Chile

    Lauren J Joseph
    The romance between a former sex worker and a young revolutionary is explored in this novel of transformation and resilience
  • Emma Healey.

    Fiction
    Sweat by Emma Healey review – from trauma to treadmill

    Alex Peake-Tomkinson
  • man on sofa

    Fiction
    The Book of George by Kate Greathead review – male misadventures

  • Asmara (Erithrea). Communist propaganda (during th<br>ETHIOPIA - 1990: Asmara (Erithrea). Communist propaganda (during the Ethiopian activity(occupation)). Marx, Engels and Lenin. On 1990. FDM-244-1. (Photo by Francoise De Mulder/Roger Viollet via Getty Images)

    Fiction in translation
    Oromay by Baalu Girma review – long-overdue translation of a modern classic

    John Self
  • Sunflowers field near Arles in Provence, France<br>M5XF0H Sunflowers field near Arles in Provence, France

    Fiction
    The Artist by Lucy Steeds review – dextrous portrait of female fulfilment

    Hannah Beckerman
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Children's and YA books

  • An illustration from Our Love by Fátima Ordinola.

    Children and teenagers
    The best new picture books and novels

    Imogen Russell Williams
  • Murder for Two

    Children's books
    The best new chapter books

    Kitty Empire
    From ecology-saving zombies to a murderous tattoo and a chilly new school for magic, the new year launches with fresh twists on familiar themes
  • An illustration from All Aboard the Bedtime Bus.

    Children's book roundup
    The best new picture books and novels

    Imogen Russell Williams
    Sibling rivalry, a massive shark, anti-Nazi resistance in Norway, a brilliant romcom, and a tale of power and betrayal
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Interviews

  • Peter Gizzi.

    Interview
    ‘There’s a majesty to grief’: TS Eliot poetry prize winner Peter Gizzi

  • Emma Healey.

    Interview
    ‘I knew I was overexercising and not eating enough’: novelist Emma Healey on the dark side of self-control

    Her bestselling debut Elizabeth Is Missing was inspired by her grandmother’s dementia. Now the novelist has drawn from her own experiences for a thriller about the power dynamic between personal trainer and client
  • Joni Mitchell Plays An Acoustic Guitar

    Interview
    ‘She couldn’t walk, she couldn’t talk’: music therapy helped Joni Mitchell recover from a stroke – could it ward off depression and dementia too?

    When his friend, the legendary songwriter, had a catastrophic stroke, neuroscientist Daniel Levitin put together a programme of music therapy. Now he’s recommending it for a whole range of conditions
  • Caryl Phillips at the Elgin Pub in Notting Hill, London.

    Interview
    Caryl Phillips: ‘It was Britain that made me a writer’

  • Brian Eno.

    Interview
    ‘I don’t like being revered’: Brian Eno on art, AI, and why he hates talking about David Bowie

  • Alexis Wright at the Kathleen Syme Library in Carlton, Australia, where she likes to write.

    Interview
    ‘I didn’t want to fit in a box of what an Aboriginal person should write’: how Alexis Wright found her voice

  • Richard Price sitting in an armchair.

    Interview
    Richard Price: ‘I don’t like to write, I just don’t – it’s too much anxiety’

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Regulars

  • Hisham Matar

    The books of my life
    Hisham Matar: ‘I learned English by listening to Jane Austen audiobooks’

  • Elia Barbieri - The Guardian Saturday - 25 January 2025 - The key to a good life might not be what you think-01

    Big idea
    The big idea: What’s the real key to a fulfilling life?

    For centuries, we’ve pursued happiness and meaning. But what does that leave out?
  • John Christie hides his face as he leaves West London Police Court in April 1953.

    Audiobook of the week
    The Peepshow by Kate Summerscale audiobook review – postwar true crime

    Nicola Walker narrates the account of the 10 Rillington Place murders in the 50s – and the macabre media whirlwind that followed
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You may have missed

  • Trump

    Feature
    Fee, fi, fo…Trump: how an ogre won back the White House

  • Gerald Durrell with lemurs at Jersey Zoo (now Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust).

    Feature
    ‘He wouldn’t hurt a fly – literally’: remembering Gerald Durrell at 100

  • Sumit Paul-Choudhury.

    Extract
    ‘I became an optimist the night my wife died’: a science writer on loss and letting go of rationalism

  • Clockwise from top left: authors Mark Haddon, AK Blakemore, Sathnam Sanghera, Francis Spufford, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Kevin Barry, Fiona Mozley.

    Observer New Review 2024 puzzles special
    Whose lunch is it anyway? Match the authors with their midday meal

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