Books blog
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The Code of the Woosters: PG Wodehouse's guide to fighting fascismForget about the author’s wartime mistakes, the way Bertie tackles Mosley-esque thug Roderick Spode is a great lesson in sending up would-be despots
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First rule of Fight Club: no one talks about the quality of the writingChuck Palahniuk’s novel is a tantalising exploration of male identity politics, therapy-culture and violence – but let’s look at the skill behind the book
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Poem of the week: The Good Shepherd by Stanley MossHow glad should the lost lamb be to have been found? This sensitive, wry take on the Bible story wonders what’s so great about getting saved
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Lisbeth Salander or Lyra Belacqua – who's your replacement Wonder Woman?After a tough year for women, and the end of the UN’s resident demigoddess, we need some inspiring heroines. Here are a few of mine – who would you choose?
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Fight Club's dark fantasies have become an even darker realityChuck Palahniuk’s novel once seemed far-fetched, but two decades on its ugly vision of violent, paranoid men seems all too close to the world around us
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Poster poems: hopeAmid so many ominous events in the wider world, writing poetry is a small but significant way to sustain our spirits. For one last time, please share yours
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The parliamentary book awards: in literature at least, Labour come out on topFrom Alan Johnson’s latest to a biography of Attlee, the first ever parliamentary book awards went mainly to left of centre authors or subjects
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Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk steps up for December's reading groupWhether we read it as a continuation of The Great Gatsby or a premonition of the alt-right, there’s a lot to discuss
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Tips, links and suggestions: 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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Poem of the week: The Lake of Memories by Howard AltmannWith a carefully halting structure, this is an elegantly condensed reflection on psychological scarring and healing
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JG Ballard’s house – the perfect place to crashJG Ballard’s Shepperton home is up for sale or you can rent Ted Hughes’s Bloomsbury love nest. How do the prices compare with other authors’ homes?
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Choose a book of defiance for December's reading groupFor those of us about ready to give up after the multiple shocks of 2016, let’s find a bracingly rebellious read. Make your voice heard!
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Louisa May Alcott: a practical utopian from a divided USThe author of Little Women grew up among idealistic transcendentalists – and the book itself was a practical sacrifice to sustain those dreams
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The Bestseller Experiment: can you deliberately write a blockbuster book?Mark Stay and Mark Desvaux are picking up clues from publishers and authors in a new podcast, while they go about trying to write the next bestseller
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'Tis the season for books of the year: what were your picks of 2016?Writers from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to Jeanette Winterson shared their picks over the weekend – but it’s a very good time to be enthusing, so please share yours
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Tips, links and suggestions: 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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Poem of the week: Poema by Maria Teresa Horta, translated by Lesley SaundersWith an erotically charged, fairytale atmosphere, this stealthy poem is a striking assertion of its author’s status as an artist and radical thinker
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2016 Costa award: why the shortlist is making historyWith entries from Rose Tremain, Sarah Perry and Francis Spufford, historical fiction is dominating the shortlist. So why are authors looking to the past?
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Larkin belongs in Westminster Abbey – but plenty of other writers do tooThe critically acclaimed writer deserves to join Poets’ Corner, but how does the Abbey decide who to commemorate?
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Samer Nashef: 'Understanding the healthcare system is a matter of life or death'The cardiac specialist reveals how what really goes on behind the operating door inspired his book The Naked Surgeon
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Jack London's vision of workers' future looks a lot like our presentThe Iron Heel is a dystopian story of the US crushed under the boots of super-rich oligarchs, and often feels like a contemporary documentary
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Tips, links and suggestions: 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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Star writer: Carrie Fisher shines brightest in her booksYes she was Princess Leia, but Carrie Fisher’s sharp and witty writing on Hollywood, drug abuse and mental health should also be treasured
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Poem of the week: Meeting Point by Louis MacNeiceWritten in a time of ever greater division, this beguiling love poem celebrates two lovers’ almost mystical union
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School libraries are a good thing: it’s officialChris Riddell’s call to save our libraries is backed by BookTrust research that shows encouraging children to read shouldn’t stop when they reach reading age
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Why I will no longer submit my books for review by the Daily Mail or the SunAs a young author, I know it will be me that takes the hit – but like Lego, I can’t take part in the promotion of newspapers that foster hatred and division
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Book prizes: real winners give it all awayPhilippe Sands, winner of the Baillie Gifford prize, has given his prize money to charity. Perhaps more writers should do the same
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What is the best novel to read in a pub?Reading in pubs is one of life’s many joys. To celebrate this glorious union, I established a literary prize: the Spoons Carpets Novel Award 2016
Books of defiance The Vegetarian by Han Kang tells a dangerously defiant story