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Books

  • The writer Joy Williams in Amherst, Massachusetts

    Interview
    American author Joy Williams: ‘The comfy story has got to change’

  • Nick Harkaway at his home in north London.

    John le Carré
    ‘There was eye-watering fear’: Nick Harkaway on writing a new George Smiley novel

  • Palermo, Sicily in the 1920s.

    Feature
    ‘This is what happens when people fight back’: Ali Smith on standing up for justice

    An act of resistance in 1920s Sicily was one of the inspirations for Ali Smith’s latest novel. The author describes her chance encounter with the Sacco family and why their story still resonates
  • Portrait of Irish writer Bram Stoker.

    News
    Reader stumbles on Dracula’s ancestors in a Dublin library

  • FOR OBSERVER BOOKS SECTION REVIEW 29 SEPT 2024<br>Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian (Band) has written his first book- pics for new review books section photographed at home in Glasgow september 2024 Stuart Murdoch, the lead singer of Glaswegian indie legends Belle And Sebastian, publishes his first novel in 2024. Nobody’s Empire, named for the opening track of the band’s 2015 album Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance, concerns a young Scottish man leaving for California in search of a ‘new world cure’ following a chronic fatigue syndrome diagnosis.

    Book of the day
    Nobody’s Empire by Stuart Murdoch review – Belle and Sebastian and me

    Toby Litt
  • Tom gauld cartoon

    Cartoon
    Tom Gauld on Batman’s calling – cartoon

  • Karl Ove Knausgård.

    The books of my life
    Karl Ove Knausgård: ‘The book that changed me as a teenager? The History of Bestiality’

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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 October 2024

    Paperbacks
    This month’s best paperbacks: Werner Herzog, Karl Ove Knausgaard and more

    • Inventory of everything … the humble yet fascinating list

      Five of the best
      Five of the best books shaped by lists

    • Read on

      100 best novels of all time
      From The Pilgrim's Progress to True History of the Kelly Gang

    • Books of the century so far

      The 100 best books of the 21st century

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Non-fiction reviews

  • Marie Curie in her laboratory in around 1905.

    Biography books
    The Elements of Marie Curie by Dava Sobel review – lessons in chemistry

    Sophie McBain
  • Al Pacino in Scarface (1983).

    Autobiography and memoir
    Sonny Boy: A Memoir by Al Pacino review – from fish out of water to Hollywood star

    Kathryn Hughes
    The method actor traces his path to success, spending as much time on the films that flopped as the greatest hits
  • A portrait of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, George Villiers, by Peter Paul Rubens.

    History books
    The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes-Hallett review – James I’s beloved bedfellow

    Lucy Moore
    A biography of the Duke of Buckingham brings the royal favourite, and his ‘entrancingly strange’ world, to life
  • TV Time Together<br>A young family watching television together in their lounge, 1957. (Photo by Harold M. Lambert/Getty Images)

    Society books
    The Care Dilemma by David Goodhart review – a flawed study of family life

    Gaby Hinsliff
  • Sorroden duck house.

    Autobiography and memoir
    The Place of Tides by James Rebanks review – a warming tale of gathering eiderdown in Norway

    Ellen Peirson-Hagger
  • Annie Ernaux.

    Autobiography and memoir
    The Use of Photography by Annie Ernaux and Marc Marie review – snapshots of intimacy

    Sean O’Hagan
  • 403891,Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy<br>Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy,Puglia,7,Stanley Tucci,Warner Media,Production

    Autobiography and memoir
    What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci review – one bite too many?

    Rachel Cooke
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Fiction & poetry reviews

  • A beetle takes a bow in Edith Holler.

    Fiction
    Edith Holler by Edward Carey review – an unsettling fairytale

    Joanna Quinn
  • ‘A man and a girl drive across a landscape blackened by ashes.’

    Fiction
    Juice by Tim Winton review – life after the apocalypse

    Rachel Seiffert
    Set centuries from now, this gripping tale of retribution against the corporations who fuelled climate breakdown has echoes of Cormac McCarthy
  • Villas in the Hollywood Hills.

    Fiction
    Colored Television by Danzy Senna review – race as performance

    Chelsea Leu
    A novelist from Brooklyn tries to make it in LA in this artful tale of ambition and identity
  • Mariana Enríquez, Parque Chacabuco, Buenos Aires, Argentina 05/09/2022

    Short stories
    A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez review – domestic goddess of grotesque tales

    John Self
  • The author Morgan Talty

    Fiction
    Fire Exit by Morgan Talty review – beautifully crafted debut set in a Native community in the US

    Lucy Popescu
  • In a moody black and white shot from the 50s, a woman stands by her Austin, parked at the side of a deserted country road in Ireland.

    Fiction
    The Drowned by John Banville review – death and drizzle in 50s Ireland

    Anthony Cummins
  • Visions of postwar London in The Great When.

    Fiction
    The Great When by Alan Moore review – a riotous tour of occult London

    Sukhdev Sandhu
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Children's and YA books

  • 1 Turtle Moon 3 (c) Levi Pinfold

    Children's book reviews round-up
    Children’s and teens roundup – the best new chapter books

    Kitty Empire
  • The Café at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please, HarperCollins

    Children's book roundup
    Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

    Imogen Russell Williams
    An Olympian’s picture book; a miscellany of marvellous kids; volcanoes explained; a dark Celtic adventure; and when teen wishes go wrong
  • An illustration from Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows.

    Children and teenagers
    The Haunted Wood: a History of Childhood Reading by Sam Leith review – young at heart

    Sarah Bakewell
    A thoughtful, witty and warmhearted journey through children’s literature
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Interviews

  • Headshot of writer Hanif Kureshi at his home in London, Sept 2024

    Hanif Kureishi
    ‘My body is broken, but I’m not going to give up’: Hanif Kureishi on life after the accident that paralysed him

  • Author Helen Castor

    Interview
    Helen Castor: ‘I’d rather not live in such interesting times’

    The British historian on the drama and resonance of the lives of Richard II and Henry VI, the writers she most admires and the book she wishes she had written
  • Attica Locke …

    Interview
    Attica Locke on the US election: ‘It’s white Americans that have to fix this’

    The Highway 59 author discusses the influence of politics on her crime novels, how Beyoncé caused a backlash, and why Trump’s re-election is not as likely as it seems
  • Barbara Kingsolver photographed at her home in Virginia by Ian Curcio for the Observer New Review, August 2024.

    Interview
    ‘I’ve dealt with anti-hillbilly bigotry all my life’: Barbara Kingsolver on JD Vance, the real Appalachia and why Demon Copperhead was such a hit

  • Malcolm Gladwell

    Malcolm Gladwell
    Beyond The Tipping Point: Malcolm Gladwell on Covid, Trump and what he got wrong

  • Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian posing for a portrait with trees in the background

    Interview
    Stuart Murdoch: ‘I feel like this book will be the Trainspotting of ME’

  • Richard Powers 0626

    Interview
    ‘I no longer have to save the world’: Novelist Richard Powers on fiction and the climate crisis

    Alex Clark
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Regulars

  • Karl Ove Knausgård.

    The books of my life
    Karl Ove Knausgård: ‘The book that changed me as a teenager? The History of Bestiality’

  • pic of man taking off shirt and tie

    Big idea
    The big idea: why it’s OK not to love your job

    We’re constantly told that passion is what makes work fulfilling. But can being head over heels have its downsides?
  • Alan Garner.

    Where to start with
    Where to start with: Alan Garner

    As the master of myth and fantasy turns 90 today it’s a good time to look at his wide ranging canon, from Booker-nominated novels to children’s fiction, poetry and essays
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You may have missed

  • The Booker prize shortlisted authors, clockwise from left: Yael van der Wouden, Rachel Kushner, Charlotte Wood, Samantha Harvey, Anne Michaels and Percival Everett.

    Booker prize
    ‘I was on the way to a funeral when the idea came to me’: 2024’s Booker-shortlisted authors on the moment inspiration struck

  • ‘I wondered whether writing was still a viable thing for me to continue doing’ … Ross Raisin.

    Feature
    ‘It was a deflating experience’: the novelists who nearly gave up

  • Young women browsing books on a stall in Spitalfields Market in London

    Bookshops
    ‘I love the whole atmosphere and can spend hours browsing’: how did bookshops suddenly become cool?

  • Lennie James as Barrington Jedidiah Walker Esq

    Feature
    ‘I had a crush on him’: Bernardine Evaristo on writing Mr Loverman

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