Books
Latest
The Observer
The best children’s books of 2025
Thu 27 Nov 2025
Writers recommend: the best books of 2025
Thu 27 Nov 2025
The Observer
The Observer’s books of the year 2025
Thu 27 Nov 2025
Tom Gatti
What to read this week: a Christmas books special
Thu 27 Nov 2025
Ellen Peirson-Hagger
Jenny Erpenbeck: ‘I’ve seen a whole system collapse and fade away’
Thu 27 Nov 2025
Alice Hunt
The double life of George Downing
Sun 23 Nov 2025
Val McDermid
What to read to understand winter
Sun 23 Nov 2025
Imogen Carter
Picture books of the month: where the wild things are
Sat 22 Nov 2025
Howard Jacobson
Milan Kundera in the age of censure
Fri 21 Nov 2025
Chris Power
Paperback of the week: On the Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle
Thu 20 Nov 2025
Kitty Empire
Is Taylor Swift a great poet?
Thu 20 Nov 2025
Alex Clark
Jeanette Winterson’s story factory
Wed 19 Nov 2025
Tom Gatti
What to read this week, from Jeanette Winterson to Taylor Swift
Wed 19 Nov 2025
Jude Rogers
TS Eliot’s 20th-century nightmare
Tue 18 Nov 2025
Jade Cuttle
Digging for the dead
Sun 16 Nov 2025
Anthony Cummins
Confessions of a reluctant bookseller
Sun 16 Nov 2025
Simon Winchester
What to read to understand the weather
Sun 16 Nov 2025
Rowan Moore
The houses that England built
Sat 15 Nov 2025
Chris Power
Paperback of the week: Blinding by Mircea Cărtărescu
Sat 15 Nov 2025
Anthony Cummins
Emmanuel Carrère on 10 years since the Paris attacks
Thu 13 Nov 2025
Marina Wheeler
Lady Hale’s rescue plan for the legal system
Thu 13 Nov 2025
Anthony Cummins
David Szalay: ‘If you want to be a proper writer, you have to deal with the sordid’
Wed 12 Nov 2025
Penelope Lively
Penelope Lively on the best children’s books of all time
Tue 11 Nov 2025
Penelope Lively
Why children’s books matter
Tue 11 Nov 2025
Anthony Cummins
Why David Szalay’s Flesh won the Booker prize
Mon 10 Nov 2025
Erica Wagner
Secrets of a Booker prize judge
Mon 10 Nov 2025
Richard Ovenden
How to survive an information crisis
Mon 10 Nov 2025
Hannah Rose Woods
Ferdinand Mount’s sentimental revolutions
Mon 10 Nov 2025
Ann Morgan
What to read to understand quests
Sun 9 Nov 2025
Fiona Noble
Young adult fiction of the month: spellbinding stories
Sat 8 Nov 2025
Chris Power
Paperback of the week: Dog Days by Emily LaBarge
Sat 8 Nov 2025
Lynn Barber
The redemption of Anthony Hopkins
Thu 6 Nov 2025
Olivia Ovenden
The last days of Pasolini
Thu 6 Nov 2025
Vanessa Thorpe
Helen Garner: ‘Writers need to have their arse kicked around the block’
Wed 5 Nov 2025
Philippe Sands
Inside the mind of Serbia’s ‘Madam War Criminal’
Wed 5 Nov 2025
Alex Preston
Pussy Riot’s guide to Putin’s Russia
Tue 4 Nov 2025
Erica Wagner
The book of Margaret Atwood
Sun 2 Nov 2025
Andrew Anthony
Jonathan C Slaght: ‘I don’t like bears. They’re vindictive’
Sat 1 Nov 2025
Megan Nolan
Zadie Smith and Anne Enright: the art of paying attention
Fri 31 Oct 2025
Andrew O’Hagan
What to read to understand friendship
Thu 30 Oct 2025
Anthony Cummins
Salman Rushdie’s The Eleventh Hour: For once, words fail him
Thu 30 Oct 2025
Chris Power
Paperback of the week: Driver by Mattia Filice
Thu 30 Oct 2025
Olivia Ovenden
Why women keep secrets
Wed 29 Oct 2025
Rowan Williams
Philip Pullman’s The Rose Field: a manifesto for how to be human
Mon 27 Oct 2025
Olivia Ovenden
Mariana Enríquez: ‘The fear of the old female body is out of control’
Sun 26 Oct 2025
Catherine Taylor
Klaus Kinski, misguided messiah
Sat 25 Oct 2025
Naomi Alderman
What to read to understand the information age
Sat 25 Oct 2025
Fintan O’Toole
Seamus Heaney’s poems for a darkening age
Fri 24 Oct 2025
Andrew Glazzard
The hijackers who invented modern terrorism
Thu 23 Oct 2025
Jade Cuttle
Phillis Wheatley, the first Black nature poet
Thu 23 Oct 2025
Eva Wiseman
How Isabella Burley became fashion’s most influential ‘shop girl’
Wed 22 Oct 2025
Kitty Empire
How Ringo Starr made the Beatles
Wed 22 Oct 2025
Stephanie Merritt
The tragedy and courage of Virginia Giuffre
Mon 20 Oct 2025
K Biswas
Who should pay the debts of slavery?
Sun 19 Oct 2025
Mary Roach
What to read to understand the body
Sun 19 Oct 2025
Erica Wagner
Cashing in on Harper Lee
Sat 18 Oct 2025
Sean O’Hagan
Tangled up in Bob Dylan
Sat 18 Oct 2025
Stephen Armstrong
Giuliano da Empoli: ‘I’m the scribe of a dying civilisation’
Thu 16 Oct 2025
Laurie Bristow
The hotel that tells the story of Kabul
Thu 16 Oct 2025
Andrew Anthony
Boris Becker and Björn Borg: Serving time
Wed 15 Oct 2025
Hephzibah Anderson
Claire-Louise Bennett: ‘Mystery is an essential part of loving someone’
Sun 12 Oct 2025
Kitty Empire
Halloween books for kids to sink their teeth into
Sun 12 Oct 2025
John Self
Bora Chung’s ghosts of the present
Sat 11 Oct 2025
Jude Rogers
Evan Dando’s chaotic, narcotic life
Sat 11 Oct 2025
Rory Smith
How the World Cup shaped football’s gilded age
Fri 10 Oct 2025
Catherine Taylor
László Krasznahorkai’s European nightmares
Thu 9 Oct 2025
William Boyd
What to read to understand espionage
Thu 9 Oct 2025
Kathleen Jamie
The making of Tennyson’s radical mind
Thu 9 Oct 2025
Lynn Barber
Blonde leading the blonde
Wed 8 Oct 2025
Erica Wagner
How the west was stolen
Tue 7 Oct 2025
Andrew Ross Sorkin
What to read to understand Wall Street
Sun 5 Oct 2025
Anna Leszkiewicz
Patricia Lockwood’s diary of a madwoman
Sat 4 Oct 2025
Tanya Gold
The faultlines of antisemitism
Fri 3 Oct 2025
Anthony Cummins
Jonathan Coe: ‘I have a fascination with the right’
Thu 2 Oct 2025
Philip Hoare
Gilbert White’s world of wonder
Thu 2 Oct 2025
Philip Collins
In search of Tony Blair, the radical conservative
Wed 1 Oct 2025
Sarah Moss
Ruby Tandoh’s guide to how we eat now
Tue 30 Sept 2025
Hephzibah Anderson
Books in brief: The Discovery of Britain, Bog Queen and We’re Alone
Sun 28 Sept 2025
Rowan Moore
How Britain’s housing was broken
Sun 28 Sept 2025
Ian Leslie
Visions of the AI apocalypse
Sun 28 Sept 2025
Stephen Armstrong
Lee Child: ‘Jack Reacher really is me age nine’
Thu 25 Sept 2025
Kim Willsher
Ruptures in the French republic
Thu 25 Sept 2025
Yagnishsing Dawoor
Kiran Desai’s book of life
Thu 25 Sept 2025
Anthony Cummins
The Booker shortlist pitches risk against realism
Tue 23 Sept 2025
Nicola Sturgeon
Kamala Harris has no lessons for the Democrats – or herself
Tue 23 Sept 2025
Ben East
The House of Wolf, Everything We Do Is Music and Season
Sun 21 Sept 2025
John Self
Asta Olivia Nordenhof has the literary X factor
Sun 21 Sept 2025
Elif Shafak
Arundhati Roy and Jung Chang: Daughters of suffering
Sun 21 Sept 2025
Kitty Drake
Stephen Grosz reopens the book of love
Thu 18 Sept 2025
Kitty Empire
Katherine Rundell: ‘Humankind is breathtaking’
Thu 18 Sept 2025
Andrew Anthony
Steven Pinker’s uncomfortable questions
Thu 18 Sept 2025
David Sexton
Osman v Rowling: Murder most lucrative
Thu 18 Sept 2025
Philip Collins
Britain’s ever-shifting allegiance to Europe
Sun 14 Sept 2025
Ellen Peirson-Hagger
Tove Ditlevsen’s beguiling autofiction
Sun 14 Sept 2025
Tim Adams
GT Karber: ‘Murdle gives me a sense of purpose’
Sun 14 Sept 2025
Hannah Beckerman
Books in brief: Buckeye, Duet and Lost Wonders
Sun 14 Sept 2025
Bernardine Evaristo
Celebrating Maureen Duffy, a true pioneer
Sun 14 Sept 2025
Vanessa Thorpe
How Raymond Briggs found his style
Fri 12 Sept 2025
Olivia Ovenden
Elizabeth Gilbert’s self-help addiction
Fri 12 Sept 2025
