Tag: Novels
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World Book Day celebrates pure joy of reading
To quote Jane Austen, “there is no enjoyment like reading!” It is one of life’s purest delights, and it comes with health benefits too. But should you read for pleasure or self-improvement?
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Million-dollar author caught in web of lies
Dan Mallory, writer of the bestselling thriller The Woman in the Window, has admitted to lying about having brain cancer — one of many deceptions he used to boost his career.
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‘No one has ever read anything like this before’
Are book prizes bad for writing? Milkman, a challenging work about sexual harassment in Northern Ireland, has won the Man Booker Prize. Some writers say the award is...
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Booker Prize holds a mirror to our dark times
Can fiction change the world? Racism, injustice, ecological destruction — the Man Booker Prize shortlist has been unveiled, and the new novels paint a bleak picture of modern society.
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The wild, difficult genius of Emily Bronte
Should we admire Wuthering Heights? The first reviewers of Emily Brontë’s dark tale of obsessive love called it “baffling” and “disjointed”. To its fans, the novel is a...
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‘Love Island teaches you more than Jane Austen’
Surely not? The TV show is smashing records. Some scorn it as low-grade trash. But others say its stories of relationships, courtship and rejection have more wisdom than the classics.
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Giant of American fiction Philip Roth dies
Do great writers offer great wisdom? Legendary American novelist Philip Roth has died aged 85. Love, death, sex, faith: his era-defining prose left no side of human life unexamined.
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A Wrinkle In Time: a lovely, messy, warm, flop
Does it matter what film critics think? A Wrinkle In Time adapts a beloved American fantasy novel. Some reviewers praise the film as revolutionary...
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How Frankenstein could save the modern world
What can Frankenstein teach modern scientists? For 200 years, the tale has gripped readers. As humans gain greater powers to control life, many...
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Man Booker shortlist sets off literary storm
Does it make sense to rank novels like horses? The six nominees for the highly prestigious Man Booker fiction prize have been announced. As always, the choices are very contentious.
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Minecraft book is ‘Crusoe for the digital age’
The latest novel by Max Brooks is a Robinson Crusoe-like tale of survival, zombies, and building an entire world from cuboid blocks. Yep — it is about Minecraft. Why is...
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200 years later, Austen is still a sensation
Today marks 200 years since the death of Jane Austen. All over the world, “Janeites” will come together to worship the great novelist. Just what is behind her enduring appeal?
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Hilary Mantel: ‘The dead have a vital force’
To many she is Britain’s greatest living writer and our most interesting public intellectual. Today, the Wolf Hall novelist delivers her fourth...
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Harry Potter and the seeds of political action
Twenty years ago today saw the release of the first Harry Potter book. The series is believed to have influenced a whole generation’s worldview....
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‘Feminist sci-fi’ novel wins major award
In The Power, women are suddenly endowed with a terrifying skill. The novel is a “devastating” tale of sex, fear and control. Can sci-fi tell us as much about society as...