I Give You My Silence by Mario Vargas Llosa review – Nobel laureate’s final novel is a love letter to Peru | Books

When I Give You My Silence was published in Spanish in 2023 its author, the Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, rightly predicted that it would be his final novel. He died... Read more »

Is Beauty Good by Rosalind Belben review – the literary equivalent of free jazz | Fiction

‘But after all, writing is nothing more than a guided dream,” wrote Jorge Luis Borges. Dreams and dreaming are fertile concerns for Rosalind Belben, too. Her fourth book, originally published in 1979... Read more »
Sky City by Jacqueline Crooks review – an ambitious, lyrical portrait of trauma | Books

Sky City by Jacqueline Crooks review – an ambitious, lyrical portrait of trauma | Books

The world of Sky City never quite settles beneath your feet. The action of Jacqueline Crooks’s second novel unfolds in a recognisable 1990s London, yet everything seems subtly untethered from reality: a... Read more »
The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup | Science fiction books

The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup | Science fiction books

The Salt King by by Natasha Pulley (Gollancz, £22)The latest from the author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street blends an apocalyptic end-of-the-world tale with folk horror and two slowly developing love... Read more »
What Happened to Liberal Democracy? by Daron Acemoğlu review – how to fix the system | Politics books

What Happened to Liberal Democracy? by Daron Acemoğlu review – how to fix the system | Politics books

In 2009, the tech billionaire Peter Thiel published an essay with the portentous title The Education of a Libertarian, in which he announced: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”... Read more »
Thirst by John Robins audiobook review – an ex-drinker’s darkly funny journey | Books

Thirst by John Robins audiobook review – an ex-drinker’s darkly funny journey | Books

A memoir chronicling the comic and broadcaster John Robins’s life in alcohol and his subsequent path to sobriety, Thirst is structured around the drinks that changed his life. There’s the bottle of... Read more »
What Happened to Liberal Democracy? by Daron Acemoğlu review – how to fix the system | Politics books

The Ghost of the Mountains by Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi review – the secrets of the snow leopard | Science and nature books

When bored, try the following game – I call it “Purr or Roar?”. Take any feline and guess whether it can purr or roar (it cannot do both because purring and roaring... Read more »
A Sense of Occasion by Brodie Crellin review – a surprising and darkly funny debut | Books

A Sense of Occasion by Brodie Crellin review – a surprising and darkly funny debut | Books

Most of us come upon our family’s dysfunctions gradually, like a door that opens a little wider each year. This uncle, you find out, has had an affair; grandma has a hoarding... Read more »
Children of the Wild by Kevin Powers review – gripping tale of a friendship forged in war | Books

Children of the Wild by Kevin Powers review – gripping tale of a friendship forged in war | Books

Kevin Powers’s fourth novel marks a return to the themes and subject matter of his acclaimed debut The Yellow Birds, winner of the 2012 Guardian first book award. Through the lives of... Read more »
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