If you have seen a news story declaring 2025’s chosen “word of the year” in recent weeks, you might be forgiven for asking yourself: what, another one? Depending on which dictionary you... Read more »
The creator of some of British television’s most beloved sitcoms, a Match of the Day presenter and a Chuckle Brother are among the figures from the arts and media to be recognised... Read more »
There aren’t many giants of 20th-century literature still writing, but 2025 saw the first novel in 12 years from American great Thomas Pynchon, now in his late 80s: Shadow Ticket (Jonathan Cape) is a typically... Read more »
Fiction The Guardian’s fiction editor picks the best of the year, from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count to Thomas Pynchon’s return, David Szalay’s Booker winner and a remarkable collection of short stories.... Read more »
Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist Liz Pelly (Hodder & Stoughton) Enraging, thoroughly depressing, but entirely necessary, Mood Music offers a timely, forensically researched demolition... Read more »
This felt like the year that AI really arrived. It is on our phones and laptops; it is creeping into digital and corporate infrastructure; it is changing the way we learn, work and... Read more »
Many of 2025’s best graphic novels looked to the past with mixed emotions. Growing up in 1970s California, Mimi Pond found the aristocratic Mitfords, born in the early years of the 20th... Read more »
The Artist by Lucy Steeds has been named this year’s Waterstones book of the year. The novel, which is set in 1920s Provence and blends mystery with a love story, also took... Read more »
Kiran Desai The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny When we emptied my father’s flat after his death, a crowd descended. They rushed away the cupboards and chairs, his shirts and socks. Ragpickers... Read more »