Guardian book reviews 2023

Published: AM.

Sunlight is not the best disinfectant, she points out; bleach is. Does being meek ever bring about justice? The pious tone-policers, she argues, are Unreasonably Reasonable; we could all do with pulling down a few more statues and in general being a bit more Reasonably Unreasonable. What more reasonable way to investigate the weird misogyny of popular culture in the s than via case studies of famous women? The psychologist author explains how ordinary human biases and foibles are ruthlessly exploited by the disease, so that caregivers too often feel terribly guilty at not doing better. As Kiper points out in her lucid explanations of what is known about memory and consciousness, and the brain biology of self-control, no one can be perfect in such a situation: the carers, too, are victims of the disease. The latter made himself chief of the British Psychoanalytical Society and introduced Freudianism to the Bloomsbury set.

Guardian book reviews 2023

In Birnam Wood Granta , idealistic guerrilla gardeners in New Zealand run up against a ruthless billionaire. Zadie Smith also took on a new genre with her first historical novel, The Fraud Hamish Hamilton , which sets a gently comic portrait of 19th-century literary London, and a real-life trial which stirred up passionate emotions around class and identity, against harrowing testimony from a slave plantation. It expertly links Jamaican and British history, and offers a timely, quizzical reflection of our current age of globalisation and hypocrisy. This supple portrait of mothers and daughters, exploring the hangover of the patriarchal past in the shape of the famous poet who wrote about and abandoned them, may be her best book yet. Deborah Levy delves into the deepest patterns of family connection and self-invention in August Blue Hamish Hamilton , the riddling, elegant tale of a globe-trotting concert pianist whose subconscious is catching up with her. Justin Torres won the National Book award in the US for the dreamlike and innovative Blackouts Granta , which chops up historical texts and uses images and absence to construct a shadow history of queer desire and erasure. Two first novels drew on the crime genre: Kala by Colin Walsh Atlantic , a tale of bright-burning teenage friendship and slow-fade adult disappointment in a small Irish town, is a page-turner to rival Tana French. And No One Dies Yet by Kobby Ben Ben Europa places a trio of gay Americans looking for their ancestral roots in Ghana against a string of murders, for a playful and daringly executed expose of history, diaspora and the exploitation of African voices. It was a great year for historical novels of all stripes. This is a book joyously in love with language, in all its possibilities. Two energetic and hugely enjoyable books shook up the historical novel. Salman Rushdie spins a magical realist saga of medieval India in Victory City Cape , his first fiction to be published since the attack against him in An unmissable rediscovery from , Lord Jim at Home by Dinah Brooke Daunt , turns a cold eye on the family dysfunction of the English upper class. In the tale of six astronauts circling the Earth, Harvey beautifully evokes the wonder and fragility of our planet and its inhabitants.

And No One Dies Yet by Kobby Ben Ben Europa places a trio of gay Americans looking for their ancestral roots in Ghana against a string of murders, for a playful and daringly executed expose of history, diaspora and the exploitation of African voices. A Therapeutic Journey by Guardian book reviews 2023 de Botton, Hamish Hamilton The author and philosopher presents a guide to mental wellbeing informed by 15 years of involvement in the School of Life.

Set in revolutionary France, The Glutton Granta is inspired by contemporary reports of a peasant who would eat anything, from dead rats to forks; and explores poverty, desire and social chaos in thrilling prose. The Running Grave Little, Brown , the seventh Cormoran Strike novel by JK Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith, sets the continuing romantic tension between her detective duo against an investigation into a religious cult in Norfolk. And Anne Michaels, known for the multi-award-winning Fugitive Pieces, returns with Held Bloomsbury, Nov , which spans generations in the aftermath of the first world war. Uncovered Terry Pratchett A Stroke of the Pen Doubleday, Oct assembles early short stories by the late Discworld creator, written under a pseudonym for newspapers in the 70s and 80s and only discovered after superfans combed through the archives. Expect comic fantastical fragments riffing on everything from cave people to Father Christmas. The one to make you laugh In the funny and deeply relatable Weirdo Faber, Sept , standup Sara Pascoe brings her quirky observational comedy to the story of a young woman navigating the trials of life — love, money, purpose — while trying to seem normal. The queer history Drawing on documents and images from real-life pioneers, the hugely ambitious Blackouts by Justin Torres Granta, Nov is an intimate, playful account of an old and a young man talking; but it builds into a rich, poetic reclamation of cultural inheritance.

Set in revolutionary France, The Glutton Granta is inspired by contemporary reports of a peasant who would eat anything, from dead rats to forks; and explores poverty, desire and social chaos in thrilling prose. The Running Grave Little, Brown , the seventh Cormoran Strike novel by JK Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith, sets the continuing romantic tension between her detective duo against an investigation into a religious cult in Norfolk. And Anne Michaels, known for the multi-award-winning Fugitive Pieces, returns with Held Bloomsbury, Nov , which spans generations in the aftermath of the first world war. Uncovered Terry Pratchett A Stroke of the Pen Doubleday, Oct assembles early short stories by the late Discworld creator, written under a pseudonym for newspapers in the 70s and 80s and only discovered after superfans combed through the archives. Expect comic fantastical fragments riffing on everything from cave people to Father Christmas. The one to make you laugh In the funny and deeply relatable Weirdo Faber, Sept , standup Sara Pascoe brings her quirky observational comedy to the story of a young woman navigating the trials of life — love, money, purpose — while trying to seem normal. The queer history Drawing on documents and images from real-life pioneers, the hugely ambitious Blackouts by Justin Torres Granta, Nov is an intimate, playful account of an old and a young man talking; but it builds into a rich, poetic reclamation of cultural inheritance.

Guardian book reviews 2023

In Birnam Wood Granta , idealistic guerrilla gardeners in New Zealand run up against a ruthless billionaire. Zadie Smith also took on a new genre with her first historical novel, The Fraud Hamish Hamilton , which sets a gently comic portrait of 19th-century literary London, and a real-life trial which stirred up passionate emotions around class and identity, against harrowing testimony from a slave plantation. It expertly links Jamaican and British history, and offers a timely, quizzical reflection of our current age of globalisation and hypocrisy. This supple portrait of mothers and daughters, exploring the hangover of the patriarchal past in the shape of the famous poet who wrote about and abandoned them, may be her best book yet. Deborah Levy delves into the deepest patterns of family connection and self-invention in August Blue Hamish Hamilton , the riddling, elegant tale of a globe-trotting concert pianist whose subconscious is catching up with her. Justin Torres won the National Book award in the US for the dreamlike and innovative Blackouts Granta , which chops up historical texts and uses images and absence to construct a shadow history of queer desire and erasure. Two first novels drew on the crime genre: Kala by Colin Walsh Atlantic , a tale of bright-burning teenage friendship and slow-fade adult disappointment in a small Irish town, is a page-turner to rival Tana French. And No One Dies Yet by Kobby Ben Ben Europa places a trio of gay Americans looking for their ancestral roots in Ghana against a string of murders, for a playful and daringly executed expose of history, diaspora and the exploitation of African voices. It was a great year for historical novels of all stripes.

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Read all science fiction and fantasy. Explore more on these topics Books Autumn arts preview Fiction Crime fiction Science fiction books Poetry Children and teenagers reviews. Read all young adult books. Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan, Cape A tragedy on a 90s London estate becomes a tabloid scandal centred on an Irish immigrant family in the second novel from the author of Acts of Desperation. Explore more on these topics Best books of the year Best books of Fiction Best books reviews. In Tremor Faber, Oct , a west African professor working in the US considers the meaning of art and storytelling in the face of a brutal past and violent present. It also covers his short-lived medical career and time at the BBC. Man-Eating Typewriter by Richard Milward, White Rabbit The transgressive adventures of a psychopath in Swinging 60s London: this ingenious homage to the avant garde is told entirely in the gay slang Polari. Expect comic fantastical fragments riffing on everything from cave people to Father Christmas. A marvellous history of science vs creationism in Victorian Britain. What more reasonable way to investigate the weird misogyny of popular culture in the s than via case studies of famous women? The Shards Swift, January is a riotous tale of privilege and psychosis at a swanky prep school. It expertly links Jamaican and British history, and offers a timely, quizzical reflection of our current age of globalisation and hypocrisy. But the portrait also includes the people who helped keep the show on the road, from wives to jesters, slaves and soldiers, as well as the ordinary citizens who wrote in asking for help with their problems. This article is more than 6 months old.

Far be it from us to say you saw it here first. The class of includes a writer on an Emmy-winning Netflix show and a book publicist with a year career at the heart of the trade. From the turmoil of same-sex desire in Victorian England to the funny side of getting divorced in your 20s; from the trials of manhood in recession-hit Belfast to a genre-bending coming-of-age saga from Nigeria by way of Norwich: all are among the sundry riches to be found here.

Divisible by Itself and One by Kae Tempest, Picador Poems of gender, transformation and the body in a collection about authenticity and conformity. The debut Irish writer circles around twentysomethings with crap jobs, crap men and even worse housing work in this nicely observed collection. Tell us about your favourite books in the comments. Most viewed. Opinions is a new collection of the best of her nonfiction writing, all powered by a dry wit and penetrating insights into how society works, and who it works for. One worrying lesson is that, even today, we are not doing nearly as much as we should to increase our resilience against the awakening of large volcanoes. The Fraud by Zadie Smith, Hamish Hamilton An enslaved man becomes a star witness in the Tichborne trial, in a novel about deception and hypocrisy inspired by real events in Victorian London and Jamaica. Observer book of the week. Were the Norse myths inspired by the sun-blotting ash of a huge eruption? Now, with A Spell of Good Things Canongate, February , she has delivered a poised and luminous love story set against the backdrop of a violent contemporary Nigeria. Read all politics. There have been plenty of books written about Britney Spears, including Heart to Heart, which the singer co-wrote with her mother in Lastly, in the essay-length The Young Man Fitzcarraldo, Sept , translated by Alison L Strayer, the Nobel prize-winning French author Annie Ernaux recounts her affair with a student 30 years her junior when she was in her 50s.