Latest features and reviews

The Reading List

How dead authors’ characters became the hottest property in publishing

Author Nick Harkaway has revitalised his father John le Carré’s most famous character in a new novel – can he make it work? Katie Rosseinsky explores how literary legacies became big business in publishing

<p>‘I began to question the very essence of what I was doing and why I was doing it’: Al Pacino in 1974</p>

In Focus

How Al Pacino overcame addiction to become our greatest living actor

<p>The author poses for a photograph ahead of the Venice Literary Festival in 2015 </p>

Robert McCrum on Books

A letter to my friend Hanif Kureishi after his devastating accident

<p>John le Carré’s son Nick Harkaway will revive George Smiley in a new novel</p>

Interview

John le Carré’s son on resurrecting George Smiley after father’s death

writers on reading

Leave the World Behind author Rumaan Alam on his life in reading

<p>‘I’m not picking a fight with the plays themselves, but I am taking on the myth of a man who has been canonised into a religion’ </p>

interview

Was Shakespeare a woman? Novelist Jodi Picoult thinks so

<p>‘X is just videos of people being maimed or killed, and lies’ </p>

interview

Jon Ronson: ‘Elon Musk epitomises despicability’

<p>Ian Rankin is publishing his 25th book in his Inspector Rebus series, with the latest finding his Edinburgh policeman behind bars </p>

interview

Ian Rankin couldn’t escape Inspector Rebus – so he put him behind bars

<p>Infamous: 10 Rillington Place remains one of London’s most notorious addresses </p>

Interview

The dark history of 10 Rillington Place – and why it still disturbs us

<p>Rick Astley: ‘When people get a record deal, they should be given psychological help’ </p>

The Saturday Interview

Rick Astley: ‘I didn’t want fame. I wanted to not live with my dad’

<p>The admission of ‘goofs’ is about as near as Johnson gets to self-discovery </p>

Boris Johnson’s memoir Unleashed is twisted, sour and full of lies

<p>Irvine Welsh: ‘Things will continue to decline under Kamala Harris, but Trump could actually be the end of democracy in America’ </p>

interview

Irvine Welsh: ‘I dislike both US presidential candidates intensely’

Reviews

<p>Soulful: the new novel from Rooney deals with grief and age-gap relationships </p>

Sally Rooney ditches style that made her ‘voice of a generation’

<p>Tom Bower’s new book fails to shed much new light on the power couple </p>

Tom Bower’s Posh and Becks exposé won’t spice up your life

<p>Alba Arikha’s 2017 memoir, ‘Major/Minor’, was widely acclaimed</p>

Two Hours by Alba Arikha is a lesson in forging a life without regret

<p>Salman Rushdie pictured in 2023</p>

Salman Rushdie’s Knife is moving, sardonic and not for the squeamish

Lists

<p>Thriller: Meghann Fahy is part of ‘The Perfect Couple’s starry cast </p>

Love The Perfect Couple? These are the books and TV shows to try next

<p>With the rise of Instagram and BookTok, the importance of aesthetics in literature is on the rise </p>

Don’t judge a book by its cover: 15 of the most iconic book covers

<p>Fiction highlights for the year ahead including Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s ‘lost’ novel and new titles from Stephen King and Emily Henry </p>

The best fiction to read in 2024

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