Books
What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in May
Poet Dean Atta, writer and critic PD Smith and Guardian readers Jessica and Brenda discuss the titles they’ve read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments
Dean Atta, PD Smith and Guardian readers
24, May, 2022 @4:04 PM
Atwood responds to book bans with ‘unburnable’ edition of Handmaid’s Tale
Auction of fire-resistant edition comes ahead of an expected US supreme court ruling reversing the right to abortion
Martin Pengelly in New York
24, May, 2022 @2:52 PM
Fight Night by Miriam Toews review – a paean to the strength of women
The Canadian author once again mines her cultural background in a wonderfully drawn celebration of intergenerational bonding
Stephanie Merritt
24, May, 2022 @8:00 AM
Tenants by Vicky Spratt review – empty rooms and empty promises
This astute analysis examines the toxic lottery of Britain’s housing crisis and the devastating outcomes of having no fixed abode
Lynsey Hanley
24, May, 2022 @6:00 AM
‘I didn’t want to make public my suffering’: Janine Mikosza on reinventing the trauma memoir
Having lived in 14 houses before she was 18, Mikosza’s Homesickness is a dialogue between two versions of herself, as she interrogates her past – and tests her memory
Sophie Black
23, May, 2022 @5:30 PM
Poem of the week: 1963 by Meg Cox
A ‘youthful-memory’ poem from A Square of Sunlight, a debut collection from a poet who didn’t start writing until her 60s
Carol Rumens
23, May, 2022 @2:28 PM
The Con Artists by Luke Healy review – a beautifully observed masterpiece
It’s the little things that strike a chord in this funny, melancholy book about the curdling of a friendship between two single gay men
Rachel Cooke
23, May, 2022 @8:00 AM
Vladimir by Julia May Jonas review – slippery sexual politics
This intelligent and knowing debut about a female academic’s dangerous obsession with a younger professor is less risk-taking than it thinks it is
Miriam Balanescu
23, May, 2022 @6:00 AM
Controversies, epiphanies and the case against Canva: highlights from Sydney writers’ festival
Coinciding with the federal election, this year’s festival buzzed with big ideas about politics, hope and writing. Here are 10 things we learned
Steph Harmon, Rafqa Touma, Imogen Dewey and Michael Sun
23, May, 2022 @3:46 AM
Denis Meikle obituary
Other lives: Film historian and co-founder of Hemlock Books, specialising in film, horror, mystery and the macabre
Jasper Sharp
22, May, 2022 @4:42 PM
Why Conservatives have learned not to voice their opinions at literary festivals | Letters
Letters: David Shipley and Richard Free respond to Zoe Williams’ suggestion that all those who attend are leftwing remainers
Letters
22, May, 2022 @4:33 PM
In brief: Every Good Boy Does Fine; Islanders; Sentient – review
Pianist Jeremy Denk’s insightful memoir, tales of Guernsey life by Cathy Thomas and Jackie Higgins’s vivid exploration of the senses
Hannah Beckerman
22, May, 2022 @4:00 PM
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