john-self

The Scent of Flowers at Night by Leïla Slimani review – a writer’s lot

The French-Moroccan author’s slightly precious meditation on literary creation is strongest when examining its limitations and reflecting on her own childhood

John Self

28, May, 2023 @8:00 AM

The 2023 International Booker prize shortlist – review

A cautionary Bulgarian tale of nostalgia, an anarchic story set in South Korea and two novels exploring motherhood are among this year’s contenders

John Self

22, May, 2023 @8:00 AM

‘Money is his best novel – it’s not even close’: the cream of Martin Amis’s writing

His essays captured entire countries. His reviews outlived the books they were about. And his novels were as compelling as they were comic. Here are five indispensable Amis titles

John Self

21, May, 2023 @4:24 PM

Martin Amis: he stamped his style over a generation of writers and readers

Starting with 1984’s Money, the novelist’s run of exceptional 80s and 90s novels had an unforgettable swagger and clout

John Self

20, May, 2023 @7:01 PM

No Love Lost: The Selected Novellas of Rachel Ingalls review – short, strange, superb

The author of Mrs Caliban is revealed as a mistress of macabre and mysterious short fiction in this addictive new collection

John Self

23, Apr, 2023 @12:00 PM

The best recent translated fiction – review roundup

Whale by Cheon Myeong-Kwan; The Short End of the Sonnenallee by Thomas Brussig; Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia; Ada’s Realm by Sharon Dodua Otoo

John Self

21, Apr, 2023 @11:00 AM

Siblings by Brigitte Reimann review – a family split in a divided Germany

This vivid autobiographical novel – now published in English for the first time – offers an intriguing insight into East Germany in the early 60s

John Self

19, Feb, 2023 @11:00 AM

Last House Before the Mountain by Monika Helfer review – as tumultuous as the family it depicts

The first world war’s impact on an Austrian clan is a charmingly told, chaotic story rooted in the author’s own history

John Self

12, Feb, 2023 @1:00 PM

Kevin Jared Hosein: ‘The 1940s in Trinidad was like the wild west’

The teacher and writer on a golden age for Caribbean writers, editing in bed, and his encounter with VS Naipaul

John Self

04, Feb, 2023 @6:00 PM

What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in January

Critics and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments

Saba Sams, John Self and Guardian readers

01, Feb, 2023 @12:19 PM

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes review – a deep dive into sea and space

Travelling from the ocean’s depths to the edge of the solar system, this subtle novel uses the tropes of sci-fi to remind us that there’s no place like our home planet

John Self

22, Jan, 2023 @10:00 AM