Writers and critics on the best books of 2013

Hilary Mantel, Jonathan Franzen, Mohsin Hamid, Ruth Rendell, Tom Stoppard, Malcolm Gladwell, Eleanor Catton and many more recommend the books that impressed them this yearChimamanda Ngozi AdichieFive Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (Fourth Estate) is a brilliant, sprawling, layered and unsentimental portrayal of contemporary China. It made me think and laugh. I also love Dave Eggers' The Circle (Hamish Hamilton), which is a sharp-eyed and funny satire about the obsession with "sharing" our lives through technology. It's convincing and a little creepy.William BoydBy strange coincidence two of the most intriguing art books I read this year had the word "Breakfast" in their titles. They were Breakfast with Lucian by Geordie Greig (Jonathan Cape) and Breakfast at Sotheby's by Philip Hook (Particular). Greig's fascinating, intimate biography of Lucian Freud was a revelation. Every question I had about Freud – from the aesthetic to the intrusively gossipy – was answered with great candour and judiciousness. Hook's view of the art world is that of the professional auctioneer. In an A-Z format, it is an entire art education contained in under 350 pages. Wry, dry and completely beguiling.Bill BrysonThe Compatibility Gene by Daniel M Davis (Allen Lane) is an elegantly written, unexpectedly gripping account of how scientists painstakingly unravelled the way in which a small group of genes (known as MHC genes) crucially influence, and unexpectedly interconnect, various aspects of our... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2013-11-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Awards for women, writers of colour, small presses – why are there so many books prizes?

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[ The Guardian | 2018-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2018-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Offord Road Books seeks submissions from BAME writers

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The “How Does a Batman Comic Book Writer Work?” Transcript

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Len Wein, Influential Comic Book Writer, Dies at 69

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[ The New York Times | 2017-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Philip Pullman leads writers condemning 'pernicious' book discounts

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[ The Guardian | 2017-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Industry Notes: Canada’s Shifts in Ebook and Print; London Book Fair Plans a Writer’s Digest Day

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Michiko Kakutani Ends Her Reign as The New York Times’ Chief Book Critic

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[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At London Book Fair: Hay Festival Names ‘Århus 39’ Writers

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