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Books

Literary magazines Granta, Gutter and The White Review (Picture: supplied)
The book of books
Shelf Space looks at the current crop of literary magazines to help you with your holiday reads…
David Peace's epic study of Liverpool legend Bill Shankly is a joy to read (Picture: www.iandodds.co.uk)
Frankly about Mr Shankly
After unpicking Brian Clough’s tenure at Leeds Utd, David Peace makes an epic study of a Liverpool legend…
Mr Lynch's Holiday author Catherine O'Flynn (Picture: supplied)
On my e-reader: Catherine O’Flynn
Author Catherine O’Flynn reveals what’s on her e-reader, including the ‘hard-boiled noir’ of Megan Abbott and the funniest story she’s ever read…
JK Rowling
JK accepts donation after pseudonym leak
JK Rowling has received a substantial payout from a law firm who revealed she was writing under a pseudonym…
Colette McBeth's debut novel, Precious Thing is about a female friendship that turns to obsession (Picture: supplied)
Colette McBeth's write of passage
The former BBC reporter, 38, has published her first novel, Precious Thing, a thriller inspired by a previous job in Ibiza.…
Rutu Modan based the characters in her book The Porperty on her family (Picture: Ephrat Beloosesky)
Rutu Modan keeps it in the family
The Israeli artist talks frankly about the characters behind her latest comic book, The Property…
Food
Budding culinary writer 2 Chainz ([picture: Getty)
Hot 'n' fresh out the kitchen: the best hip hop cookbooks.
Hot ‘n’ fresh out the kitchen: With 2 Chainz bringing out a range of recipes, here are the best other Hip Hop cookbooks…
Man Booker longlist gets royal baby twist
Jim Crace, Jhumpa Lahiri and Tash Aw are among the authors to have made the 13-strong Man Booker Prize longlist.…
Baking at midnight does not prove your love, says Daisy Waugh (Picture: Pelle Crepin)
Daisy Waugh: Being a mum is difficult
Author Daisy Waugh’s latest book, I Don’t Know Why She Bothers, looks at what’s wrong with modern motherhood…
Life & Style
Rowling 'angry' at law firm over pseudonym leak
Harry Potter author J.K Rowling has revealed her anger with the law firm who leaked the pseudonym under which she penned her recent crime novel…
Food
Matt Tebbutt’s Guilty Pleasures cookbook uses ingredients such as Marmite, peanut butter and vodka (Picture: Chris Terry 2013)
Matt Tebbutt’s Guilty Pleasures cookbook is nothing to feel guilty about
Matt Tebbutt’s new book pivots on a neat idea: using those ingredients that don’t get much of a look-in in standard recipes, such as ketchup…
Author Owen Sheers's verse drama Pink Mist is inspired by war (Picture: Alamy)
A drama out of a crisis
Poet and author Owen Sheers talks Pink Mist, his verse drama inspired by war, and Calon, his book about Welsh rugby…
We may all live in changing times, but we still love our nursery rhymes
In a poll of parents published last week, Old MacDonald Had A Farm was named as Britain’s favourite nursery rhyme. But how important are nursery…
JK Rowling
JK Rowling secret crime novel sales rocket
JK Rowling's crime novel debut has gone on to top sales charts after it emerged that she had written it under a false name to…
JK Rowling
JK Rowling writes crime novel under fake name
JK Rowling has admitted secretly writing a crime novel using a fake name…
The Fun Parts, Russian Stories and The Pre-War House (Picture: supplied)
The Fun Parts, Russian Stories and The Pre-War House
Reviews of short stories including the funny and merciless Sam Lipsyte in The Fun Parts and 21 playful tales by five imaginary authors in Russian…
Philipp Meyer's new book follows the fortunes of Texan family the McCulloughs from 1849 to the present (Picture: Ian Dodds)
Live the American scream
Philipp Meyer’s ‘trilogy’ pursues one family through three troubling eras of US history…
Author Kerry Hudson reveals what is on her e-reader (Picture: Nick Tucker/Observer)
On my e-reader with Kerry Hudson
The author reveals the contents of her e-reader and looks forward to the nuanced tales by Leonard Cohen in Beautiful Losers…
Author Adele Parks' new book, The State We're In, is out now (Picture: Rex)
Author Adele Parks: A woman's woman
Parks has written 13 novels. Her latest, The State We’re In, is about two strangers who meet while travelling.…
Life & Style
'I haven’t really done anything wrong to learn from,' says Katie Price (Picture: Andy Neil)
Katie Price: My appeal is I’m honest
The former glamour model talks to Andrew Williams about business, babies and, erm, stress boobs
James Kelman finds inspiration from Descartes (Picture: Steve Black/Rex Features)
Author James Kelman: Tillie Olsen is a hero
The author of Mo Said She Was Quirky tells us what he’s reading at the moment…
The perils of the internet age are at the heart of Kiss Me First (Picture: www.iandodds.co.uk)
Logging out of life via the net
Lottie Moggach’s debut novel explores the pitfalls of living our lives and communicating through the internet…
Sit back and let your mind wander with one of these travel tomes (Picture: supplied)
Shelf space: travel books to try
A British expatriate living in Italy, Tim Parks has mined a rich sub-genre of books on his adopted country, exploring its language (An Italian Education…
Food
Ghillie James has left no grain unturned in her new cookbook (Picture: Jonathan Gregson)
From couscous to quinoa in Ghillie James's Amazing Grains
An entire book about grains? Sounds a bit ... wholesome…
UK
Ros Barber's The Marlowe Papers wins Desmond Elliott Prize for Debut Fiction
Rhyming whodunnit hits the right note with judges
For one our greatest literary figures, no end could be worse. But Christopher Marlowe's violent death is a prize novel – set to verse. Ros…
A universe of big ideas
Shelf space: Eurocrime novels to try
What is Jason Webster reading?
Master of the mysterious
What are Nicci French reading?
Shelf Space: Sport books to try