John Lanchester: ‘My mother was a born storyteller. It is often a form of misdirection’
Like much of his oeuvre, Look What You Made Me Do is mordantly funny. But, as the writer himself says, things can be funny and serious at the same time
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan: Futuristic cli-fi that marvels at people of today ‘flying 2,000 miles for a one-week holiday’
Earth’s population has been halved, with warlords controlling what’s left of North America, and Nigeria as the world’s leading superpower
Sebastian Faulks: ‘I’m a very facetious guy in real life’
The ‘reluctant memoirist’ discusses the influence of music on his writing, bizarre boarding-school days and humans’ ‘strange mental instability’
We Used to Dance Here by Dave Tynan: Tales of Dublin’s stagnating generation
Many of Tynan’s stories eschew a traditional narrative arc, suggesting that for this generation, there is no happy ending
Writer Orlaine McDonald: ‘I felt a strong need to transcend that little working-class girl who had got herself up the duff’
The No Small Thing author on losing her Irish mum, diversity in fiction and teenage motherhood
How to End a Story: Collected Diaries by Helen Garner review – ‘small, random stabs of extreme interestingness’ captured on the page
Published entries written as a series of fragments, chosen for ‘muscle’ and lightly edited
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood: ‘Bone-bare’ prose offers the space to dwell in questions
The simplicity of the sentences in the Booker shortlisted novel brings to mind an unpolished stone
Playground by Richard Powers: Fails to plumb the depths
As AI expands exponentially and ocean temperatures rise, the themes of this novel are timely
Pat Barker: ‘I don’t think revenge is entirely pointless. But it’s certainly cyclical’
The author on her latest Iliad-inspired work, The Voyage Home; how not knowing her father’s identity has driven her work; and the strange business of film adaptations
Rebecca Watson: ‘There’s a simpler way to tell the story. But it would feel less honest to me’
The author’s new book continues to play with layout to convey consciousness but spans a longer stretch of time than her debut
Long Island by Colm Tóibín: Brooklyn sequel brings Eilis back to Enniscorthy
Novel picks up the story 20 years later, with a stranger delivering some surprising news
Choice by Neel Mukherjee: Novel of important themes hampered by didactic tone
Three socially conscious and moral storylines are interwoven with mixed results in Choice by Neel Mukherjee
James by Percival Everett: Reimagining Huck Finn
There is humour and humanity in this recasting of Mark Twain’s flawed classic
Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson: one long sermon
This dense read feels a bit like sitting on a hard wood pew in itchy Sunday best
Armistead Maupin: ‘I was woke before it had a name, and I resent the use of that term to denigrate anybody with a conscience’
The author on his latest Mona book - the final instalment he promises, once again - remembering the Aids crisis and why he no longer talks to his brother