Happy Super Thursday! It’s a big day in British publishing, with 505 new books released today.
Help is at hand to decide which of them are worth your time — from the Guardian, iNews, and Wordery, among others.
Some of those new books include The Book of Forgotten Authors by Christopher Fowler, the third volume of Very British Problems by Rob Temple, English by Ben Fogle, and Viv Groskopf’s The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature.
To make your Super Thursday even more super, the Brit Lit Podcast launched its first full episode today with an interview of Jennifer Ryan, author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir.
And if all of that wasn’t enough, it’s also Nobel Prize announcement day, and the internet is almost unanimous in its joy over the choice of Kazuo Ishiguro as laureate.
British GQ has recommendations for the best books to read this Black History Month.
The Pool reflects on a poem about working out what we want from life.
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators has announced the winner of their first BAME scholarship.
Bookshops are getting ready for Bookshop Day this Saturday.
Podcasts
On A Good Read, Toby Young and Sarah Vine plug their favourite books with Harriet Gilbert.
Sam Leith talks to Simon Heffer, author of The Age of Decadence: Britain 1880 to 1914, on Spectator Books.
Matt Lucas joins Josie and Robin on Book Shambles to tdiscuss his alphabetical autobiography, Little Me.
On the BBC’s Arts and Ideas, Alan Hollinghurst talks to Anne McElvoy and a Proms Extra audience about his new novel, The Sparsholt Affair, which the Guardian also reviews today.
Over in the US, the Professional Book Nerds dedicate an entire podcast episode to the release of the illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
On the TLS podcast, Leslie Jamison discusses competing impulses in the writer-convict-reder relationship, and Paul Chambers talks about his translation of Lorca’s poetry.
Front Row explores Jenny Uglow’s new biography, Mr Lear: A Life of Art and Nonsense.
