The Slap, a novel that is bringing out the worst in the middle class
Will Skidelsky: More than any recent work of fiction, The Slap is a novel about the failings of middle-class life, particularly liberalism
DBC Pierre: ‘I’m not a satirist. Reality has surpassed satire’
DBC Pierre tells Sean O'Hagan how we are all in danger of following in the 'dangerously blurred' footsteps of his youth
The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
Howard Jacobson achieves universal resonance in a dazzling novel about British Jews clashing over Zionism, writes Edward Docx
The lying art of historical fiction
James Forrester: Judging historical fiction is not as simple as 'accurate equals good' and 'inaccurate equals bad'. It depends on whether the inaccuracies are constructive lies or accidental mistakes
Put the bookies’ Booker choices to the test
David Mitchell and Tom McCarthy are leading the betting, but read our extracts and tell us who you fancy for the Booker prize
Is the Booker a barometer of the best literature?
The debate: Novelist Patrick Neate and the Observer's associate editor Robert McCrum debate the merits of the Booker longlist, announced last week
In praise of … the Man Booker prize
The Booker gets us all talking about books, in a way that nothing else can match
The Booker prize longlist: your verdict?
We're unexpectedly heartened by a Man Booker prize longlist that includes many Guardian books desk favourites. But what do you think?
Guardian book club: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Some readers found David Mitchell's Booker-nominated metafictional fooling to be gimmicky, but I loved the fun cliffhangers. What did you think?
Simon Hoggart’s week: The tragic death of great novelist JG Farrell
Simon Hoggart: I'm over the moon that the writer, who died in 1979 drowning at the age of 44, won the 'lost' Brooker prize this month for his novel Troubles
Lost and found: why JG Farrell’s Troubles deserved its belated Booker win hands-down
Sam Jordison: It may be four decades overdue, but at least JG Farrell's Lost Booker triumph will bring his work of genius to the wider audience it deserves
Found: JG Farrell a worthy winner for the Lost Booker
Troubles, the first book in Liverpool-born author's Empire trilogy, triumphs in readers' vote
So what if Egypt’s Copts find a book insulting?
Khaled Diab: Following the lead of Islamists, Egyptian Christians are trying to ban an award-winning novel because it 'insults' Christianity
Nicola Barker: ‘My novel would have been a catastrophic choice for the Booker’
The author on her new novel, why she is a boring letter writer and why she loves England more when she is not there
Martin Amis: saviour of modern literature?
Jonathan Jones: Detractors of the controversial author won't find much in The Pregnant Widow to change their minds. But this clever novel deserves a Booker prize