What the Hellenic! Why is Christopher Nolan’s new Greek epic entirely devoid of Greeks?

Set to be this year’s biggest blockbuster, The Odyssey’s cast has been selected to ‘represent the world’. Fair enough – except that one key country seems to have gone completely unrepresented …

James Ellroy: ‘It’s satanic to me, the dependency people have on computers’

The outspoken crime novelist talks about his provocative new book, his hatred of technology and why the film adaptation of LA Confidential is a ‘turkey’

Ambivalence by Brian Dillon review – an odd man out

The critic’s memoir’s is a portrait in determination to go against the grain and ‘pursue a life in words and ideas’

Wimmy Road Boyz by Sufiyaan Salam review – an electric debut set on Manchester’s Curry Mile

Written in breathless multilingual prose, this coming-of-age meets state-of-the-nation novel is an incredible literary performance

Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day review – dreamy adaptation reaches for the stars

Woolf’s novel about a headstrong young Edwardian woman takes flight under Tina Gharavi’s direction, with Timothy Spall and Jennifer Saunders among the ensemble cast

What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in May

Madeleine Thien, Sufiyaan Salam and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments

‘All the girls were in there for shit that is pretty normal’: the show reinventing Girl, Interrupted for a new generation

Susanna Kaysen’s cult memoir sparked a wave of novels about young women in crisis. After 10 years in the making, Juliana Canfield and King Princess bring it to the stage

My Only Boy by Rosa Rankin-Gee review – a darkly funny near-future dystopia

A surprising romance is set against a backdrop of climate crisis, political instability and corporate corruption in this bleak but witty novel

Tonight the Music Seems So Loud by Sathnam Sanghera review – a heartbreaking portrait of George Michael

This affecting exploration of the troubled genius’s impact is packed with anecdote, sharp analysis and social context

I devoured classic novels as a teenager. In a world of distractions, can I relearn how to read them?

In less than a decade, surrounded by screens, I lost my ability to read some of the best books ever written. But, inspired by the Guardian’s 100 best novels list, I was determined to get it back

Fuck the Polis review – cryptic docu-essay is a sphinxlike study of Greek myth and modernity

This film may be making a point about the classical vis a vis the contemporary, but its visual collages and dense poetic texts render it inert

The Common Good Economy by Mariana Mazzucato review – how can Labour really turn things around?

It’s not enough to wish for growth; economic success requires a sense of purpose, according to this academic

Land by Maggie O’Farrell review – an ambitious story of mapmaking in Ireland

Set in the aftermath of the famine, the Hamnet author’s family saga folds in myth and folklore

AI is devoid of meaning and humanity. That’s why its vapid voice suits this political moment

For ease and speed, we are degrading our ability to connect and to organise our societies. We must assert our trust in humans over machines, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

‘Nothing is too much for a child’: the Norwegian books for kids tackling taboo topics from IVF to incest

In the Nordic country, books covering subjects such as childbirth and sex have become bestsellers among younger readers – and an export hit. Behind their success lies a unique philosophy of childhood learning