Rachel Cusk’s singular novel stands out on wide-ranging Booker longlist
Second Place is both timeless and up-to-the minute, with big names Richard Powers and Kazuo Ishiguro among strong international finalists
Borges and Me: An Encounter by Jay Parini review – a bumpy literary road trip
Parini’s ‘novelised memoir’ draws on memories of a real-life meeting with Jorge Luis Borges, but can’t quite live up to the inspiration of the Argentine titan
Booker prize reveals globe-spanning longlist of ‘engrossing stories’
Kazuo Ishiguro makes cut alongside Rachel Cusk and Richard Powers, and novels from Sri Lanka and South Africa compete with choices from the US and UK
Isla Dewar obituary
Novelist who brought out the humour in the everyday triumphs and failures of her heroines
The Echo Chamber by John Boyne review – Hogarthian remorselessness
Boyne taps into the spirit of late-period Tom Sharpe in a relentless satire of social media centred around a chatshow host
In briefs: Homeland Elegies; What You Can See from Here; The Accidental Footballer – review
A twisty tale of Trump’s America, a charmingly strange bestseller, and a surprising sports memoir
Paul by Daisy Lafarge review – a woman at a loss for words
A British volunteer on a farm in France is ensnared by a middle-aged man in this elegant if familiar tale of female passivity
Moth by Melody Razak review – the end of innocence in India
This atmospheric debut follows a family of Delhi Brahmins as they plan their daughter’s wedding against the backdrop of partition
David Thewlis: ‘It does get to you, spending more waking hours as a character than oneself’
The actor on his new novel about an irascible director, his faux-feud with Christopher Eccleston and his ‘secret’ marriage
Leïla Slimani: ‘I think I’m always writing about women, domination, violence’
The French-Moroccan author on why she writes, the complexity of identity, and the first book of a trilogy based on her family history
Jonathan Coe on The Rotters’ Club: ‘My diary provided endless material, but I didn’t like the person I was’
The author on mixing semi-fact with fiction – and the school rule about swimming naked that inspired the novel’s big comedy set piece
Jean Hanff Korelitz: ‘I wanted to be a literary novelist. But I realised that I liked plot’
The author of the book behind TV smash The Undoing talks about her new novel The Plot, a thriller about plagiarism – and how she fell for Hugh Grant
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
Widespread Panic by James Ellroy; People Like Them by Samira Sedira; Razorblade Tears by SA Cosby; The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell; and Whitethroat by James Henry
Michael Lewis: ‘I didn’t believe in ghosts until I read Neil Gaiman’
The author on his envy of Philip Pullman’s world, imitating Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and struggling with Don Quixote
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith review – hunting for ghosts
A marvellous, confounding debut that moves from eerie Vietnamese forests to rundown zoos and crowded nightclubs