‘Look how well-read I am!’ How ‘books by the metre’ add the final touch to your home – or your image

It’s never been easier to build an impressive-looking library, especially if you’re mostly interested in the colour and size of your books. Is this necessarily a bad thing?

‘Women have more power than they think’: self-help superstar Mel Robbins on success, survival and silencing her critics

The lawyer turned motivational speaker fills arenas with her promise that you can always turn things around – even if her ideas aren’t exactly new. What is it about her that makes people listen?

Readers reply: Why can some people solve anagrams immediately?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

Walkouts, feuds and broken friendships: when book clubs go bad

While most book clubs go off without an issue, when they do turn sour the fallout can be significant. So why do some go wrong – and what can be done to prevent it?

Choose comfort, ditch boring and prioritise pleasure – how to find the perfect beach read

It’s easy to dismiss holiday novels as pulpy, but relaxing with a book you enjoy has huge health benefits. Here’s how to read yourself happy this summer

Is it OK to read Infinite Jest in public? Why the internet hates ‘performative reading’

Posts mocking strangers for cracking open classics have become popular. So where are we supposed to read them?

I’d lost my childhood love of reading – but rediscovered it when I set aside my iPhone

You can keep your ebooks. There is no better way to engage with words than through a paperback

‘We think Princess Pearl is a feminist icon’: readers’ favourite Julia Donaldson books

Characters who challenge stereotypes, stories that stimulate little ones’ vocabulary, endless laughter … and moments guaranteed to make any dad cry. Here are your takes on the work of a beloved children’s author

‘Youths everywhere were spitting over tinny beats playing off a Nokia’: great grime photographer Simon Wheatley

He was young and broke when he became grime’s first documentarian. Then his book Don’t Call Me Urban captured the energy of the grittier first wave – and an expanded edition is finally here

‘No one is immune to grief’: the team turning A Single Man into a sexy, grimy, heartbreaking ballet

Musician John Grant was blown away by Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel, finding deep resonances in its tale of gay love and loss. Now, he’s put songs to choreographer Jonathan Watkins’s new dance adaptation

How to become a birder: 10 easy ways to start this life-changing hobby

In a world of stress and social media, birding offers something completely different. And it is now easier than ever to get to know your chaffinch from your chiffchaff

Kathy Lette looks back: ‘Older women are invisible, so I make sure to do something outrageous every day’

The author on her love for Spike Milligan, the furore over Puberty Blues, and why being middle-aged is great

Tell us: what poem would you choose to read at a wedding?

We would like to hear what poem you would read - or have read – at a wedding and why

Experience: I live as William Morris for three months a year

It’s made me feel it’s OK to be an artist with a social purpose, though my wife hates the beard

‘It’s so boring’: gen Z parents don’t like reading to their kids – and educators are worried

Screen time has increasingly replaced story time, and experts warn this could lead to children falling behind