C Pam Zhang: ‘I was aware of the drift towards fascism in Europe’
The Chinese-born, US-based author, whose debut was longlisted for the 2020 Booker, on pursuing pleasure in a volatile world, her taste for chip butties and the joys of being a naive reader
‘People say my book gave them a panic attack’: When We Cease to Understand the World author Benjamín Labatut
His page-turning books about quantum physics and game theory have given the Chilean writer a cult following – and won him famous fans from Stephen Fry to Björk and Barack Obama
No Small Thing by Orlaine McDonald review – a true-to-life tale
This refreshingly honest debut explores a south London family shaped by the pain of emotional neglect
The Czech writer didn’t only leave us The Unbearable Lightness of Being, he wrote a series of playful, philosophical books examining relationships, sex and mortality
Thrillers of the month
Crime and thrillers of the month – review
A luminous tale of abducted teens, a page-turning marriage to a mass murderer – and a deadly gameshow
Book of the day
Kafka: Selected Stories, edited by Mark Harman review – the master who never wasted a word
A Franz Kafka scholar’s perceptive annotation and translation highlights every subtle shade of humour and brilliant aphorism in these singular tales
I Will Crash by Rebecca Watson – family dynamics poisonously awry
A bullying brother’s death is the spur for an extraordinary and chilling portrait of sibling enmity in the second novel by the author of little scratch
