Bookmarks
... we have a small favour to ask. For more than 200 years, we’ve been delivering fearless, independent journalism for millions of readers around the world. As a reader-funded organisation, we rely on your generosity to keep our quality reporting open and free for everyone, including newsletters like this one. If you can, please support us today from just £1. Thank you.
Editor's picks
‘Torture porn or serious literature?’
The love-hate phenomenon of cult novel A Little Life
The love-hate phenomenon of cult novel A Little Life
‘Celebrity is religion’
How Andy Warhol kickstarted our obsession with superstars
How Andy Warhol kickstarted our obsession with superstars
The books of my life
Charlotte Mendelson: ‘Susan Cain’s Quiet made me realise I’m a noisy introvert’
Charlotte Mendelson: ‘Susan Cain’s Quiet made me realise I’m a noisy introvert’
Audiobook of the week
A Private Spy review – the letters of John le Carré
A Private Spy review – the letters of John le Carré
‘We’re book nerds’
The female friends opening bookshops together
The female friends opening bookshops together
Top 10s
The best retold fairytales
The best retold fairytales
Books of the week
Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin review – from Vietnam to London
Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin review – from Vietnam to London
This powerful debut, longlisted for the Women’s prize, is a heartfelt portrayal of the Vietnamese refugee experience and the tolls of assimilation
Who Gets Believed? by Dina Nayeri review – the Kafkaesque ordeal faced by refugees
The author uses her first-hand experience of migration to examine the flaws and hypocrisies of the asylum system
Cuddy by Benjamin Myers review – a visionary history
An Anglo-Saxon saint speaks down the centuries in a sensational piece of storytelling about Britain’s past and present
The Patriarchs by Angela Saini review – the roots of male domination
A scientific and historical survey of patriarchy shows that there’s nothing inevitable about it
Paradise Now: The Extraordinary Life of Karl Lagerfeld by William Middleton review – planet fashion’s caped crusader
With his dinner parties for 900 and weakness for Coca-Cola in Lalique goblets, the designer was a great eccentric whose sense of absurdity is largely absent from this thorough profile
Spotlight
It would be fun to talk to Simone de Beauvoir
Margaret Atwood
It would be fun to talk to Simone de Beauvoir
The author on being banned in Virginia, communicating with dead writers and her new short story collection, the first since the death of her partner
Talking points and news
Hay festival to hold inaugural Eurovision book contest
Hay festival to hold inaugural Eurovision book contest
Submissions will be made by the public as books festival parters with famed music event for a literary showdown
Waterstones says ‘no truth’ in claims it refuses to sell books on gender and feminism
The retailer had been trending on social media after accusations it did not stock works by Hannah Barnes and Victoria Smith
Baillie Gifford prize: six books shortlisted for ‘winner of winners’ award
Finalists for honour spotlighting the best of the non-fiction prize’s 25-year history include studies of the Beatles, Shakespeare and the Treaty of Versailles
Maggie O’Farrell and NoViolet Bulawayo make Women’s prize for fiction longlist
Nine debut novels are among the 16 books up for the 2023 award, alongside novels by Natalie Haynes, Sophie Mackintosh and Barbara Kingsolver
From the archive
Bookselling is the most over-romanticised job in the world
Bookselling is the most over-romanticised job in the world
This Bookshop Day, think of the booksellers who are dealing with bodily fluids, insufferable know-it-alls and shoplifters – and doing it all for the joy of reading
In conversation with Patrick Radden Keefe
Tuesday 14 March, 8pm–9pm GMT
The ground-breaking journalist will talk about his investigations, from the infamous Sackler scandal to the grandma mastermind behind a human-smuggling ring in Manhattan's Chinatown.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com
Awards seasons - and particularly Oscar night itself - are when our film coverage goes into overdrive. This is when the arts world achieves some of the competitive tension and suspense of high-level sports. A world of winners, losers and near-misses.

As writers and editors, we have to be there in the thick of things. Sometimes in the past I have gone into the office to do an all-night session with the rest of the team, and we have resembled the Houston control staff, tensely working at our desks trying to successfully land Apollo 11.

This is just one facet of our arts coverage though; we believe the arts and culture matter hugely, and make a point of devoting significant time and resources to this side of our journalism. If you agree with us, we hope you’ll consider funding our reporting today, from just £2 per month.

Thank you, it makes a big difference.
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian film critic
You are receiving this email because you are a subscriber to Bookmarks. Guardian News & Media Limited - a member of Guardian Media Group PLC. Registered Office: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU. Registered in England No. 908396