A novel of ideas with a difference: it is nothing but ideas. Framed around the narrator's long walks in East Anglia, Sebald shows how one man looks aslant at historical atrocity. Formally dexterous, fearlessly written (why shouldn't an essay be a novel?), and unremittingly arcane; by the end I was in tears

A great, strange and moving work

The finest book of long-distance mental travel that I've ever read

A desperate intensity of feeling is thrillingly counterpoised by the workings of a wonderfully learned and rigorous mind

Sebald is surely a major European author...he reaches the heights of epiphanic beauty only encountered normally in the likes of Proust

A highly original work...part memoir, part fiction, part meditative essay writing, and finally an essay for the dispossessed

Sebald's exquisitely written philosophical tramp around East Anglia has you asking questions about truth, art and history at every turn of his mysterious path. What's never in doubt is the strength of Sebald's vision or the beauty of his prose

Merges history, geography, memory and philosophy to create something more mood than story – nostalgic, melancholy and wondrous

This spellbinding book changed for ever my idea of what a memoir could be

Sebald is the Joyce of the 21st Century

Most writers, even good ones, write of what can be written. . . . The very greatest write of what cannot be written. . . . I think of Akhmatova and Primo Levi, for example, and of W. G. Sebald

In sparse but elegant prose Jenkins not only nails the must-see elements of these great religious treasure houses, he paints a historical and political backdrop against which they stand highlighted at the heart of our common cultural heritage

For all the magnificent illustrations in this book, the text remains its essential heart, at once on account of Simon Jenkins's crisp summaries of architectural history, and of his infectious enthusiasm for both splendour and detail

This is a cracker . . . a beautiful book

However spectacular the book's photographs, it's the author's prowess as a phrase-maker that keeps you turning the pages

An uplifting exploration of our social history

Fry takes us from the founding myth of Troy, through its most famous inhabitants and the infamous war, to the razing of the city by the vengeful and victorious Achaeans

Higgins’ darting, spooling path connects myth with faith, art with literature, landscape with architecture, anecdote with interpretation… its images and schematic diagrams of labyrinths adding a visual dimension to a book already rich in thought and observation.

Richly erudite and compellingly personal.

A rich cultural history of mazes and labyrinths… Beautifully designed and precisely structured, it’s also a personal book about childhood memories, dreams and feeling at times lost in life.

[An] immersive, unusual love tale

Stokes-Chapman can write fascinating, three-dimensional characters... Meanwhile, extensive research brings the period so much to life you can taste it... full of buried family histories and fantastical archaeological theories, Pandora is a readable, solid debut

Whether the discussion is about artificial intelligence, the future capacities of knowledge, politics, philosophy, intuition, history (philosopher Thomas Metzinger shares experiences from post–World War II Germany that are hard to look away from), religion, reason, or the nature of consciousness, Harris grounds lofty discussions with concrete examples and his gift for analogy . . . free and open debate, in the best sense of the word . . . the book’s advantage over the podcast is that readers can linger as they need to and cherry-pick interviews at will. Recommended for anyone who wants to spend time with intelligent minds wrestling not with each other but with understanding.

One of the most eloquent and inspiring memoirs of recent years... A Dutiful Boy is real-life storytelling at its finest

Mohsin Zaidi...in a compassionate, compelling and humorous way, tells his story of seeking acceptance within the gay community, and within the Muslim community in which he grew up

A powerful portrayal of being able to live authentically despite all the odds

Zaidi's affecting memoir recounts his journey growing up in east London in a devout Muslim household. He has a secret, one he cannot share with anyone - he is gay. When he moves away to study at Oxford he finds, for the first time, the possibility of living his life authentically. The dissonance this causes in him - of finding a way to accept himself while knowing his family will not do the same - is so sensitively depicted. One of the most moving chapters includes him coming home to a witch doctor, who his family has summoned to "cure" him. This is an incredibly important read, full of hope.

A beautifully written book, a lovely story, life-affirming

Zaidi's account is raw, honest and at times quite painful to read. It's so vivid that it feels almost tangible, as though you're living the experiences of the author himself.

This heartfelt and honest book is beautifully written and full of hope