What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in August
Writers and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments
April 2024
There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib review – hoop dreams and home truths
In this powerful, digressive book, the award-winning writer and poet considers basketball’s greats, the struggles of Black men and the ‘emotional politics of place’
December 2023
The Observer's obituaries of 2023
Benjamin Zephaniah remembered by Raymond Antrobus
15 April 1958 – 7 December 2023 The fellow poet recalls his hero, a writer of inspirational power and integrity who turned down an OBE but revelled in the love of his readers
December 2022
My new year resolution
‘I don’t like my relationship with my phone – and I want to change it’: the thing I’ll do differently in 2023
I’ve already disabled my Twitter account and want to learn to stop scrolling and be more present for my family
December 2021
A Christmas that changed me
Christmas with my grandmother was always special – comforting beyond words
We slept with Christmas stockings at the foot of our beds, before a feast the next day and the Queen’s speech. They were days both spiritual and homely
May 2021
Lockdown culture
Windows on the world: pandemic poems by Simon Armitage, Hollie McNish, Kae Tempest and more
Six of the UK’s best poets reveal exclusive new work and reflect on the last year, losing relatives, long-distance relationships and ‘artistic claustrophobia’
