The journalist and memoirist on learning from Natalia Ginzburg, the genius of Geoff Dyer’s comedy, and why James Salter is overrated
August 2015
Books blog
Tips, links and suggestions: what are you reading this week?
Your space to discuss the books you are reading and what you think of them – plus our favourite literary links
July 2015
The 10 best ...
The 10 best… spinsters
From Elizabeth I to Eleanor Rigby, we cast aside Jane Austen’s universal truth to pick our favourite single women
March 2014
The 100 best novels
The 100 best novels: No 28 – New Grub Street by George Gissing (1891)
George Gissing's portrayal of the hard facts of a literary life remains as relevant today as it was in the late 19th century, writes Robert McCrum
October 2013
On the shelf: Bridget Jones and other literary singletons
Bridget Jones is back – as a widow. Why in fiction is it still a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman must be in want of a husband, asks Rachel Cooke
September 2012
Books blog
Reader reviews roundup
This week: George Gissing, Sebastian Faulks and the short stories of Frank O'Connor
June 2012
10 of the best
John Mullan's 10 of the best: conflagrations
From Dryden to Peter Carey, there's no smoke without fire
September 2011
The Heroic Life of George Gissing, Part I: 1857-1886 by Pierre Coustillas – review
The reputation of George Gissing as a great Victorian novelist seemed dead and buried. Enter a champion, with a vigorous new life, writes Anthony Quinn
March 2011
Age of Arousal – review
An adaptation of George Gissing's The Odd Women is helped over some false steps by a terrific cast, writes Veronica Lee
February 2011
Age of Arousal – review
Canadian playwright Linda Griffiths doesn't so much adapt George Gissing's The Odd Women as explode it, writes Mark Fisher
May 2009
Sue Arnold's audiobook choice
A grubby business
Audiobook review: New Grub Street by George Gissin It may put you off wanting to write anything longer than a shopping list, says Sue Arnold
February 2008
Enemy within
Bitter, frail, self-destructive ... DJ Taylor is drawn to Paul Delany's biography of George Gissing
March 2007
Rereading
The good women
Rereading: Married first to a teenage prostitute, then to a violent alcoholic, George Gissing was unlucky in love. But he was still able to create some of the best female characters in Victorian fiction, argues James Campbell.
December 2003
Welcome to the club
DJ Taylor
DJ Taylor: As the Books of the Year lists roll in, spare a thought for George Gissing and the fate of the unknown writer.
