Authors, critics and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments

The lives of female authors provide inspiration for a woman who finds herself starting over after divorce

Her uplifting and melancholy masterpieces include Middlemarch – but you can enjoy funny, wise stories that are less than 800 pages long too

Dangerously handsome young men carelessly ruining women’s lives are a rarer breed than they were. But their hatefulness still makes compelling reading

The novelist on taking lessons from Doris Lessing, being inspired by John Steinbeck and why she can no longer read JD Salinger

Heartbreak is the ailment, could culture be the cure? Our critics’ suggestions to help ease your pain – or channel your angst

From Tom Wolfe’s ‘master of the universe’ to George Eliot’s vengeful pedant, these are some of the hardest characters in literature to love

Publishers report that coronavirus has boosted sales of long, classic novels. You reveal the great baggy monsters you’ve found the time to tackle