Whether living as a caveman in a theme park or writing self-help copy for rice cracker packets, literature has many memorably awful occupations
October 2021
Cultural prescription
Dirty work: film, books, games and more to help with the daily grind
From Office Space to the Rakes’ 22 Grand Job, Guardian critics suggest culture to cope with the pressure, politics and crushing ennui of earning a living
August 2021
The joy of small things
I used to think life was too short to read the same book twice. Not any more
I’m planning to reread the books I once loved, hoping they’ll reinvigorate me at a time when all our batteries are flashing low
June 2021
On the Road to Bridget Jones: five books that define each generation
Blake Morrison on boomers, Chris Power on Gen X, Megan Nolan on millennials and Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé on Gen Z … which books shaped your generation?
May 2020
Alaskan school board lifts ban on Gatsby and Catch-22 after protests
The Matanuska-Susitna borough in Palmer restores modern classics by authors including F Scott Fitzgerald and Joseph Heller to curriculum after community action
September 2019
Books blog
The Testaments, 34 years in the making: the longest gaps between sequels
The three decades between The Handmaid’s Tale and Margaret Atwood’s much anticipated follow-up makes the wait for George RR Martin’s The Winds of Winter seem brief
June 2019
William Keegan's in my view
Catch-22 and the real and immediate danger of Brexit
William Keegan
The increasing absurdity of the Tory party’s march towards isolation would need Joseph Heller to do it justice
Eight years, two titles and one well-timed war: how Catch-22 became a cult classic
As George Clooney’s new adaptation of Joseph Heller’s novel comes to TV, Mark Lawson looks at its unlikely path to success – and why Heller thought everyone got it wrong
Catch-22: has George Clooney broken the curse of the unfilmable novel?
It’s a modern American classic, but Joseph Heller’s fractured story has defied suitable translation on to the screen – until now
August 2018
Reading Australia
In these dark times, embracing laughter is an ethical choice
Charlotte Wood
Laughter has optimism embedded in it. It allows us to see that, while we are all human and we fail, we can change
December 2017
'If only I'd been warned!' - writers choose books to give to their younger selves
Julian Barnes, Margaret Drabble, Tessa Hadley, David Nicholls and others choose reading matter that would have been useful when young
September 2016
Robert Gottlieb: the editor who changed American literature
The man who ushered classics like Catch-22 into the world, Gottlieb has reason to brag. But in his new memoir Avid Reader he prefers to downplay the editor’s role
August 2016
Reading group
Catch-22: a masterclass in the weird art of unjoking the joke
Reading group
Catch-22's 10m copies: how a bitter satire became a bestseller
Reading group
Catch-22's crazy style reflects the madness of war
Reading group
Reading group: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
December 2015
Books blog
Which books cheer you up?
Slaughterhouse 90210: where literature meets pop culture – in pictures
June 2015
Top 10s
Jesse Armstrong’s top 10 comic war novels
The Thick of It and Peep Show writer – and now novelist – chooses fiction from Tolstoy to Spike Milligan that finds black comedy amid the human tragedy of conflict
April 2015
Readers recommend
Readers recommend: chicken-and-egg songs
Wondering which came first? Name songs about cause and effect, catch-22s, vicious circles, loops, paradoxes, or if you prefer, simple chickens or eggs, says Peter Kimpton
