“This fascinating, entertaining and lucidly written book should be read by anyone ready to confess that rest is not their forte. We start to see that the subject is complicated partly because most of us are no good at resting. We are restless about rest. We feel guilty about it. We live in a culture obsessed with being busy – and this boasting about being busy is, Hammond argues, caught up with status.”

The Guardian review Claudia Hammond’s The Art of Rest.

Gavin Francis, the author of the beautiful Island Dreams, writes in the Guardian about the fascination that islands exert.

“The love of islands is a widespread affliction – why else are we still reading Robinson Crusoe after 300 years? Why Treasure Island? Why after 75 years and over 2,000 episodes are we still listening to Desert Island Discs? From the blessed isles of Tír na nÓg and Thomas More’s Utopia to the island-dramas of CS Lewis and Enid Blyton, it seems we can’t get enough of them.”

Michael Spicer, author of The Secret Political Adviser, talks to the Guardian about becoming a sudden comedy star, and satire in an age without subtlety.

“Spicer represents the new vanguard of comedians satirising the political quagmire we’ve become embroiled in since the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump. We are living in the age of political gaffes: there are so many of them, and they come so thick and fast, that what would once have led the news agenda for 24 hours gets forgotten in minutes.”

As Terri White’s memoir Coming Undone is published, this harrowing and incredibly powerful extract has run in the Guardian. It’s about what it was like to grow up with abuse, and then move across the world – to the dream job, in the dream city – only to still struggle, chaotically, with drink and with pain.

“What will happen after this news cycle is over and social media posts about diversity die down? Layla F Saad chooses books to fortify a long-term struggle.”