Despite fascinating thematic material to work with, Murakami still makes it ploddingly dull

Few literary activities could give quite so much pleasure as reading the work of this brilliant but overlooked novelist

Cleverness is a virtue in itself but is never sterile or without purpose

The contempt of publishers for middle-class life and values is diminishing the novel

Hugo Rifkind’s new novel is like a warm bath turning cold

We’re a long way from touchstones One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera

A new book satirises the bizarre dynamics of social justice activism

A bit of lucky timing cannot be begrudged

Ian McEwan has always tempered his shocking stories with polished prose

A new satire skewers the publishing industry