The Czech writer didn’t only leave us The Unbearable Lightness of Being, he wrote a series of playful, philosophical books examining relationships, sex and mortality
Thrillers of the month
Crime and thrillers of the month – review
A luminous tale of abducted teens, a page-turning marriage to a mass murderer – and a deadly gameshow
Book of the day
Kafka: Selected Stories, edited by Mark Harman review – the master who never wasted a word
A Franz Kafka scholar’s perceptive annotation and translation highlights every subtle shade of humour and brilliant aphorism in these singular tales
I Will Crash by Rebecca Watson – family dynamics poisonously awry
A bullying brother’s death is the spur for an extraordinary and chilling portrait of sibling enmity in the second novel by the author of little scratch
The Material by Camille Bordas review – when life is one long joke
Students on a comedy course devote their every moment to mining material for their on-stage routine in a novel that relies on how much it can make the reader laugh
Goodlord by Ella Frears review – this email to a landlord is dark and dazzling
The poet’s stream-of-consciousness complaint to an estate agent is a witty and compelling reflection on the state of the housing market and young womanhood
In brief: CS Lewis’s Oxford; True Love; Loosely Based on a Made-Up Story – review
A fascinating study of CS Lewis’s years in his adopted city; an excellent gritty romance by Paddy Crewe; and James Blunt enters the music memoir hall of fame
