Adrian Levy & Cathrine Scott-Clark | Wendy Doniger | Michel Pastoureau | Pankaj Mishra | Arundhati Roy | Paula Hawkins | Paul Auster | Hari Kunzru | Amit Chaudhuri | George Saunders | JRR Tolkien
From the architecture of the gene to the oral histories of men and women in the former USSR, this year’s best books reveal what it is to be human
This is a necessary book about a neglected man, and it’s all the more creditable that a foreigner should have taken the trouble to write it
Family, friendship and identity—one of English fiction’s most celebrated young writers returns to familiar turf
Amruta Patil in her graphic retelling of the Mahabharata reimagines women as epic beings
Martin Amis talks about Donald Trump’s sexuality and Islamic fanaticism
Shivshankar Menon places five defining moments of Indian foreign policy in the long sweep of history
What the best of Japanese noir says about democracy, authenticity and the nation