Bookmarks: the latest news, views and reviews from Guardian Books

Bookmarks Thursday 05 Mar 2015 g Today's top stories More » Kazuo Ishiguro thinks his fantasy novel is not a fantasy novel. Are we bothered? Ursula K Le Guin has hit back on behalf of SFF – but so long as people read The Buried Giant, it’s actually a welcome opportunity to dismantle the walls built around different schools of fiction, writes David Barnett  Reading Britain’s readers: we love crime fiction best – and prefer coffee to tea, and dogs to cats. Apparently Survey released for World Book Day produces some intriguing, if tangential, results, writes Alison Flood  Aquarium by David Vann review – blue-collar parable of family heartache A shocking act of violence creates a splash in this dark tale of estrangement and emotional abuse. By Philip Maughan  So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed review – Jon Ronson on rants and tweets This terrifying study of social media fury is another superb product from brand Ronson, humorous journalist and moralist par excellence  World Book Day 2015: what to wear Great costume ideas here for World Book Day on 5 March. Share your best costumes and how you made them by emailing childrens.books@theguardina.com– we’ll add them to this gallery (and the best costume idea will win £50 in National Book Tokens)  Most viewed in Books More » Douglas Adams made me a writer: Neil Gaiman salutes his friend and inspiration Paying tribute to his genius at the annual Douglas Adams lecture, writer explains how meeting the Hitchhiker’s Guide author at 22 changed his life  Seven things you may not know about John Maynard Keynes Bisexual, a campaigner for women’s rights, a promoter of the arts … And was Keynes even ‘Keynesian’? By Richard Davenport-Hines  Top 10 books about women in the 1950s Ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March, the historian picks the best writing about an era when females were not expected to have an independent identity outside men  Latest reviews More » Gone to Ground by Marie Jalowicz Simon review – a Jewish girl, underground A remarkable, unsentimental book recalling the experiences of a young Jewish woman intent on survival in Berlin during the second world war  Karate Chop/Minna Needs Rehearsal Space by Dorthe Nors – review This gripping collection of short stories leaves you wanting more – and then delivers, with a portrait of a musician that reinvents the novella. By John Self  The Sellout by Paul Beatty review – a galvanizing satire of post-racial America Powered by a wicked wit, with characters who speak a pop-philosopher patois, this is a funny and daring novel that subverts harmful cultural assumptions  Talking Points More » Mal Peet, a great writer and a great friend Transcending the young adult genre, his work was as warm and perceptive as he was, writes Meg Rosoff  World Book Day costumes: fun for children, horror for parents Sarah Ditum: If you don’t run up a dazzling character outfit for your child to celebrate, they probably won’t mind. But oh, the humiliation for you  Mal Peet, award-winning children's author, dies aged 67 Tributes pour in for ‘one of the greatest YA authors’, who died on Monday  Latest podcasts More » The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro extract - audio In an exclusive audio extract from Kazuo Ishiguro's eagerly awaited new novel, an elderly villager, Axl, awakes one spring morning, leaves his home in the 'warren', and wonders how much has been forgotten in a long-ago land of ruins and ogres...  How to draw More » Mini Grey

Don't miss our Guardian Live events 5 x 15 and the Guardian celebrate exceptional women, 12 March, London Five extraordinary women - children's author Judith Kerr, historian Jung Chang, forensic anthropologist Professor Sue Black, activist Nimko Ali and DJ Annie Nightingale - talk about their lives and inspirations. John Gray and Will Self: Is free will an illusion?, 18 March, London In his new book, The Soul of the Marionette, political philosopher John Gray draws together the religious, philosophical and fantastical traditions that question the very idea of human freedom. He discusses the topic with novelist Will Self.

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