The best recent poetry

The Bonfire Party by Sean O’Brien; Plastic by Matthew Rice; Retablo for a Door by Michelle Penn; Jonah and Me by John F Deane; Intimate Architecture by Tess Jolly

The Dead Don’t Bleed by Neil Rollinson review

Two brothers attempt to escape their father’s gangland past in a tense, tender debut that moves between Thatcher-era Northumberland and southern Spain

The best books of 2025

New novels from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Ian McEwan, plus the return of Slow Horses and Margaret Atwood looks back … Guardian critics pick the must-read titles of 2025

The Cat by Georges Simenon review

The Belgian author’s genius comes to the fore in a dark domestic drama

The Book Report: Ron Charles' picks from 2025

Updated on: December 28, 2025 / 10:43 AM EST / CBS News

Books to look out for in 2026

Maggie O’Farrell, Yann Martel and Julian Barnes are among the authors publishing new novels this year