William Boyd

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Lisa Allardice |William Boyd |Sara Collins |Justine Jordan |Nikesh Shukla |Jeffrey Boakye

According to new data from YouGov, 40% of British adults have not read a single book in the last year, with the median Briton having read or listened to three. In a world where there are so many other distractions and forms of entertainment to choose from, fewer and fewer people are getting stuck into books – yet lots of us would like to be reading more. So we asked authors, booksellers and critics to choose the book they think you should read this year – even if you only read one.

Jan 21, 2025 | thebookerprizes.com | William Boyd |Hwang Sok-yong |Sora Kim-Russell |Youngjae Josephine Bae

Sometimes, a whole life can pass by in the blink of an eye – or in the time it takes to read a book, where the journey from birth to death can unfold in just a few hundred pages. Over the course of a novel, we can witness the many iterations of a person’s identity, their highest highs and most heartbreaking lows, and the multiple dramatic ways their surroundings evolve with each passing year.

Jan 11, 2025 | audiofilemagazine.com | William Boyd

George Blagden offers a winning performance of travel writer Gabriel Dax, who finds himself a pawn in a game he never expected to find himself playing. Not long after Gabriel's interview with Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, she is killed. A series of strange coincidences occurs, and suddenly Gabriel is reluctantly up to his neck in spy craft. MI6, the CIA, and mysterious others are desperate for Lumumba's taped interview.

Dec 20, 2024 | theguardian.com | Richard Ayoade |William Boyd |Bernardine Evaristo |David Baddiel |Sara Collins |Tom Holland | +1 more

1.Richard Ayoade: The line “What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?” is from which novel? 2.What is the colour of Holden Caulfield’s hunting hat? 3.What is Bertie Wooster’s middle name? 4.William Boyd: In which James Bond novel did Bond get married? On Her Majesty’s Secret Service5.Which one of these American poets did not die by suicide? 6.Which of these South American writers did not win the Nobel prize?

Dec 7, 2024 | bookreporter.com | William Boyd

This month marks the beginning of my 20th year as a book reviewer, and I’ve generally avoided covering spy novels during that time. That’s not because of any particular antipathy to the genre, but my literary tastes, especially when it comes to fiction, run in other directions. Regrettably, time is finite, and choices inevitably must be made.