What to read

The 50 best books of 2022

Our critics pick the perfect Christmas gifts for every reader, from page-turners to politics

By Telegraph Culture Desk 28 Nov 2022, 2:22pm
The best new science books of 2022

Face your fears! Make this the year you finally gets to grips with the Metaverse, incoming asteroids – and torture-happy wasps

By Steven Poole 24 Nov 2022, 10:30am
The 20 best poetry books of 2022 to buy for Christmas

This year's best poetry collections were filled with wild fantasies – from Greek myths and robot birds to a book narrated by an eyeball

By Tristram Fane Saunders 23 Nov 2022, 7:00am
Best travel books to buy for Christmas 2022

By Michael Kerr 23 Nov 2022, 7:00am
Big ideas: 2022’s best new smart thinking, psychology and sociology books

By Simon Ings 23 Nov 2022, 7:00am
The best music books of 2022, from Bob Dylan to Nick Cave

By Neil McCormick 23 Nov 2022, 7:00am
Armchair travelling this Christmas? These are 2022’s most stunning travel photography books

By Michael Kerr 23 Nov 2022, 7:00am

The best 2022 books to make sense of weird, wild world of British politics

From the integration of Islam to the brief reign of Prime Minister Liz Truss, this year's best politics books defended liberal ideals

By Tim Stanley 23 Nov 2022, 7:00am
The best books to understand the world in 2022

This year's foreign affairs books reflect on what lessons – if any – can we learn from the world’s worst trouble spots

By Colin Freeman 22 Nov 2022, 7:35pm
Best fiction books 2022: from To Paradise to Young Mungo

Fiction’s big names – from Ian McEwan to Cormac McCarthy – disappointed this year, but a brilliant new generation are taking their place

By Claire Allfree 22 Nov 2022, 5:21pm

The best Christmas books to buy for royal fanatics

By Jake Kerridge 21 Nov 2022, 7:00am
The best children’s books for Christmas 2022 – including Cressida Cowell’s new series

By Emily Bearn 21 Nov 2022, 7:00am
Best history books 2022: from Nazi Billionaires to Antony Beevor’s Russia

By Simon Heffer 18 Nov 2022, 1:00pm
'The Fortnight in September is a hidden gem': Readers on their favourite book of 2022 so far

By Rachel Avery 4 Apr 2022, 7:00am

'The Lincoln Highway is the best book I've read in ages': Readers on their favourite books of 2021

From bestseller fiction to memoirs and self-help, find out what our readers' favourite books were in 2021

By Rachel Avery 31 Dec 2021, 3:15pm
The best new novels and fiction books to buy for Christmas 2021

From Sally Rooney’s anxious millennials to Jonathan Franzen’s priapic pastor, the year’s best novels sought clarity amid the chaos

By Sameer Rahim 23 Dec 2021, 10:53am
The 12 best love poems for Valentine's Day 2021, from Walt Whitman to Carol Ann Duffy

By Charlotte Runcie 14 Feb 2021, 5:18pm
The best children's books of 2020

Not all snowflakes are found on Twitter. Here's our roundup of the best books for children with independent minds

By Emily Bearn 14 Dec 2020, 4:35pm
The 50 best books of 2020

Our critics round up the year's best reads, from thought-provoking non-fiction to page-turning thrillers

By Telegraph Reporters 1 Dec 2020, 5:15pm
The best UK politics books of 2020

From Westminster to Wandsworth prison – tales of a turbulent 12 months in our nation’s history

By Jamie Blackett 29 Nov 2020, 2:00pm
The best foreign affairs books of 2020

Internet extremists, the broiling Sunni-Shia conflict, and an ascendant Russia - these are the books to help you predict 2021's fault lines

By Colin Freeman 29 Nov 2020, 12:00pm
The best poetry books of 2020

Our poetry critic recommends otherworldly collections – from dark sci-fi to an absurdist verse novel – and suggests a couple to avoid

By Tristram Fane Saunders 29 Nov 2020, 10:00am

The best music books of 2020

These rock memoirs glitter with stardust, but even the most colourful characters have their dark side

By Neil McCormick 28 Nov 2020, 6:00pm
The best history books of 2020

In a year of mass protests and toppled statues, some clear-eyed historians helped put our present chaos into perspective

By Simon Heffer 28 Nov 2020, 12:00pm

The best 'smart thinking' books of 2020

From fossilised iPhones to the joys of not showering, non-fiction ranged far and wide this year

By Simon Ings 28 Nov 2020, 12:00pm
The best science books of 2020

Let science writers take you on one hell of a trip – from magic mushrooms to potatoes on Mars

By Steven Poole 28 Nov 2020, 10:00am
The 31 best thrillers and crime novels of 2019

By Jake Kerridge 10 Dec 2019, 1:39pm
The 44 best children’s books and YA novels of 2019

By Emily Bearn 6 Dec 2019, 10:15am
The 50 best books of 2019

By Telegraph Reporters 15 Nov 2019, 5:00pm
The 11 must-read books of autumn 2019

By Iona McLaren 3 Sep 2019, 11:30am
50 best things to see at the Fringe and Edinburgh International Festival – from art to books and ballet

By Telegraph Reporters 16 Aug 2019, 2:10pm
Best holiday beach reads: 75 books to read this summer

23 Jul 2019, 7:56am

The 100 best children's books of all time

By Telegraph Reporters 23 May 2019, 12:55pm
15 essential books to read this Spring

By Iona McLaren 30 Mar 2019, 5:00pm

The 28 best thrillers and crime novels of 2018

By Jake Kerridge 27 Feb 2019, 5:30pm
From Ian Fleming to Ann Cleeves: Desert Island Discs' best crime writer castaways

By Jake Kerridge 18 Feb 2019, 12:28pm
Read this, Marie Kondo: 30 books guaranteed to spark joy

By Kat Brown 29 Jan 2019, 12:31pm
The 50 best books of 2018

By Telegraph Reporters 30 Dec 2018, 1:50pm