The 20 best films and TV shows of 2023
Our choice of the year’s essential screen entertainment.
ByMagazine
The 20 best books of 2023
Our choice of the year’s essential fiction and non-fiction.
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The madness of Claude Monet
Jackie Wullschläger’s exemplary biography reveals the impressionist painter’s obsessive commitment to his art.
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Michel Faber’s tin ear
The novelist’s arresting study of the power of music is marred by a clumsy structure and snobbish tone.
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The best children’s books for Christmas 2023
There’s fantasy, folklore and friendship in the best new books for young readers.
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On being the writer in the family
Writers exploit and rebel against their parents – but can never escape them.
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What video games taught me
A collection of essays on gaming confirms the rich complexity of an art form that remains widely misunderstood.
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Maruyama Ōkyo: artist of the frozen world
The 18th-century Japanese painter learned lessons from Western art and used them more daringly than any European.
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Cooking for others gives me purpose. That doesn’t mean I enjoy it
You know why chefs are skinny and have explosive tempers? Because their mothers try to help them in the kitchen…
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A strange and intimate Ghost Story
This podcast mixes true crime, family history and the paranormal – to intriguing effect.
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Matthew Ball’s cerebral ballet
The Royal Ballet principal on embracing pain, bringing the unconscious to the stage, and the dance world after #MeToo.
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The bird that wasn’t there
Soon after the Bay thrush was discovered in 1774, it was lost. But we can no longer blame ignorance for…
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Judi Dench’s Q&A: “Shakespeare’s rhythms are the beating of my heart”
The actor on Jennie Lee, Elizabeth Fry and her annoyance at those who throw away food on the sell-by date.
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Christmas in Hamburg
At the city’s festive markets shopping is not the objective: it is to meet friends and sip Glühwein.
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Can podcasts and acupressure get me through the icy winter months?
Perhaps the level of well-being we all seek is incompatible with being human.
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At its midpoint, this season is shaping up to be one of football’s oddest
So far we’ve seen Dickensian midfielders, a blizzard of coaching jobs, and the return of peep-hole socks.
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A bluffer’s guide to rural politics
Initially a reluctant candidate for a Herefordshire Council seat, I discovered the camaraderie, conflict and thrill of local elections.
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Inside Elvis’s dollhouse
Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla Presley biopic shows how the singer groomed his teenage wife – but his obsession with young girls…
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Timothée Chalamet is a sweeter – but weaker – Wonka
The Warner Bros origin story for the chocolatier adds songs and removes nastiness from Roald Dahl’s tale – for the…
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To catch a catfish
How one detective took on an international network of romance fraudsters.
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