2012 Books of the Year illustration ©Chris Wormell Dec 3, 2012

Best books of 2012

From 3D printing to the perfect Zen garden, FT writers and guests pick their favourite books from the past year

Folio34r: Face of Christ at the top. ©The Board of Trinity College Dubl ESSAY Nov 23, 2012

The Book of Kells

John Banville on the enduring fascination of the Irish monastic masterpiece

Torres del Paine National Park, Chile ©Corbis Gillian Tett from NON-FICTION Nov 23, 2012

‘Antifragile’ by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The new book from the author of ‘The Black Swan’ calls for resilience in the face of stress

A crying man illustrated by Amanda Hutt ©Amanda Hutt FICTION Nov 23, 2012

‘The Sound of Things Falling’

Juan Gabriel Vásquez’s novel is a tale of fate and forgiveness set in the wake of Colombia’s drug wars. Review by Ángel Gurría-Quintana

Through the Window NON-FICTION Nov 23, 2012

The truth about fiction

The essays collected in Julian Barnes’s ‘Through the Window’ exhibit the astringent virtues of his novels but are somehow more revealing of the writer himself

The Monday Review

A celebration of technology’s power to change government is bold in scope but vague in practical detail

Small talk

Daljit Nagra

Daljit Nagra: What music helps me write? [Bob] Dylan or Jimi Hendrix at the moment to get my blood pumping

The seaside road on the West coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles ©Jeremie Souteyrat/Luz FICTION Nov 23, 2012

Lasting impact

‘Carry the One’, Carol Anshaw’s study of the life-long bonds of shared trauma and guilt, questions the possibility of redemption

Korea NON-FICTION Nov 23, 2012

From Seoul with sorrow

Daniel Tudor’s ‘Korea: The Impossible Country’ explores the two sides of a success story

Standing In Another Ma's Grave FICTION Nov 23, 2012

Rebus reborn

Ian Rankin’s cranky Edinburgh detective returns with a spring in his step in ‘Standing In Another Man’s Grave’

The Adventuress FICTION Nov 23, 2012

The Adventuress

Nicholas Coleridge’s rags-to-riches tale of a seductress who scrambles her way to the pinnacle of English society

Scenes from Village Life FICTION Nov 23, 2012

Scenes from Village Life

Amos Oz’s linked short stories grow from a placid opening into an unexpected encounter

Wordpower

Podcast

Kate Tempest Spoken word: the rise of performance poetry and its uneasy relationship with its written cousin

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EDITOR’S CHOICE

life & arts

James Ferguson's illustration of a squirrel with an axe ©James Ferguson Nicola Barkerr is nonplussed by the Literary Review’s Bad Sex Award

FT Magazine

Claudia Roden ©Guardian News Claudia Roden says her 20-year-old self would be pleased that she still feels the same

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