Actor Stanley Tucci has created his second cookbook. He tells Tim Adams that food is a great way of expressing love.

In the prevailing climate of heightened risk-aversion among New Zealand book publishers, it’s always a welcome thing when someone is prepared to offer the market something different.

They camped out overnight, arrived in trains caught at dawn and devoured the first pages on the sidewalk - but the new Fifty Shades novel has been panned by critics.

Are cats secretly laughing at us? Is all that purring, licking and being available for stroking just an elaborate ruse for food and a warm place to sleep?

Doomsayers claim it is the end of the chapter for bookstores, but Paul Little finds the business of selling books is more of a Neverending Story.

Mystic River author Dennis Lehane tells Jake Kerridge what links bankers with gangsters.

Kate Atkinson's extraordinary 2013 novel, Life After Life, introduced readers to the Todd family in their Forster-esque home of Fox Corner, and managed to achieve publishing's holy grail of both literary acclaim and popular appeal.

Canvas books editor Linda Herrick's top five reads for the weekend.

Former Playmate Holly Madison has spilled details on life behind the Playboy Mansion doors, saying she was once described as "old, hard and cheap" by Hugh Hefner.

The benefits of reading aloud don't diminish just because your kids grow up, writes Deb Werrlein.

Writer of art-world satire knows her topic at intimately close quarters.

The 20th century has just begun. Harry Cave is married, personable, sophisticated. He’s inherited a substantial fortune from a father who died of boredom.

There's an eerie, existential quality about Melanie Finn's new novel, Shame. What tiny, mundane choices determine our fate? Why does life cut one way, not another?

A new biography of the master of suspense uncovers the life behind the persona, says Duncan White.

Acclaimed writer Steve Toltz, who was paralysed for over a year, tells Peter Stanford how his new novel reflects his ordeal.

Those of us for whom the Great Outdoors is the walk from front door to car door need to read Christopher McDougall.

Rosaleen Madigan loves her four adult children but, it has to be said, she has a pretty funny way of showing it.

Award-winning Auckland writers Linda Olsson and Thomas Sainsbury tell Craig Sisterson why they’re collaborating on a thriller trilogy.

The book was going to be published in hard copy by Pan Macmillan but was scrapped when health experts warned some of the recipes could harm infants.

Anthony Horowitz's new James Bond continuation novel will mark the return of one of the franchise's best-loved Bond girls.

Six of the best in stories starring oddballs and good sorts.

In her new novel we encounter Julian in a state of profound grief for his lover, Julia, and their daughter, Mira.

Felicito Yanaque is a self-made man. He lives in the city of Piura, and is the owner of a small transport company that he has built up from scratch into a modestly successful enterprise.

Meet the first novel by a Galway writer who blogs about life on a council estate under a name so forceful I can’t repeat it in a family newspaper. Meet also a terrific reading experience.

"Horror and pity" have greeted one renting Auckland couple but they want to change attitudes to tenants, regarded as taking a "second-class" option.

Peter Bromhead on the important things in life.

A record-breaking estimated festival audience of 60,000 meant author-signing queues up to two hours long. Janet McAllister reports.