No matter where you are in the world – and the Guardian has readers everywhere – it feels like it’s been a relentless few months. This is also the time of year when many people try to take a break and reading can be one of the best, and simplest, ways to switch off. This is where our excellent books coverage can help.
We have an expert team of Guardian and Observer editors and writers who are across every new title and every big news story, from US book bans to major literary prizes. In fact, Guardian fiction editor Justine Jordan is one of this year’s judges for the Booker prize, and helped create a global-looking longlist that Lisa Allardice, our chief books writer, called “the most enjoyable” for years.

Several of this year’s Booker contenders, including Rita Bullwinkel’s Headshot and Percival Everett’s James, also featured in our summer (for those in the northern hemisphere) reading guide. But, before you make your choice, the teams also emptied their contact books to ask writers for reading inspiration. Both of these lists are full of the unexpected: from Jonathan Coe’s choice of an illustrated memoir about life on the Albertan oil sands, to suggestions from the likes of Elizabeth Strout, Tessa Hadley and VV Ganeshananthan, which range from an Edith Wharton deep cut to a biography of Alexander the Great.

Beyond the important business of reviews, our books features are consistently brilliant. In the past few weeks I’ve enjoyed Claire Armitstead’s interview with Elif Shafak about how she was prosecuted in her Turkish homeland, and her extraordinary-sounding new novel. I also enjoyed authors sharing the books that helped them come of age as readers, which included Safiya Sinclair on Sylvia Plath’s poems: “Her images, so visceral and lush and painterly, seeped into my veins and never left.”

Books are repositories of ideas, and our coverage of nonfiction titles provides a critical guide to new ways of thinking. You can see that in our popular series, The big idea. Fascinating recent entries have looked at how to remove a dictator by political scientist Marcel Dirsus and neuroscientist Hannah Critchlow on how we inherit memories from our ancestors.

You can keep up with the best of our books writing by signing up to our revamped Bookmarks newsletter, delivered every Sunday.

I always take a massive pile of books for my vacations, with fiction and nonfiction for every mood. One book already packed is All Fours by Miranda July, which has been recommended to me with great enthusiasm by a ridiculous number of people.

See you soon.

Since the start of the year, the Guardian has highlighted the toll and tragedy of violence against women in the UK, reporting on every woman allegedly killed by a man. Our Killed Women Count project, which marks victims’ lives with tributes and pictures, reached 50 this week and makes for devastating reading. The women range in age from 22 to 96. They come from all walks of life and from all parts of the country. The Guardian will continue to report this as the year goes on.

Another grim statistic emerged this week: the recorded death toll in Gazasince the start of the conflict has passed 40,000 people. Malak A Tantash and Emma Graham Harrison wrote movingly about the victims not listed because their bodies have yet to be recovered. Emma and Aseel Mousa also reported on the Palestinian women who conceived through IVF only to see their children die in the conflict. Bethan McKernan and Malak spoke to the survivors of Israeli missile strikes on a school in Gaza, we interviewed former IDF chief of staff Yair Golan and the long read published a powerful personal essay by the Israeli historian of genocide, Omer Bartov.

Dan Sabbagh reported from the border between Ukraine and Russia after Kyiv’s shock incursion, which has gone much deeper into Russia than anyone expected. Shaun Walker wrote about how the Ukrainian offensive has apparently caught Putin by surprise and Charlotte Higgins spoke to the young activist trying to rescue the architectural gems of Ukrainian modernism.

Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s X interviewwas described by David Smith as a surprisingly dull meeting of planet-sized egos, while environment experts called it the “dumbest climate conversation of all time”. Rachel Leingang explored the outsized role Musk has played in spreading election misinformation, former Twitter boss Bruce Daisley offered one solution to Musk’s unchecked ramblings, and Eleni Courea had a story on UK Labour MPs beginning to quit X.

Our Hotter than ever series saw Jonathan Watts report on the unprecedented number of heat records broken around the world this year, Oliver Milman make a deep dive into historical heat with intricate research by Tural Ahmedzade, and Nina Lakhani and Thalia Juarez capture the struggles of outdoor workers in Florida and the failures to protect them.

Clea Skopeliti spoke to the people living in some of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations about whatovertourism feels like from the inside, while Tanya Gold wrote a lively piece on St Ives, the ground zero of British overtourism, following local residents through a bleak winter and crowded summer.

The end of an epic Olympicswas marked with stories by Andy Bull on Paris’s spectacular staging, Barney Ronay on the closing ceremony’s victory lap and Angelique Chrisafis on the spirit of the Games. Guardian writers shared their memorable Olympic moments, we looked at how the best images were taken and our picture essay captured Guardian photographers at the Games. Jonathan Liew also suggested the sports that should be cut for Los Angeles in 2028.

Sirin Kale wrote about the life and death of TV true crime producer John Balson in a moving and detailed exploration of the dangers of stress. The piece explores the pressures of contract work, the realities of the true crime industry amid audiences’ rising thirst for the genre, and the NHS’s response after John developed vestibular migraines.

Guardian Australia won an award this week for their series of stories on Centrepay, which revealed how the controversial, government-run debit pay system was being used as a vehicle for economic abuse. Christopher Knaus and Lorena Allam have offered analysis of the months since and explained how media exposure has forced the government’s hand.

Banksy fever showed no signs of abating. Jonathan Jones’s ranking of the street star’s artwork was fascinating and Vanessa Thorpe revealed the real meaning behind the anonymous artist’s summer animal series.

There was also fantastic coverage of the Edinburgh festival, including Alex Needham’s interview with drag sensation Wet Mess, Rachael Healy on the Baby Reindeer effect and Brian Logan’s interview with comedian Olga Koch. And for those who enjoy a good one-liner, we have a list of the 10 funniest jokes of the festival. Prepare to groan!

One more thing … I’ve only recently started using the popular birdsong app Merlin, which tells you which birds you are listening to at any given time. I turned it on in a London park on a hot day and it recorded a great tit, coal tit, Eurasian blue tit, Eurasian blackbird, Eurasian wren, rose-ringed parakeet and a European robin. It was cacophonous and delightful. The rapid, global decline in birdsong is terrifying, which made my park experience feel elusive and rare but also devastating, a reminder of what is being lost.

Cook this | Meera Sodha’s tofu-stuffed romano peppers

Meera’s original recipe for these featured peppers stuffed with grated paneer, but this is a tweaked “vegan option”. As Meera puts it: “I’d never used tofu this way – grated, flavoured and roasted – but it worked so beautifully that it was just too good not to share.”

Listen to this | Secrets of ageing – a Science Weekly series

Humans have long been obsessed with getting old, or rather staying young, but now science is beginning to catch up. For a special three-part series, Ian Sample spoke to experts about the biological hallmarks of ageing in our bodies, the unusual ways the wealthy are trying to extend their lives and how we can stop fearing old age.

Come to this | David Nicholls: A life in writing

Join David Nicholls (pictured), the screenwriter and novelist behind One Day and You Are Here, for a special live-streamed event on Tuesday 8 October at 8pm BST.

He will be discussing the phenomenal success of One Day, his new critically praised novel You Are Here, and reflecting on his literary career to date.

Book tickets at theguardian.live or here.

The Guardian’s crosswords and Wordiply are here to keep you entertained throughout the weekend.