To celebrate its anniversary, Mark Evans describes the legacy of Spielberg’s shark movie - how it invented the summer blockbuster and made millions afraid to go in the water

Disclaimer

Paula Hawkins tells Sue Leonard that the success of The Girl on The Train will allow her quit journalism.

The RTÉ television audience voted TK Whitaker “Irishman of the 20th Century” in 2001. 

Goodhouse

Lissa Evans

Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

Joanna Trollope,

Why it is that we are so intolerant of the sexual preferences of others, and why are people marginalised for their desires, wonders British historian and author Julie Peakman.

Jesse Bering

Thrillers

A writer with a first draft is like a sculptor with a block of stone: the story is inside.

Wexford author Andrew Hughes’ debut novel is set in 19th century Dublin but has themes in common with today’s society, finds Declan Burke

Horror writer Stephen King has written 49 books and sold 350m copies since his debut, Carrie, 40 years ago. Now the cult classic is being remade. King’s name is a byword for sinister, says John Daly.

RJ Palacio

The New Republic

MASS MARKETFICTION

The Soldier’s Wife

Runelight

Snuff

ON Your Farts, Get Set, Go! by Mitchell Symons (Doubleday; €9.50) is the latest in this popular series — a light-hearted look at sport.

BIG BOOK Of My World illustrated by Kali Stileman (Doubleday; €11.93 HB) is the definitive book for toddlers at the discovery stage. It begins with shapes, colours and basic counting, progressing to sounds (and what makes them), town-scapes and the sea, graduating to games and challenging puzzles such as spot-the- difference and odd-one-out.

SJ WATSON, has always written, but he was good at science as well. So he decided that science would be his career, and writing his hobby.

DEXTER BEXLEY and the Big Blue Beastie on the Road (Doubleday; €13.90 HB), by Joel Stewart, is a sparkling story, best read aloud.

The Big Barn Dance, by Jenny Arthur (Caterpillar; €11.50), is the bees’ knees. The spreads in this sturdy board book each focus on a farm animal. Press the button on the strip panel and the animal will moo, baa, quack, etc. Excellent entertainment for age 18 months and upwards.

SIX years after the release of his mega-selling The Da Vinci Code, the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group announced that Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, a thriller set over a 12-hour period and featuring Da Vinci Code symbolist Robert Langdon, will come out in September.

Sebastian Faulks has written a new James Bond novel to be published 42 years after Ian Fleming’s last superspy adventure, it was announced today.

Oprah Winfrey has angrily laid into an author whose drug abuse memoir she promoted, saying revelations that he had made up parts of it had embarrassed and disappointed her.

A writer whose memoir about drug abuse became a massive bestseller in the US after Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club has been accused of exaggerating his criminal record in the work.

Author Howard Jacobson was today picked out as an early favourite to win this year’s Booker Prize.