Virginia Woolf was long dismissed as a ‘minor modernist’ but now stands as one of the giants of 20th century literature. Her biographer, Hermione Lee, talks us through the best novels and essays, and diaries, of Virginia Woolf.

Aristotle tells us that all politics starts in the family, and nowhere is that more obvious than in the infamously fraught relationship between mother and daughter. Here, the novelist, playwright and poet Deborah Levy chooses five books – or rather, four books and one film – that explore motherhood.

In the second of a Five Books series marking the 400th year since the world’s most popular playwright’s death, eminent Shakespearean René Weis picks his five favourite plays, and explains why King Lear will change your life.

Wilkie Collins, the sensationalist author and inventor of the detective novel, knew precisely how to “make ’em laugh, make ’em cry, make ’em wait”. Jason Hall, Victorian literature expert and editor of a new edition of Jezebel’s Daughter, chooses the five best books from Collins’s extensive oeuvre – and considers the voracious appetites and unorthodox lifestyle of this intriguing Englishman.

In the first of a series marking the 400th year since the playwright’s death, we ask Shakespearean scholar Emma Smith to pick her five favourite plays.

Books are made of trees and sometimes they’re also about trees. Best-selling author Tracy Chevalier picks the five best trees in fiction.

What are the key works of war writing? The Oxford Professor and poet chooses her five.

Autofiction is writing that blurs the boundaries between autobiography and fiction. The writer of Trans: A Memoir picks her top five examples of the genre.

Journalist Robert McCrum spent two years selecting the best novels in English. Here he narrows it down to just five: perfect choices for your holiday reading.

The biographer and editor of John Berger reveals how Berger’s self-characterisation as a storyteller is visible across the numerous genres he writes in.

The Harvard professor and author of No Joke: Making Jewish Humour identifies Tevye the Dairyman as the first standup comic and Sigmund Freud as Jewish humour’s greatest analyst.

The Soviet writer bore witness to the horrors of Russia's World War Two and the Shoah — and deserves a place in literary history, says scholar Maxim D Shrayer. He recommends the best books by and about Vasily Grossman. 

Warnings about the future of society contained in novels such as Nineteen Eighty-Four may seem less important since the fall of the Soviet Union, but they are all too relevant to China today, argues the Chinese writer

Sport is central to American culture but there are surprisingly few great novels about it, says the best-selling author of The Art of Fielding. He picks the best novels with sporting themes.

The writer of the hugely successful Prime Suspect television series, Lynda La Plante, selects her own favourite crime novels. We haven’t completed the interview with her yet, but her brief email comments appear beside her choices.

The bestselling author of legal thriller Presumed Innocent tells us about his own favourite legal novels.

Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 56 short stories and four novels starring his fictional sleuth. So where to start? Michael Dirda – Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, writer and lifelong Sherlockian – gives us his personal choice of the best, and tells us more about their creator.

Why do the Tintin stories have such enduring appeal? A Tintinologist tells us what makes them special, how their creator, Hergé, came to write them, and why he was accused of being a Nazi collaborator

Queen Victoria was anything but Victorian and Lord Byron was more vulnerable than we think, says writer Jonathan Keates – who considers emails a poor substitute for a hand-written correspondence

A good thriller isn’t about the violence or bloodshed, it’s about making the reader feel off-balance and as if something isn’t quite right, says bestselling author Tess Gerritsen. She tells us about her own favourite thrillers.

The literature and reading scholar tells us about the profound effect that the rise of electronic literature has had on authors, the publishing industry and the nature of the book.

The distinguished Austen scholar Patricia Meyer Spacks  tells us about the joy of rereading Austen and the hidden layers of complexity that emerge from the writing when one does so. She chooses the best books by or about Jane Austen.

Novelist Ian McEwan talks about five of the books that have helped shape his own, from the biography of a scientific genius to a treatise on the end of time, and discusses the importance of finding “mental freedom”

We’re living through a golden age for fantasy fiction, says the author of The Magicians. Here, he tells us what makes for a good fantasy novel, and who’s staking out the future not just of fantasy but of fiction as a whole.

The Romanian-born poet tells us about his love for fantastic and magical tales – particularly bloody ones with cannibalism, necrophilia and alienated heroes.

Conventional prose fiction falls short of the mark, says the English author, who tells us about his modernist novel Umbrella, what the real character of London is, and why he can’t stand the Olympics

The biographer explores the decadence of the young and rich in 1920s London, and tells us about Evelyn Waugh’s rebellious youth, bullying disposition and later breakdown – as well as just how much (and early) he drank

A prolific writer sometimes oblivious to events going on around him, PG Wodehouse remains so well loved because of his enduring characters and inimitable style, says the editor of his letters, Sophie Ratcliffe.

Fed up of superhero films? Hiding your copy of Watchmen behind the Economist on the train? Comics are a serious literary form as well as being fun, says the author of a new book on Batman.

Paris in the 1920s was a creative melting pot, the haunt of Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce. The Yale English professor gives us a feel for what it was like to be there

F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, set during a hedonistic zenith before the Great Depression, has fresh appeal today as we face down our own crisis, says the professor of American literature

The celebrated Swedish crime-writing duo take turns to recommend gripping and grisly Scandinavian thrillers, as well as to tell us about visiting prison – and being in it

Writers in China are afraid to criticise the state and society, says London-based author Ma Jian. From the 3rd century BC to 2008, these five exceptional works show how it’s done.

The acclaimed author recommends the most exciting new writing out of India and South Asia, including accounts of 9/11 from a Pakistani perspective and an emigré’s return to an unfamiliar Bangladesh.

Who read Byron in his time? How much did a copy of Wordsworth cost? The scholar guides us through the astonishing history of reading in the Romantic period of English literature

Do you have to be cruel to be comedic? It often helps, says bestselling humour writer, Andy Borowitz. He picks his favourite comic novels.

In Russia, it’s often fallen to writers to challenge conventions and speak the truth, says the translator and biographer Rosamund Bartlett. She makes a personal selection of some of the most exhilarating Russian short fiction.

Modernism is about form more than content, says the scholar of English literature. She tells us about the history of the movement, and picks five works that exemplify or explain it

The bestselling author of The Righteous Men tells us how his other job as a political journalist helps with thriller writing, and what makes le Carré, Forsyth and Buchan such masters of their trade

Bibliotherapist Ella Berthoud prescribes some reading for love. Rekindle your relationship, remember first passions and beware obsessive love with help from these suggestions.

The author, critic and creative writing professor tells us about the battle to establish gay fiction. He recommends five novels where beautiful writing and gay themes come together.

Modern America is a story of expanding frontiers, says the bestselling author. He tells us about five novels that shed light on the social history of his adopted homeland, from the late 19th century to the Great Depression

The acclaimed novelist tells us about the authors, from Chekhov to Heller, who most influenced his own development as a writer – and reveals the secret to a well-crafted sex scene

Family dynamics are changing dramatically in our modern, workaholic age. The novelist – and sister of Steve Jobs, separated at birth – selects five works of fiction that illustrate some truths about families in all their variety

The best crime novels grip you right from the first sentence and don’t let go, says best-selling crime author, Peter James. He picks his own favourite crime novels.

The best sci-fi explores humanity’s anxieties and concerns and is in some sense about the future. But it doesn’t try to predict what’s to come. The literature professor and sci-fi writer recommends five classics of the genre.

In the decades following Italian unification, its authors starting writing in the new common language: Italian. Italy-based novelist Tim Parks introduces us to some of the best novels by some of Italy’s greatest writers.

What makes for great comic writing? Is it possible to say? The author and former Simpsons writer gives us his personal choice of five pitch-perfect examples

Jewish literature doesn’t have to be written by Jews, says the novelist, but it does have to speak to the Jewish experience. She tells us about the Jewish writing, from Chaim Potok to George Eliot, that means the most to her.

From the psychological terror of a haunted house to the spectral dread of an indescribable colour, the British horror writer recommends five disturbing tales to get you in the mood for Halloween