What to read to understand Jane Austen

Three books that go beneath the bonnet to shed light on the Regency author's worldview

What to read this week, from Elizabeth Kolbert to Tom Paulin

Your essential guide from The Observer’s books desk

Elizabeth Kolbert’s alarm call

Life on a Little-Known Planet documents the parlous state of the environment – and the visionaries seeking to save it

Chloé Zhao’s year of magical thinking

How dream workshops, on-set dancing and ‘tantric polarity play’ helped the director make Oscars favourite Hamnet

Julian Assange ‘has been in prison for his virtues, not his vices’

A new film claims to expose the real story behind the founder of WikiLeaks

Wendy Ide’s pick of other films: Eternity, Prime Minister, Cover-Up and more

The BFG comes to life on stage

This adaptation realises the beloved story through 16ft giants, magical illusions and masterful puppetry

‘Stoppard’s work thrilled him’: critic who spotted brilliance from the start

The Observer’s Ronald Bryden compared the playwright to Shakespeare while others were being sniffy

Ebony Scrooge – a hip-hop Dickens meets The Devil Wears Prada

ZooNation’s wonderfully imaginative take on A Christmas Carol is not as exhilarating as its initial premise