How did a Hollywood novice who hadn’t even read the book come to direct the film version of the mega-hit Fifty Shades of Grey? Sam Taylor-Johnson reveals all.

What would you do — or not do — for a bet? Alan Perrott talked to three people who prove how serious it can be when you’re issued a dare.

Chef Gordon Ramsay has been hit with a multimillion-dollar bill in the latest round of his family feud, but he’s still very much in the game, finds Julia Llewellyn Smith.

There’s nothing sexier this season than 50 shades of beige.

Heading out for brunch? Check out the latest review in Canvas magazine for inspiration.

What makes Grumpy Cat so special? Nothing, writes Greg Dixon. His cat is far cuter.

Back in the familiar rural midwest of her previous novels, Moo, Horse Heaven and A Thousand Acres, Pulitzer prize-winner Jane Smiley presents us with the first volume of a projected trilogy.

A novel is a place where past and present versions of one person can co-exist, and in his fifth novel Andrew O'Hagan movingly explores the way the "flotsam" of a life can rise to the surface as old age and memory go about their strange and poignant work.

To modern eyes, the little wagon in a Berlin museum looks like a model of an old horse-drawn cart. Solidly made, about as big as a baby's cot, it is in fact a handcart, to be pulled by people, not animals.

Colourful, cheap and cheerful, chinoiserie ticks the boxes.

Midlife crisis? What crisis? Suzanne McFadden meets three women in their 40s reinventing their lives.

Get back to the grind with help from some high-powered accessories.

We tell 10 lies every week — but what’s the reasoning behind so many untruths, asks Olivia Goldhill.

Christchurch crime writer Paul Cleave, whose books have sold more than half a million copies, has no qualms killing people on the page. But now online piracy is killing him, he tells Linda Herrick.

Lucy Wood’s first novel is a magic realist ghost story set in Devon. Lucy Popescu went there to meet her.

In the aftermath of a reckless Christmas/New Year/summer holiday spend-up, and faced with a credit card account spinning out of control — here are some great, inexpensive buys.

Cafe Hanoi deserves its fashionable reputation.

You can leave your hat on.

As the film of their life is released, Jane Hawking recalls how she fell in love with the legendary physicist against the haunting backdrop of his developing motor neurone disease.

There’s something for everyone at this newcomer to the eastern suburbs — especially if you like tomato juice.

Every September 1, Lee Child begins work on another of his massively popular Jack Reacher mysteries. this time, he had Andy Martin looking over his shoulder.

Being world famous in New Zealand is all very well, but a new, fresh-faced wave of New Zealand actors is choosing to be world famous in Australia.

"Tell you what", write the editors of this excellent collection, is a phrase that promises "a revelation, a shift, a new truth".

I can see it plainly now. Stephen King has been playing me. The old Stephen King, the real one. I'd forgotten about him. That was his plan all along.

Porochista Khakpour's new novel is a magical realist take on 9/11.

I went to a funeral today. This is not an ideal way to kick off the year, a funeral in January.