The Season by Helen Garner – a ‘nanna’s book about footy’ from an Australian literary great

In her first book since This House of Grief, the author spends a season watching her grandson play Australian rules football. The scope may sound narrow but she is working in epic mode

The best poetry books of 2024

The joy of house parties, an email to an estate agent, tales from a billionaire’s dolls and more

Five of the best sports books of 2024

Tales of Ohio hoop dreams, Joseph O’Neill’s football-accented new novel and the effect of the climate crisis on sport

The best ideas books of 2024

Richard Dawkins’s greatest hits, the diaries of a sociopath and a history of the gut

Over the Rainbow by Alex James review – blessed is Blur’s cheesemaker

The Britpop bass player’s engaging memoir of the last Blur reunion reads like a freewheeling adventure without consequences – except when he crosses ‘the boss’

The best crime and thrillers of 2024

A choice of whodunnits, a return for le Carré’s Smiley, and dark, disturbing encounters in the woods

Undefeatable: Odesa in Love & War by Julian Evans review – a ‘sleeping beauty’ now besieged

A stylish love letter to the Ukrainian port charts its transformation from exotic mafia capital to beacon of freedom and, now, battered Russian target

Five of the best science fiction books of 2024

From a post-apocalyptic dystopia to a brilliant time-travel debut, a far-future take on humanity and more

Five of the best romance books of 2024

Wedding mayhem, a story of lifelong love and fake‑relationship comedy are among the highlights

The best graphic novels of 2024

Arthurian legend, dark family secrets, monsters, princesses and a Russian detective in this year’s picks

Madame Choi and the Monsters by Patrick Spät and Sheree Domingo review – the stuff of blockbusters

The astonishing real-life tale of how North Korea kidnapped an actor and her film director ex-husband makes for a fascinating graphic history

Treasure Island review – with a yo-ho-ho and the spirit of adventure

Duncan McLean’s riotous adaptation begins in a care home for retired pirates, from which the resourceful heroes set sail in a washtub buoyed by imagination

Stranger than Fiction: Lives of the Twentieth-Century Novel review – 100 years of magical thinking

Edwin Frank’s finely judged survey of modern fiction from Dostoevsky to Sebald will have you reaching for novels you hadn’t thought about in years

Emma review – a Regency comedy as light as a pillow fight

Set in a nonspecific Austenland inspired more by Hollywood than history, this is an energetic, puppyish production that is easy to like

Every Valley: The Story of Handel’s Messiah review – hallelujah! A fresh take on the composer’s much-loved work

By revealing the murky circumstances in which it was created, Charles King’s fascinating history of the oratorio shows it in a new light