Passage by Colin Thubron review – mortality and memory in a gem of a novel
A terminally ill woman makes a final trip to Egypt in an exquisitely wrought portrait of end-of-life reckoning
Feminism for a World on Fire by Natasha Walter review – hope amid the hopelessness
A writer and activist links the climate crisis to battles for justice around the world in this vital book
Triage by Claudia Rankine review – how should we respond to the world’s atrocities?
The American poet and essayist weaves memoir, fiction, criticism and lyrical lament into a tale of friendship in an age of existential crisis
The Great Dictator by Matthew Sweet review – the fabulous life of Barbara Cartland
A brilliant new biography that does its subject the favour of taking her seriously – even if few else did
The Librarians: A Very Serious Comedy! review – workplace meltdown borrows from classic sitcoms
Well-tuned performances help along a familiar set of laughs as a rickety library gets a new manager and an inspection
Betrayal by Luke Harding review – could Donald Trump be a Russian asset?
A Guardian correspondent’s sobering account of the US betrayal of Ukraine – and the possible reasons behind it
The Disappearers by Marlon James review – a scorching exposé of homophobia in Jamaica
This Booker-listed epic set in Aids-era Kingston is a triumph – bitter, bawdy and ravishingly queer
From Booker-listed Marlon James to a memoir by Michael Douglas – the biggest books this autumn
Midlife meditations from Barbara Kingsolver; musical portraits by Jonathan Coe and Yiyun Li; plus memoirs from Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench – all among the coming season’s highlights
The best recent translated fiction – review roundup
The Red Book of Farewells by Pirkko Saisio; Short Circuit by Wolf Haas; Cosmos by Lucia Odoom; The Fallen Trees Are Also the Forest
Life of M by Rachel Cusk review – is this story of a film star based on Natalie Portman?
A teasing tale of the friendship between a writer and an actor explores the fallout from fame, and the blurring between pretence and reality
Blue Giant by Jordan Prosser review – would life be better on Mars?
Melancholy and humour pierce Prosser’s second novel, which swings in zany directions as its fabulous central character tries to escape the shitshows of 21st-century life
All of Us Atoms by Holly Dawson audiobook review – an extraordinary self-portrait
Helena Bonham Carter narrates the playwright’s impressionistic memoir, written as she was experiencing the loss of her memory
How I’ve Tried to Change the World by Alexei Sayle review – does protest make a difference?
The comedian charts his life in demos from 1960s Liverpool to 2020s London in this fiery and addictive book
Coyote Vs Acme review – quirky comedy returns from the dead to flip Wile E Coyote’s slapstick-violent world
After being shelved as a tax-writeoff, this Looney Tunes reboot redraws the hapless hunter as the Erin Brockovich of the cartoon world
The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore review – an ominous warning of tech takeover
A historian charts the emergence of a democracy-crushing dystopia that is – in some ways – already with us