Slack to the future
Hello Laziness, Corinne Maier's hymn to slacking, makes for depressing reading, says Rafael Behr.
Out of focus
Pierre Assouline's snapshot of the life of Henri Cartier-Bresson lacks definition, says Peter Conrad.
The fire behind the pacific prelate
Anthony Howard's delightful biography of Basil Hume captures all the humanity of the 'monk cardinal', says Ned Temko.
It was written in the stars
Biographies of Fred Hoyle from Simon Mitton and Jane Gregory tell the tale of a slighted genius, says Robin McKie.
How the Golden State was tarnished
Kevin Starr and Gary Indiana paint a picture of a society in turmoil in contrasing accounts of modern California, Coast of Dreams and Schwarzenegger Syndrome.
Making up for lost time
Michela Wrong on Hannah Pool's My Father's Daughter, a British fashion journalist's unsettling quest to find her Eritrean family.
Class action
Ian Davidson's hugely readable biography, Voltaire in Exile, is a perfect example of age leading to wisdom, says Nicholas Lezard.
A peculiar brilliance
Frances Wilson on Lisa Chaney's Hide and Seek with Angels, another attempt to defy JM Barrie's curse.
The poet laid bare
The true nature of Robert Lowell is exposed in Saskia Hamilton's riveting collection of his letters, says Michael Hofmann.
Hero worship
Carl Wilkinson is swept off his feet by Lucy Hughes-Hallett's survey of supermen, Heroes.
Looking for love
Family Wanted, Sara Holloway's anthology of adoption stories, is a neccessary but often challenging work, says Tracy McVeigh.
Compare and contrast
Likening the Israelis' treatment of Palestinians with the Holocaust is outrageous to most Jews. But Jacqueline Rose has dared to do just that in The Question of Zion, says Rafael Behr.
In iPod we trust
Sarah Boden enjoys iPod, Therefore I Am, Dylan Jones's gentle, nerdish love letter to a digital gadget.
Too many bones, too little meat
In Karolyn Shindler's Discovering Dorothea, a pioneering fossil-hunter's heart remains hidden, says Kathryn Hughes.
Naval gazing
As the 200th anniversary of Nelson's death approaches, Geoffrey Moorhouse sails through a fleet of books about the man and his time.