He made us pick up a Penguin

Jeremy Lewis's fine life of Allen Lane, Penguin Special, is an elegy for the publisher who educated millions with his pioneering paperbacks, says Peter Conrad.

That was no lady

Lorna Gibb tells how William Pitt's niece defied convention and didn't give a damn in Lady Hester.

Hone is the hero …

Ben Wilson brings William Hone to vivid, vulgar life in The Laughter of Triumph, says Peter Preston.

Her back pages

Margaret Atwood collects book reviews and occasional writing on feminism and Sixties London in Curious Pursuits.

Are you looking at me?

David Smith is fascinated by Peter Bazalgette's exploration of the television genre that made him a millionaire, Billion Dollar Game.

Crackling wit

Nicholas Lezard is enthralled by a discriminating mind, a posh social life and an irrepressible sense of humour in Henry Hardy's collection of Isaiah Berlin's letters, Flourishing.

Keats’s keeper

Grant F Scott finally brings together Joseph Severn's complete letters and memoirs. Andrew Motion applauds a reappraisal of a friend in need.

Lies, damned lies and New Labour

The government stands accused of serial mendacity in Peter Oborne's vigorous critique, The Rise of Political Lying. But what about the fourth estate, asks John Kampfner.

A signal success

Colin White's exemplary collection of Nelson's letters makes for compulsive reading, says Robert McCrum.

A slob’s charter

Is Wendy Wasserstein's satirical self-help book, Sloth, worth the effort of reading? Tom Templeton isn't so sure.

Tonight, Josephine

As Max Gallo brings his biography of Napoleon Bonaparte to a triumphant close, Frank Kane salutes the immortal lad.

Bully for food

Judi Bevan loses her focus as she surveys the rise of the modern supermarket in Trolley Wars, says James Buchan.

The sole of discretion

Charles Dickens's first wife is a worthy subject for culinary inspection. Kathryn Hughes tucks into Susan M Rossi-Wilcox's Dinner for Dickens.

A life’s work

Michael Coveney enjoys Jack Rosenthal's everyday stories of abnormality in his reflexive screenplay autobiography, By Jack Rosenthal.