The true voice of the liberal left
Thomas Frank, not Michael Moore, is the most incisive writer on contemporary America. Nick Cohen follows his account of the rise of the right, What's the Matter with America?
Ol’ Blue Eyes is back… again
Vanessa Thorpe picks through Charles Pignon's compendium of never-before-seen mementos, The Sinatra Treasures.
The long road home
An intensely private man, Philip Roth is one of America's greatest writers. He is dedicated, even obsessive, about his work but loathes the fame that attends it. After spells in eastern Europe and the UK, his return to New York marked a period of creative renewal as he reflected on the US through the lens of history. His latest novel revisits - and reimagines - his childhood.
Dark hearts
Alexandra Fuller takes Peter Longworth on a hunt for demons in Scribbling the Cat, a grim journey through Zimbabwe's past.
Listening in
Peter Bradshaw applauds Hanif Kureishi's prickly but moving evocation of his father, My Ear at His Heart.
Mirror writing
A thoughtful, witty book about journalism? Roy Greenslade is pleasantly surprised by Andrew Marr's My Trade.
The burden of history
Linda Grant is moved by Amos Oz's quest to understand his mother's life and death against the background of the establishment of Israel, A Tale of Love and Darkness.
Small world
As a child in Zanzibar, Abdulrazak Gurnah did not plan to become a writer, but in England he felt overwhelmed by the sense of 'a life left behind', and his estrangement became a source of inspiration.
Moth to the flame
As a young writer in Buenos Aires in the 1920s, Jorge Luis Borges was captivated by the poet Norah Lange. Edwin Williamson, in an exclusive extract from his new biography, argues that passion and rejection changed the course of his career.
Plum on target
Television's most recent Jeeves finds Robert McCrum's new life of PG Wodehouse to be a masterly appraisal.
A good man in a time of terror
Booker-nominee Ronan Bennett's historical tale, Havoc in its Third Year, is chillingly modern, says Paul Taylor.
With just one puff, he was a superhero
Daniel Clowes upends the superhero genre in the latest instalment of the Eightball series, The Death Ray.
Plum pudding
Nigel Williams tucks into Robert McCrum's satisfying life of a comic master, Wodehouse.
Bodies of evidence
Kathryn Hughes on Ronan Bennett's evocative tale of power and Puritanism, the Booker-longlisted Havoc in its Third Year.
Oh, mother
Joanna Briscoe is moved by the honesty and intimacy of contrasting tales of motherhood from Anne Enright and Siân Busby.