I was a teenage nail biter
Colin Wilson's claims to intellectual greatness in his memoir, Dreaming to Some Purpose, are fatally undermined - by the author himself
The Quaker who went on the warpath
Ben Macintyre tells how a God-fearing American became an Afghan princeling in Josiah the Great
This was no dumb blonde
Sarah Churchwell's The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe is the most comprehensive life of the iconic movie star yet, says Chloe Fox
Hellé-raiser
Miranda Seymour revels in The Bugatti Queen, the tale of a shameless former stripper who won the world's first Grand Prix for women
The man behind The Magus
Eileen Warburton's biography of John Fowles and his own journals reveal the personal dramas from which his best work has been made, says John Mullan
Only an Irish clown
Josh Lacey appreciates Ian Pindar's James Joyce, a pragmatic guide to the great writer's works
Head and tail
Mark Cocker assesses two views of Captain Cook in Peter Aughton's Resolution and Nicholas Thomas's Discoveries
Unconventional communication
Edward Greenfield enjoys a contrast of styles in Kevin Bazzana's biography of Glenn Gould, Wondrous Strange, and Susan Tomes's meditation on the art of the piano, Beyond the Notes
Spooks on Stella
Former MI5 boss Stella Rimington publishes her first spy thriller next month. So does it shed new light on the murky world of espionage? We asked a few secret service experts to review it.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón review – a triumph of imagination
One man’s compulsion to find the truth leads to devilish encounters
Sylvia’s other half
Diane Middlebrook revisits a much mythologised couple with a fresh look at Ted Hughes's poems and other writings. Haunted by Plath's presence, they reveal a mythic view of himself as her husband
From a pawn to a king
Paul Preston's biography of King Juan Carlos of Spain tells us much about the history of Spain and the public career of a man determined to be king. But the private man remains elusive, says Piers Brendon
Rare bird of the islands
A travel writer, memoirist, poet and award-winning novelist, James Hamilton-Paterson worked as a hospital porter and teacher before he left the UK 25 years ago. He now divides his time between Tuscany and the Philippines. Though regarded by many as one of our finest prose stylists, his reclusiveness has placed him at the edge of the cultural mainstream. Ian Thomson reports on a literary loner
Dead calm
The Executioner’s Song, his spare, quiet retelling of the life of a double murderer is one of Norman Mailer’s best works, but he never rated it himself. Gordon Burn wonders why
How baby hates Barthes time
Steven Poole is amused by Glyph, Percival Everett's enjoyable satire on poststructuralism that features a sarcastic infant genius