Young adult books roundup – reviews
Two high school murder mysteries, one all-female detective agency, and an audacious heist on the Titanic
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis review – an inspired fever dream of a book
A teenage Bret and his uber-privileged friends cruise around 80s LA while a serial killer stalks the city in a gleefully meta return to form by the author of American Psycho
The Written World and the Unwritten World by Italo Calvino review – a box of delights
Essays from the Italian polymath offer a penetrating exploration of the art of reading and writing
The best recent poetry – review roundup
The Book of Desire by Meena Kandasamy; The Translations of Seamus Heaney; Mother of Flip-Flops by Mukahang Limbu; White/Other by Fran Lock; and Arctic Elegies by Peter Davidson
The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper audiobook review – a starry midwinter’s tale
Toby Jones, Simon McBurney and Noah Alexander are among the cast in this atmospheric telling of Susan Cooper’s fantasy novel
Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey review – a comic take on newly single life
A sardonic story of divorce, depression and the road to recovery by the Schitt’s Creek screenwriter
A Year to Change Your Mind by Dr Lucy Maddox review – a way through
Twelve month’s worth of psychological tips from someone you’d want on your team in a crisis
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer review – surviving slavery
Set in the Caribbean around the time of the Slavery Abolition Act, Shearer’s powerful debut novel follows a mother’s journey to reunite with her children
Awe by Dacher Keltner review – the transformative power of wonder
A psychology professor’s investigation of the mysterious emotion that may hold the key to a more fulfilling life
Unfinished Business by Michael Bracewell review – a melancholy glamour
The cultural critic weaves a bleakly nostalgic tale of a middle-aged outsider stranded by dislocation and regret
The Age of Interconnection by Jonathan Sperber review – a breathless race through recent history
This sweeping survey of the post-war period contains fascinating insights but lacks an organising principle
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis review – a triumphant return to form
Ellis’s first novel in 13 years brilliantly fictionalises the secrets and desires of his high school years and the birth of his dark literary persona
Sugar Street by Jonathan Dee review – on the run and off the grid
A propulsive post-heist thriller that functions as a bravura exercise in generating suspense
Artist by Yeong-shin Ma – middle-aged men behaving badly
This darkly comic tale of three hapless and macho males fixes a boldly satirical eye on Korean society
Bedtime Story by Chloe Hooper review – humanity in extremis
In this striking voyage of discovery, Hooper turns to children’s authors to explain her husband’s leukaemia to their sons