Other Worlds Than These by Stephen King and Peter Straub review – a self-indulgent finale to the Talisman trilogy

There are moments of shivering joy as the protagonist of two enduring classics, Jack Sawyer, returns – but this time his journey feels endlessly repetitive

Blockers by Michael Lewis review – the quiet heroes who tried to stop Doge

The author of Moneyball brings his exceptional narrative skills to bear on Musk’s anti-government crusade

Holding Lightning by Emily Lordi review – an intimate portrait of Whitney Houston

An empathetic biography of the the singer recasts her tumultuous later career as a triumph of self-expression

Partita By Barbara Kingsolver review – a midlife follow-up to Demon Copperhead

The sex writing threatens to throw the novel off-kilter, but there are rich rewards in this tale of music and middle-aged compromises

The Housekeeper by Rose Tremain review – a bloodless origin story for Du Maurier’s Rebecca

The novelist has expanded her devastating 2014 short story about an imagined affair between Daphne du Maurier and a fictional Polish-Jewish housekeeper

Sleeping Beauties by David Byrne review – a quirky journey through the afterlife of invention

The Talking Heads frontman considers dormant ideas that made a comeback – from Indian irrigation to Kafka

Best Australian books out in October: Magda Szubanski, delicious recipes and a picture book ‘masterpiece’

Each month Guardian Australia editors and critics pick the upcoming titles they have devoured – or can’t wait to get their hands on

John Cooper Clarke looks back: ‘Getting older sucks – it’s marginally better than being dead’

The punk poet on his heroin years, dressing like Ronnie Wood, and achieving his boyhood ambition

The best recent poetry – review roundup

Have It by John Cooper Clarke; The Dodo Stories by Mary Mulholland; Red River Valley by Ian McMillan; Some Sacred Harbour by Roger Robinson; Otherwhere by Carolyn Forché

Murder Before Evensong review – the Rev Richard Coles’s village mystery squeezes into cosy theatre

Ian Hallard impresses in a thoughtful adaptation that sometimes strains under a villageful of suspects, victims and doubling actors

Rhapsody: A Manifesto by Alice Oswald review – a history of the spoken word, from Homer to Ted Hughes

A twisting, beguiling investigation into the art of poetry that ends in a call to arms on behalf of the natural world

The Long Cloud by Hector MacKenzie review – there’s only so much depth to a himbo

This wry debut novel about a male model’s inner life, written in lowercase fragments, has tender insights but isn’t as profound as it aims to be

The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson audiobook review – a Caribbean child’s-eye view of 60s Bradford

The author captures the comedy and cruelty in this tenderly written coming-of-age tale

Extra Geography review – a wickedly funny lesson in sex, class and female friendship

A boarding-school escapade becomes a wonderfully acted coming-of-age comedy, as two best friends find their world threatened by desire and adulthood

Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie review – terrifying and inspiring story of survival

Alex Gibney’s documentary follows the celebrated author’s life up to and after the attack, but what shines through is Rushdie’s remarkable courage