That Old Country Music by Kevin Barry – beautifully pitched short stories
Themes of love and loneliness, doom and desire are explored in a richly comic collection from an Irish maestro
The Snow Ball by Brigid Brophy review – a swirling, sensual feast
This timely reissue of Brophy’s 1964 masterpiece transports us to a New Year’s Eve masquerade ball full of romance and eroticism
UK’s public libraries record another year of cuts, with yet more on the way
Falls in funding were matched by drops in borrowing, with budgets for next year set to fall by an average of 14%
A Christmas Carol review – clever multimedia reworking of Dickens
With dance, silent cinema and collage, Jacqui and David Morris’s version of the classic story is never less than enthralling
The Human Cosmos by Jo Marchant review – learn from the stars
From Palaeolithic paintings to astrophysics … a glittering history takes in explorers, aliens and a world vanishing from view
An Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky review – it can’t last
This playful meditation on lost objects, from paintings to actors and islands, is a satisfying mix of history, imagination and detail
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam review – an X-ray of America
This page-turning thriller about class and race in the midst of unfolding catastrophe explores stasis, indecision and the agonies of parenting
The Free Speech Wars review – from censorship to cancel culture
A stimulating guide, edited by Charlotte Lydia Riley, unpacks the arguments that are raging around free speech
Should We Fall Behind by Sharon Duggal review – home and homelessness
This intensely humane second novel, focused on the city’s ‘invisibles’, amplifies the questions Covid-19 has brought into sharp focus
Dirt by Bill Buford review – how to cook like a French chef
The American writer suffers mockery and swallows chef ‘philosophy’ as he sets out to master high-craft cooking in Lyon
The best recent thrillers – review roundup
A Chicago cop causes ripples in a remote Irish village, and darkness descends on Dartmoor
The Arrest by Jonathan Lethem review – a retrofuturistic ride
The American author imagines a comic-book post-apocalyptic future on a New England farm
Collected Stories by Shirley Hazzard review – testament to a rare talent
The Australian-American writer’s short fiction is full of precisely observed studies of thwarted connection
The Walker by Matthew Beaumont review – an urban wanderland
Beaumont draws on multiple literary sources in his paean to the joys of thinking while pounding the city streets
In brief: The Nolan Variations; Paris By Starlight; Nat Tate – review
Tom Shone’s fascinating study of film director Christopher Nolan