An Event, Perhaps by Peter Salmon review – a timely biography of Jacques Derrida
A slim intellectual Life effectively summarises Derrida’s thought and the origins of deconstruction, but is frustratingly reticent about the texture of his life
Factory 19 by Dennis Glover review – an Orwellian dystopia in Tasmania’s near future
Gig economy burnout and pre-digital nostalgia drive the creation of a low-tech refuge for ‘the disrupted’ in Glover’s second novel
A Promised Land by Barack Obama review – an impressive but incomplete memoir
Gary Younge on a memoir with vivid detail and captivating pillow talk, but one that leaves out too much to give a clear view of Obama’s first term
Strongmen review: a chilling history for one nation no longer under Trump
Ruth Ben-Ghiat delivers a superb examination of how close the US came to fascism – and how it has propped it up before
News and How to Use It by Alan Rusbridger review – an insider’s appeal to sceptics
The former Guardian editor’s insights into journalism and how it must regain the public’s trust are perceptive and reflect a chaotic and messy business
Dearly by Margaret Atwood review – the experience of a lifetime
Dedicated to her partner, Atwood’s first poetry collection in more than 10 years is wry and entertaining
Walking With Ghosts by Gabriel Byrne review – an elegy for Ireland
The celebrated actor brings his youth in Dublin to vivid life in a tender account of how failing as a priest and a plumber led him to Hollywood
In brief: Lost Cat; Lake of Urine; LEL – review
Mary Gaitskill’s missing pet prompts an essay on love
God 99 by Hassan Blasim review – brutal take on refugee trauma
This overwhelming novel by ‘Iraq’s Irvine Welsh’ captures the alienation of people exiled by conflict
A Promised Land by Barack Obama review – behind the power and the pomp
America’s former commander-in-chief offers a poetic, introspective account of his childhood and first term in the White House
Island Dreams by Gavin Francis; I Am an Island by Tamsin Calidas – review
The reality of solitude and the beauty of islands animate these two different but highly absorbing memoirs
William S Burroughs and the Cult of Rock’n’Roll by Casey Rae review – countercultural hero
From Bowie to Cobain, heavy metal to Blade Runner – how the Naked Lunch author changed pop culture
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom review – Chadwick Boseman glorious in his final film role
The movie version of August Wilson’s story of the blues, starring Boseman and a tremendous Viola Davis, is a ferocious opera of passion and pain
Perfect pairings: books that combine wine and food
Take a deep-dive into ‘flavour’, the buzz word for this season
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Searcher by Tana French; These Women by Ivy Pochoda; The Butcher of Berner Street by Alex Reeve; The Package by Sebastian Fitzek; One By One by Ruth Ware