Little Birds review – Anaïs Nin adaptation is risque and resonant

Juno Temple and Hugh Skinner star in this lush, intelligent reimagining of the author’s short stories, set in a land of unsuspected delights and fabulous degenerates

Poetry book of the month: How to Fly by Barbara Kingsolver – review

The novelist teaches lessons in miniature in this deft and entertaining collection

Bland Fanatics by Pankaj Mishra review – both obscures and illuminates

Pankaj Mishra’s insights are often valuable, but these essays on the arrogance of the west omit some key arguments

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha review – a fizzing, grisly debut

The Brooklyn-based novelist impresses with this toxic tale of four women caught in the dazzle of South Korean consumerism

Poulenc: A Biography by Roger Nichols; Poulenc: The Life in the Songs by Graham Johnson – review

Two entertaining biographies of a complex, colourful composer

In brief: Perfect Tunes; The Crown in Crisis; Chances Are – review

A mother’s case for creativity, Edward VIII revisited and a Pulitzer-winner’s nostalgic mystery

Antkind by Charlie Kaufman review – absurdism ad infinitum

The idiosyncratic screenwriter’s bloated debut novel is a slog

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue review – beauty amid horror

The Room author’s tender and evocative novel suffers from a surfeit of misery

Summer by Ali Smith review – a remarkable end to an extraordinary quartet

The last of Ali Smith’s seasonal series, a set of books that defines our fraught era, is also the first serious coronavirus novel

It Was All a Lie review: Trump as symptom not cause of Republican decline

A consultant for Bush and Romney laments the fate of his party and sees heavy defeat as the best medicine to hope for

Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce review – the value of friendship

Two ‘leftover women’ search for an undiscovered species in this touching journey of self-discovery

Intimations by Zadie Smith review – a wonderful essayist on the lockdown

Pandemic reflections and street encounters from a writer whose self-doubt is central to her talent

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart review – a rare and gritty debut

This Booker-longlisted tale of poverty and addiction in 1980s Scotland offers deep insight into the relationship between a child and a substance-abusing parent

A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville review – the untold story of an unruly woman

What would Elizabeth Macarthur, wife of notorious Australian colonist John Macarthur, say if she could set the record straight?

Toronto film festival announces line-up with Mark Wahlberg drama premiering

Halle Berry’s directorial debut also on programme but whether physical screenings will take place remains up in the air