Tom’s Crossing by Mark Z Danielewski – House of Leaves author returns with a 1200-page western

A quarter century after that landmark cult novel, this new epic has aspects of brilliance but seems designed for academic study rather than readerly enjoyment

Queen Esther by John Irving review – a disappointing companion to The Cider House Rules

The once-great author revisits St Cloud’s orphanage all too briefly, in a novel that begins with an adopted girl but wanders all over the place

Winter in Sokcho review – atmospheric slow-burner about family and intimacy in South Korean border city

Koya Kamura’s debut film is about shared identities at the centre of quiet, chilly drama as an enigmatic French writer visits the eponymous town

Book of Lives by Margaret Atwood review – the great novelist reveals her hidden side

A sharp, funny and engaging autobiography from one of the towering literary figures of our age

The best recent poetry – review roundup

Namanlagh by Tom Paulin; Foretokens by Sarah Howe; Maryville by Joelle Taylor; Hekate by Nikita Gill; Goatsong by Phoebe Giannisi

Attention by Anne Enright review – sparkling reflections on life and literature

Unabashed and morally generous, the Booker winner writes like a sharp, funny, fallen angel

Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah audiobook review – coming-of-age saga in Tanzania

Three young people step boldly into their adult lives in this elegantly narrated novel from the Nobel laureate

Last One Out by Jane Harper review – satisfying thriller lacks the heft of her previous novels

The Australian crime writer’s latest is less about the dead than it is about the living, in a dilapidated town left suffocating in the aftermath of tragedy

Heart the Lover by Lily King review – a love story to treasure

A companion novel to the brilliant Writers & Lovers, this delightfully witty tale of college romance matures into midlife poignancy

The Line of Beauty review – Hollinghurst’s Gatsby-esque social satire is a class act

Jack Holden has elegantly adapted Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker winner about class envy, gay culture and political scandal in 80s Britain

Saltwash by Andrew Michael Hurley review – raw, dark folk horror confronts mortality

This wildly atmospheric tale of a reunion of dying people in a crumbling seaside hotel borrows tropes from cosy crime, but is truly chilling

Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith review – essays for an age of anxiety

From cultural appropriation to gender, Smith nails the politics of creativity. But on actual politics, she is less assured

Teenage Daydream by Debsey Wykes review – coming of age in an all-girl guitar band

Dolly Mixture’s singer and bassist looks back on their time chasing mainstream success and facing down outrageous sexism

The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie – a haunting coda to a groundbreaking career

From an afterlife fantasy to a tale of loss in Mumbai, death is a recurring theme in this story collection – an echo of the novelist at his peak

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc review – gore-soaked demonic anime squats in the manosphere

Tatsuki Fujimoto’s coming-of-age saga continues with a surreal encounter with a chainsaw-wielding demon living in a teenager’s soul