Mad Blood Stirring by Simon Mayo review – 19th-century prison drama

The radio DJ’s first novel for adults is a sprawling yarn about American prisoners of war incarcerated in Dartmoor

Motherhood by Sheila Heti review – to breed or not to breed?

A deeply ambivalent and complex study of the choice between procreation and art

Reporter by Seymour Hersh review – memoir of a giant of journalism

The reporter who exposed the My Lai massacre and the CIA’s illegal domestic spying in the 1970s continues to be a rebel outsider

Bill Murray, Jan Vogler and friends review – a curious and uniquely pointless evening

An eccentric programme of readings and music was lapped up by an audience there to gawp at a Hollywood legend

Warlight by Michael Ondaatje review – magic from a past master

Michael Ondaatje is at the peak of his powers with the story of a man piecing together his troubled adolescence

Making Oscar Wilde by Michèle Mendelssohn – review

A sinister response to Oscar Wilde’s image is revealed in a new account of his early tour of the US

The World as It Is review: Ben Rhodes’ Obama legacy defence has weak spots

The former White House aide has written a memoir and a justification which is compelling but too much on Obama’s side

The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson review – Guns! Girls! Guff!

A former US president co-writing a thriller about a US president taking on cybergeddon was so promising – but learning that the White House has a bowling alley is about as exciting as it gets

Whitstable Biennale review – art with a fish-and-chips flavour

The coastal town plays host to a biennale with a brain, where dreams take over and home is a place that may not exist

Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna – review

The story that Hans Asperger saved autistic children from the Nazis is exposed as a myth in Edith Sheffer’s new biography

Picture books for children reviews – lessons in kindness

A gentle introduction to the refugee crisis – plus tales of big hair and a baby bandit

The World As It Is: Inside the Obama White House by Ben Rhodes – review

The pleasure – and pain – of working for Obama are revealed in this compelling book by his former speechwriter and security adviser

In brief: Mirror, Shoulder, Signal; Curry: Eating, Reading and Race; The Librarian – reviews

Dorthe Nors bewitches with zingy one-liners, Naben Ruthnum explores the symbolism of curry, and Salley Vickers offers a charmingly subversive story of postwar Britain

House of Nutter: The Rebel Tailor of Savile Row by Lance Richardson – review

The enjoyable story of Tommy Nutter – flamboyant suit-maker to the stars – casts a new light on swinging London and Britain’s persecution of homosexuals

The Kites by Romain Gary review – when resistance began in the kitchen

The first English translation of the author’s work, a romance set during the second world war, is overdue but well worth the wait