Book clinic: what to read on a road trip in the deep south
From William Faulkner to John Kennedy Toole, Alex Preston selects authors who evoke America’s civil rights history
God Save Texas by Lawrence Wright review – the future of America?
This hymn to his complicated home state by the author of The Looming Tower is a pleasing blend of memoir, reportage and history
See What Can Be Done by Lorrie Moore – wit without malice
A collection of astringent, exhilarating essays covers advice for aspiring writers, The Wire and other TV series and the reputation of literary greats
Sabrina by Nick Drnaso review – an extraordinary graphic novel
A clever and chilling analysis of the nature of trust and truth and the erosion of both in the age of the internet
I Still Dream by James Smythe review – the catastrophic rise of AI
Sophisticated artificial intelligence and societal meltdown are vividly imagined in this cinematic disaster novel
The best recent thrillers – review roundup
Firefly by Henry Porter; Darling by Rachel Edwards; Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee; The Man Between by Charles Cumming; Incorruptible by Barbara Nadel; The Wanted by Robert Crais
Call Me by Your Name author André Aciman picks five books about first love
Unconsummated passions, destructive obsessions, all-consuming desire … Aciman chooses five books about the intensity of a once-in-a-lifetime love
Less by Andrew Sean Greer review – a literary skewering of stealthy genius
Greer’s Pulitzer-winning satirical novel tracks a lovelorn writer on a cathartic voyage of self-discovery
Milkman by Anna Burns review – creepy invention at heart of an original, funny novel
A young woman is forced into a relationship with an older man during the Troubles in Northern Ireland in this tale of tribalism and hope
Rock and Roll Is Life by DJ Taylor review – a tribute to the best second-rate band of the 70s
A dazzlingly playful rollercoaster tribute to a fictional British supergroup captures an era both bacchanalian and oddly innocent
The Ashtray by Errol Morris review – revenge against Thomas Kuhn
For the film-maker, Kuhn is ‘The Man Who Denied Reality’, whose relativism opened the door to fake news. The trouble is, he is totally wrong
Mistaken Identity by Asad Haider review – the best criticism of identity politics
This riveting and inspiring study of race and class in the age of Trump argues that an emphasis on identity should lead to one on solidarity
Speculative biology: understanding the past and predicting our future
A new edition of After Man by Dougal Dixon, a landmark piece of speculative biology which influenced a generation of palaeontologists, has been released
American Histories by John Edgar Wideman review – an immense and moving jazz riff
These haunting, irresistible short stories interrogate the consequences of violence against a backdrop of African American history and family tragedy
Whistle in the Dark by Emma Healey review – satisfying, cathartic mystery
A desperate mother seeks to understand why her teenage daughter briefly disappeared in Healey’s follow-up to her Costa award debut