Collusion by Luke Harding review – did Russia help Trump become president?
A fascinating account of the alleged links between Trump and Russia tracks the story back to its origins and separates the evidence from the fake news
The 100 best nonfiction books: No 98 – The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton (1621)
This compelling and occasionally comic study of melancholy became cult reading in the 17th century and has inspired artists from Keats to Cy Twombly
Diary of an Ordinary Schoolgirl by Margaret Forster review – a young life and a lost world
A funny self-portrait of the late novelist as a 15-year-old, turning a precocious eye on the events of 1954
At the End of the Century by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala – review
An anthology of compelling short stories from the award-winning novelist and screenwriter explores the pleasures and pain of passion
The Best of Times, the Worst of Times review – entertainingly depressing
Historian Michael Burleigh scores points on the world’s endemic political corruption, but offers the reader little in the way of solace
Sean O’Hagan’s best photography books of 2017
Studies of social tensions in the UK and US, rural Sweden by night and mafia countryside in Sicily were among the most striking collections of the year
Beneath Another Sky by Norman Davies – review
This footloose historian’s journey across the planet is gripping, gruelling – and a great read
Carrington’s Letters, edited by Anne Chisholm – review
Dora Carrington’s observations of the Bloomsbury set via her obsessive admiration for Lytton Strachey are revealing but exhausting
Collusion: How Russia Helped Trump Win the White House by Luke Harding – review
Secret meetings and dirty money in a compelling investigation of the US president’s 30-year relationship with Russia
Stories by Susan Sontag review – the great essayist’s experiments in short fiction
Marriage, loss and meeting Thomas Mann … these stories are rich in autobiographical insights, but Sontag lacks the craft to carry them off
Spinning by Tillie Walden review – portrait of adolescence on ice
An intimate graphic memoir of competitive skating feels like a coming-of-age classic
The Box of Delights review – festive treat lifts the lid on a world of wonders
Matthew Kelly plays good and evil spirits in a magical, visually arresting adaptation of John Masefield’s classic children’s book
The Story of the Face by Paul Gorman review – the original purveyor of cool
Revolutionary style bible the Face deserves a more spirited history
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz review – fiendish whodunnit
Horowitz channels Agatha Christie, with a rustic English setting, a tricksy book-within-a-book, and red herrings aplenty
A Chill in the Air by Iris Origo review – trauma and survival in war-torn Italy
One of 20th century’s great diarists provides an unflinching chronicle of life in Mussolini’s Italy