Our History of the 20th Century by Travis Elborough review – a story woven from 100 journal entries
An intriguing look at the making of modern Britain, told through a variety of personal observations
Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day – review
Taking one tune at a time, Clemency Burton-Hill explores how people have used the power of music to connect for a thousand years
Goodbye Christopher Robin review – delightful take on the difficult birth of Winnie-the-Pooh
The sunlight is dappled with darkness in the story of AA Milne’s famous creation and its effect on the son who inspired him
Mrs Osmond by John Banville – what Isabel Archer did next
John Banville’s masterly ‘sequel’ to Henry James’s The Portrait of a Lady reveals what became of his soul-searching heroine
Anthony Powell: Dancing to the Music of Time by Hilary Spurling – review
This affectionate life of Anthony Powell succeeds in restoring the reputation of the witty postwar novelist
The Rub of Time by Martin Amis review – a lit crit lion bares his claws
Insight vies with self-regard in this anthology of essays on everything from poker to porn
Universe review: our starry night, seen from all angles
A new Phaidon photobook draws from the worlds of astronomy and art to create a complete, beautiful picture of how we see space and ourselves within it
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan review – remarkable cinematic scope
The author of A Visit from the Goon Squad returns with a more conventional historical novel following the lives of a family in Brooklyn during and after the Depression
Goodbye Christopher Robin review – Winnie the Pooh’s hunny pot joylessly stirred
The story of AA Milne’s difficult relationship with his son is a bizarrely clenched and twee heritage drama that wallows in misery
The New Urban Crisis by Richard Florida review – ‘flawed and elitist ideas’
This limited survey of the effects of inequality and high house prices in cities is part of the problem, not the solution
Velkom to Inklandt by Sophie Herxheimer review – following in Grandma’s footsteps
An uplifting collection told in the voice of the author’s German Jewish grandmother. Read it aloud for best effect
Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout review – a moving return to the midwest
Returning to the small Illinois town of her previous book, the stories in this novel can feel a little overfamiliar, but they are beautifully told
South and West: From a Notebook by Joan Didion review – back to the future of the US
These prescient essays from 1970 record the California writer’s reflections as she travelled through America’s ‘gothic’ deep south
The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst – the work of a master
Spanning two generations of gay life, Hollinghurst’s tale of dreaming spires and secrets is his greatest novel yet
Unbelievable review: Katy Tur’s Trump tale relives an utterly insane campaign
NBC reporter writes with the bravery and wit she showed as Trump and his fans attacked her. Perhaps inadvertently, she also exposes the worrying decline of broadcast news itself