Women in Dark Times review – a wilfully obtuse feminist study
Rachel Cooke: Jacqueline Rose wants her book to be a clarion call for a new feminism. But it is long-winded, precious and paradoxical
Leonard Cohen: a life as an outsider
As the singer and poet turns 80 and releases his 13th studio album, Sean O’Hagan explores the life of pop’s outsider as revealed in a new book of rarely seen photographs
The Drop by Dennis Lehane review – bars, baseball and gangsters
In his final role, James Gandolfini stars in the film version of this smart, grubby and enjoyable novel set in a Boston bar used for money drops by Chechen gangsters, writes James Smart
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate by Naomi Klein – review
Klein wants this book to be read by people who don't read climate-change books – it addresses a potential catastrophe yet is calm and welcoming, writes Jenny Turner
Faith and Wisdom in Science by Tom McLeish, review – rich and discursive
Tim Radford: McLeish doesn’t buy the argument that religion is about turning untested belief into truth. Science, he points out, also makes claims that turn out to be false
The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq review – a cheerfully bizarre captivity
The French novelist upends Stockholm syndrome and charms his captors in this uproarious docu-fantasy, writes Peter Bradshaw
Mr Mac and Me by Esther Freud review – meeting Charles Rennie Mackintosh
An oblique portrait of the Scottish architect and designer's retreat to the Suffolk coast during the first world war. By Alfred Hickling
Women in Clothes is a banal and stunningly self-important book
What could have been a thoughtful exploration of self-awareness and self-design is nothing more than an exercise in narcissism, writes Rebecca Carroll
The Sense of Style review – Steven Pinker’s comedy of linguistic bad manners
The psycholinguist’s guide to modern usage is at its best when highlighting hilarious gaffes, says Peter Conrad
The Undertaking review – Audrey Magee’s German wartime love story is ‘authentic, relevant and powerful’
Audrey Magee's spare and resonant tale finds ordinary, flawed Germans swept up in the horrors of Nazi Germany, writes Ben East
The Girl Next Door review – Ruth Rendell’s acute investigation of old age
The veteran crime writer explores death from a different angle in her latest novel, writes Claire Hazelton
Hows Your Father review – Rose Boyt’s overwhelming account of a poor Hackney family
Rose Boyt's stream-of-consciousness narratives of inner-city deprivation and depravity veer close to farce, writes Grace McCleen
A History of Loneliness review – John Boyne’s guilty Irish priest’s tale
John Boyne explores the Catholic church's abuse of power through the voice of an ageing, disillusioned priest, writes JP O'Malley
A Buzz in the Meadow review – a passionate plea on behalf of our six-legged friends
Dave Goulson’s wide-ranging essays about the insect kingdom and the impact of neonicotinoids on the natural world are important and, at times, terrifying, writes Tim Dee
Head of State review – Andrew Marr’s off-the-wall foray into fiction
Andrew Marr’s debut novel sadly lacks plot, plausibility and pretty much anything in the way of writerly craft, writes Justin Cartwright