Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner review – the last days of the Americans

Rachel Kushner's first novel is an epic and enjoyable look at wealth tainted by loss in expatriate Cuba. By Anne Enright

A Sting in the Tale review – a book to make you bee-conscious

Nicholas Lezard's paperback of the week: Dave Goulson presents an entertaining, fascinating and important study of the plight of the bumblebee

The Valley review – ‘meticulous and magically intimate’

Richard Benson's memoir of a century in the life of his South Yorkshire family has a novelistic brilliance, writes Rachel Cooke

Maggie and Me review – ‘a lightness of touch and warm humour’

Damian Barr's coming-of-age memoir is warm and compelling but ends somewhat jarringly, writes Ben East

Running Wild review – eerie images of a girls-only world

Frances Kearney's strange and beautiful photographs are a kind of conceptual meditation on childhood, says Sean O'Hagan

The Temporary Gentleman review – Sebastian Barry’s hard-drinking, continent-spanning love story

Kate Kellaway enjoys a novel with pleasures similar to those of reading Jane Austen

The Knowledge review – what to do come the apocalypse

Lewis Dartnell's guide to surviving Armageddon doesn't quite live up to its title, but it makes for a troubling read, writes Iain Morris

The Edible Atlas review – it’s gastronomic heaven

Mina Holland tours the world for this entertaining yet educational store of food and cultural knowledge, writes Joanna Blythman

Can’t and Won’t review – Lydia Davis drops her guard

The American writer's latest short stories have lost some of their humour but hint at new depths, writes William Skidelsky

The Man Who Couldn’t Stop review – David Adam’s compelling study of OCD

Case studies including Churchill, Nikola Tesla and Hans Christian Andersen offer fascinating insights into OCD, writes Matt Haig

The Sea review – ‘lugubriously literary’ adaptation of John Banville novel

Ciarán Hands is a little too insistent in his grief in this glum bereavement drama, writes Jonathan Romney

War. What Is It Good for? review – the productive role of military conquest

Does it matter if 50 million people die, asks Ben Shephard. Not if you take the quantitative approach to history

The People’s Platform review – an ‘invaluable primer’ for understanding the networked world

Astra Taylor's valuable study reveals how our idealistic hopes for the internet were undone by corporate greed, writes John Naughton

Bodies of Light by Sarah Moss review – ‘a hard-working novel about hard-working women’

Historical detail comes to the fore in this story of familial violence and female emancipation in Victorian Manchester, writes Alexandra Harris

The Cambridge spy ring: what the biographers say

As a brace of new biographies and a television series spotlight the ruthless espionage of Kim Philby, Richard Norton-Taylor examines our fascination with the Cambridge Five