I Made This Just For You by Chris Ames review – absurd satirical takes on the bleak absurdity of modern life

These playful and experimental short stories are set in a distorted but plausible version of our deeply online world – but tenderness is never far

Air by Christian Kracht review – a metaphysical jigsaw puzzle

A portal opens from our modern world of data centres and interior design into a medieval fantasy realm, in this playfully surreal tale from the author of Eurotrash

Venus, Vanishing by Rebecca Birrell review – art, desire and the rise of the Third Reich

This portrait of a Jewish painter in bohemian Berlin is filled with insightful observations

Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead review – final part of the Harlem Trilogy is freewheeling fun

The grit and grandeur of 80s New York drive this rollicking story of an underground wheeler-dealer

Yellow Pine by Claire Vaye Watkins review – messy portrait of protest subculture

Watkins should have been the ideal writer for this sympathetic take on new age spirituality and desert eco-activism – but the results are confusing

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

The Runner by Scarlett Thomas; The Madman by Henning Mankell; Everything She Didn’t Say by Jane Casey; The Spy and the Snake by MJ Robotham; Murder at the End of the World by Akane Araki

The Red Mouth by Sheila Armstrong review – profound exploration of Ireland’s deep time

Sinister bogland discoveries haunt the intersecting lives of four characters in this meditative, exquisitely written tale

Worry Doll by Laura McPhee-Browne review – a sensual, sinister novel about the horrors of desire

Two women meet on a train and tumble into an all-consuming affair told from both sides – who have very different stories

Rebecca Perry wins Waterstones debut fiction prize for ‘delicious and dream-like’ novel

May We Feed the King, about a museum curator and a medieval monarch, was praised by judges for its ‘crisp, cool prose’ and ‘poet’s eye for detail’

Grief Is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter review – a bravura rendering of bereavement

Actor Russell Tovey’s narration crackles with compassion and menace in this magical story of a widower and his young sons in mourning

A voyage of discovery: an idiot’s guide to reading The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of the ancient Greek epic has sparked a new appetite for an old classic. Here are the translations, podcasts and audiobooks that make the Homeric world more approachable

Thursday briefing: Why magical kingdoms feel more relatable than real‑world romance​ for today’s young women

In today’s newsletter: The boom in romantasy fiction reveals a thirst for escape from the political misalignment plaguing many modern relationships

The First House by Avni Doshi review – an intense portrait of marriage and freedom

In the follow-up to the Booker-shortlisted Burnt Sugar, a woman seeks liberation from her controlling relationships

Nine out of 10 bestselling novels in UK have one thing in common: a woman is murdered

Author Wendy Jones highlighted the trend in an Instagram post: ‘What is going on here?’

Goodbye Chinatown by Kit Fan review – a chef’s elegy to London

Skipping between London, Shanghai and Hong Kong, this tale of family migration, politics and food has plenty of flavour and fire