The Lodger review – ingenious penny dreadful take on Hitchcock’s foggy mystery

Puppetry and silent cinema techniques are used to retell Marie Belloc Lowndes’ novel and its film version in a show played for laughs rather than thrills

Venetian Vespers by John Banville review – a haunting honeymoon

This brooding tale of an Englishman’s downfall in fin-de-siècle Venice is memorably eerie – but it’s hard to care about such a pompous protagonist

What’s With Baum? by Woody Allen review – the film-maker’s late-life first novel

Good gags abound in this tale of a bespectacled Jewish writer caught up in a #MeToo takedown – just don’t expect any surprises

‘Brilliantly human’: Kiran Desai and David Szalay make Booker prize shortlist

No debut novels are among the six finalists, with established authors including Ben Markovits and previously shortlisted Andrew Miller in the running

As a Booker prize judge I helped whittle 153 books down to a shortlist of six. Here’s why you should read them

Ben Markovits, David Szalay, Kiran Desai, Andrew Miller, Susan Choi and Katie Kitamura’s books will all take you on enthralling journeys

Will There Ever Be Another You by Patricia Lockwood review – long Covid from the inside

The cult author’s autofictional follow-up to No One Is Talking About This is the story of a breakdown

Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite review – a family doomed in love

This intense follow-up to My Sister, the Serial Killer is a haunting story of heartbreak, grief and intergenerational trauma

Sexy dinosaurs, hot tigers and handsome … boats? Welcome to Chuck Tingle’s world of weird erotica

With hundreds of self-published books and one Hugo nomination, Tingle has become a beloved internet eccentric – and proof that anything can be horny if you try hard enough

Hilary Mantel championed emerging writers – a new prize in her memory will help them get published

Judged by Maggie O’Farrell, Ben Miles and Chigozie Obioma, the Hilary Mantel prize will recognise emerging talent, and pay tribute to the Wolf Hall author’s legacy

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

The Predicament by William Boyd; The Killer Question by Janice Hallett; The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman; 59 Minutes by Holly Seddon; Deadman’s Pool by Kate Rhodes

Nick Harkaway: ‘I loathed Charles Dickens – it nearly turned me off reading for ever’

The author on his secret theories about Tolkien, the most perfect and terrifying Moomin book, and how his father, John le Carré, inspired him

Fierceland by Omar Musa review – poet and rapper’s second novel pulses with life

Following two siblings who must grapple with their father’s legacy after his death, Fierceland is at its best when Musa plays with language

The Young Man by Annie Ernaux audiobook review – anatomy of an affair

The Nobel winner explores the dynamics of her relationship with a student 30 years her junior in an intimate, taboo-breaking memoir

Postures: Jean Rhys in the Modern World review – sex, squalor and jungle sweat for an eternal outsider

Artists as varied as Sarah Lucas, Gwen John and Georg Baselitz are called upon by critic-curator Hilton Als to chime with the writer of Wide Sargasso Sea

Clown Town by Mick Herron review – more fun and games with the Slow Horses

The ninth novel in the Slough House series, this tale of IRA infiltration is a perfect mix of one-liners, plot twists and real-world-tinged intrigue