‘It will renew your faith in humanity’: books to bring comfort in dark times

The best literary comfort reads rebuild our strength so we can face reality, argues novelist Francesca Segal. She picks her ultimate reading list – with help from Nick Hornby, Sathnam Sanghera and Naomi Alderman

The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – reviews roundup

Blood Over Bright Haven by ML Wang; Jackal by Erin E Adams; The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis; Curdle Creek by Yvonne Battle-Felton; The Incubations by Ramsey Campbell

Long Island by Colm Tóibín review – Jessie Buckley shines voicing the sequel to Brooklyn

The Irish actor’s nuanced narration captures the conflicting emotions in Tóibín’s tale of infidelity, homecoming and the roads not taken

Roddy Doyle: ‘A PG Wodehouse audiobook made me laugh so much I had to stop the car’

The Booker-winning author on the the joys of Flann O’Brien, the magic of EL Doctorow, and having doubts about Richard Dawkins

The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe review – ingenious cosy crime spoof

This tricksy caper ranges from 1980s Cambridge to the rise and fall of Liz Truss with entertaining results

The Party by Tessa Hadley review – a daringly old-fashioned novella

The domestic details of postwar life are closely observed in this tale of two sisters over one weekend in Bristol

Rachel Cusk wins Goldsmiths prize for novel ‘that turns the world inside out’

Parade, which focuses on three artists, all named G, takes this year’s honour for mould-breaking fiction

Herscht 07769 by László Krasznahorkai review – sinister cosmic visions

A physics student calls on Angela Merkel to help him save the world in this one-sentence onslaught from a ‘master of the apocalypse’

She’s Always Hungry by Eliza Clark review – dark delights

A bona-fide queen of body horror delves into fears and illicit desires in this engrossing short-story debut

The Party by Tessa Hadley review – sex and the postwar city

The author’s novella about two young women whose yearning for freedom comes at a price sometimes feels unconvincing and underpowered

Killing Time by Alan Bennett review – senior moments full of wit and style

The author employs his pitch-perfect repertoire of satirical skills in his first book for five years – a novella about the residents of an upmarket care home during the pandemic

Music memoirs, cooking classes and squatting at Kanye’s: the best Australian books out in November

Each month Guardian Australia editors and critics pick the upcoming titles they have already devoured – or can’t wait to get their hands on

Season of the Swamp by Yuri Herrera review – a Mexican hero in exile

This meticulous reconstruction of Benito Juárez’s 18 months in New Orleans imagines how the inequalities he encountered shaped the future for Mexico’s first indigenous president

In brief: Hum; The Life of Birds; In Writing – review

A disturbing novel about the future of AI; David Attenborough’s readable survey of birdlife; and tips for aspiring writers of all kinds

Anne Michaels: ‘Language can’t represent brutality’

The Booker-shortlisted author on her inability to compromise, her friendship with John Berger, and the last book she gave as a gift