Superman contract for anti-gay author causes growing anger
Orson Scott Card's express opposition to gay rights has prompted 10,000-strong petition to DC Comics
Harry Styles, if you’re reading this – less Socrates and better lyrics, please
Ally Fogg: Alain de Botton is wrong to ask the One Direction star to tell his fans to read Hegel. Styles just needs to get them all thinking
Lucretius, part 4: things fall apart
Emma Woolerton: How to believe: A life too long lived is a misery in itself. When the body dies, the soul disperses as it is mortal like the world around us
The Blind Man’s Garden by Nadeem Aslam – review
Though rich in language and symbolism, Nadeem Aslam's novel shies away from its own contradictions, writes Adam Mars-Jones
Kickabout that captured futility of first world war to be replayed for centenary
Exclusive: Christmas truce matches to be recreated on Belgian battlefield in 2014, with £50m set aside for school trips and exhibitions
The Friern Barnet library victory shows the way to campaign against cuts
Diane Taylor: Local residents are clear that without the help of the squatters and members of Occupy, the library would not have reopened
Chinese intellectuals avoid key issues amid censorship fears, says author
Award-winning satirist Yan Lianke says Chinese intellectuals and writers must push leaders to embrace social reform
Lucretius, part 3: chaos and order
Emma Woolerton: How to believe: The atomic swerve is a simple idea that explains both the existence of the world and our ability to act freely within it
The World’s Most Dangerous Place by James Fergusson – review
James Fergusson's reports of life in conflict-ridden Somalia make for sobering reading, writes Anthony Sattin
Burma literary festival flourishes under patron Aung San Suu Kyi
Three-day Irrawaddy literary festival brings together writers, poets and former political prisoners from Burma and abroad
Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright – review
Sukhdev Sandhu applauds an eye-opening account of America's most controversial religion
Don’t judge The Bell Jar by its cover
Sam Jordison: Faber's new cover for The Bell Jar may be garish, but if it finds a new audience for Sylvia Plath's novel then who cares?
Empire of Secrets by Calder Walton – review
Calder Walton's study of 20th-century British intelligence suggests it rarely lived up to its name, writes Ed Vulliamy
Italy fears for ‘vanishing’ heritage after arrests over sacking of historic library
Prosecutors seize two more men in relation to disappearance of thousands of books from 16th-century Girolamini collection
Destruction of Timbuktu manuscripts is an offence against the whole of Africa
Jonathan Jones: This was an assault on world heritage comparable with the demolition of the Buddhas of Bamiyan by the Taliban in 2001