Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart book review: Not nearly as funny as it thinks it is
None of this satirical writer’s shots at capitalist America bite so fiercely that he risks his phone being examined by the TSA when next he enters Trump’s US
By John Boyne
‘I’m gone frail? Excuse me, but I’m as healthy as a goat’
The Most Powerful Court in the World by Stuart Banner: More than US legal analysis, it’s an excellent history
Polari prize: Nominees and judges withdraw over inclusion of John Boyne on longlist
The Party’s Interests Come First by Joseph Torigian: The paranoid and intensely emotional political culture behind China’s Xi Jinping
Fiction in Translation: The prisons we inhabit
Have we no more active rights over life, birth and death?
Paschal Donohoe on How Countries Go Broke by Ray Dalio: a bleak picture of volatility
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POETRY
August’s best new crime fiction: From Stuart Neville’s dark supernatural thriller to a perfect summer read by Laura Lippman
By Brian Cliff and Elizabeth Mannion
‘We came home to find our house on fire. I had a newborn and two toddlers at the time’
By Martin Doyle
Women in Dark Times by Jacqueline Rose: One of the most thought-provoking writers working today
By Liam Bishop
Three Revolutions by Simon Hall: Lenin, Mao and Fidel’s biggest overseas fans came from an unexpected source
By Andrew Lynch
Notes on Infinity by Austin Taylor: Unexpected moments of devastation penetrate the predictability
By Mei Chin
A thoroughly engrossing account of the Iranian revolution and an essential read on post-Assad Syria
By Oliver Farry
Zealous book bans and brilliant writers forged strong Irish Penguin links from the start
By John Self
‘Astonishingly rare’ first edition of The Hobbit sells at auction for nearly €50,000
By Nadeem Badshah
