We wrote last week of the troubles being experienced by Mr Rais, the 'bookseller of Kabul' and his family, from the ongoing fallout from Asne Seierstad's book. We have no idea of what books are on offer in his shop, but bet that post-liberation, it included Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.
The problem with Agatha Bilk is that she is a pyromaniac. After setting fire to her school and almost killing a group of her schoolmates, Agatha is sent to the Tread Quietly Clinic for Interesting Children where she meets other children with problems, not as serious as her own but none the less highly dysfunctional in their effects and not receiving very much help from the doctors/ brothers Tim and Alan Humphrey who run the clinic.
Want to understand how Bush manipulated his way into power and now fights an unjust war? Or who officially spies on citizens for the White House? Or how much oil is really left and where is it? Greg Palast's 'Armed Madhouse' unearths the ugly truth about America today.
By Michael McCaughan
One can forget that, in non-fiction, the action keeps going when the book ends. Two years ago the world clutched Norwegian Asne Seierstad's The Bookseller of Kabul in delight.
Tagged as "a collection of poems for children and their parents", Giant Never Dies might be just the thing for a shared read-aloud on one of those "are-we-there-yet" family journeys.
I must own 40 books about the Beatles, 30 about Bob Dylan, and maybe 20 more about Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. Then there are the CDs and DVDs by these artists overflowing my meager New York City shelf space, not to mention the back issues of Mojo and Uncut piled up beside my bed.
Pankah Mishra's vivid, uncompromising look at the modern Indian subcontinent might not win him many friends, but it lays bare Western cliches and rhetoric about south Asia. By Ben Macintyre
Sometimes, public readings or book launches can be all about the venue. Any journalist will tell you how dim a light is shone on a book from a grey cold hall or plastic cups of warm Chardonnay. A bit of imagination can go a long way, writes Ronan Browne.
As we grow used to headbutts and high salaries in soccer, DJ Taylor looks back at the glory days, encompassed in the spirit of the Corinthians. Review by Fionnbar Callanan
Historian Michael Smith's latest book celebrates a great Irish Arctic explorer, Captain Francis Crozier. By Edward O'Hare