Books

Jonathan Freedland reviews a new book on Bush's best friend Tony Blair, but fails to answer whether he'll be revered or reviled for the invasion of Iraq

On the Random House website is an ad for Roddy Doyle's latest novel – since the site biog says his most recent work was A Star Called Henry, we were glad to find confirmation of Doyle's actual upcoming novel in last weekend's papers.

Now Duncade offers all the usual holiday activities of fishing, boating and beachcombing but, in times past, was notorious for pirates who used false lights to wreck ships on the rocks. In fact the title of the book, The Legend of Captain Crow's Teeth, refers to a particular row of rocks where on certain nights the dead pirate's teeth can be seen gleaming in the dark. Or can they?

Rosen, a straightforward and congenial narrator, guides us ably through her nine years as a student at Keswick Christian School in St. Petersburg, Florida. She offers a multitude of detailed portraits – most depicting a decidedly shabby environment. The wooden swings in the schoolyard "would leave splinters and flaking red paint on the back of your thighs." Attending Bible camp meant "a sweltering two-hour ride in the church van" and "swimming in an algae-covered lake." She has a particular knack for the humiliating detail.

A communicator with an uncanny skill to rally America and hoist her up when she was in need of a confidence boost. Adrian Wooldridge reviews a new biography of Ronald Reagan

The voice of Martin Luther King echoed loud in a society of racist violence and murder, in a country whose FBI director lied to the president to protect the Ku Klux Clan and where the bias of all-white juries and the media was blatant. Author Taylor Branch, rather than writing a biography of King himself, paints a picture of the country he tried to change. By Anthony Lewis

Lizzie Collingham's latest book looks at the origins and history of curry, which, from its humble beginnings in India, has become one of the most popular and internationalised foods on the planet. William Grimes digs in

Lance Morrow explores two books' attempts to find a definitive answer to the question over the use of torture

It is the 1940s. The war is having little effect on nine year old Bruno, who lives in a cocoon of privilege in a select suburb of Berlin. Then his father, one of the new elite in the army, is prompted by Hitler, and the family is forced to leave Berlin for a dreary rural area that Bruno mispronounces as 'Out-With'.

Many adults with 'neuroatypical behaviour' have been writing for a lay audience over the last few years: unfortunately, bipolar author Susanne Antonetta, a new collection of whose works has just been published, missed her moment. By Polly Morrice