This is the first book Archetype have ever published in over 20 years, and it will probably be the last! It's by my brother, who died in 2015. He had prepared the manuscript of a travel memoir before he died, but hadn't managed to arrange publication. So here it is, forgive me if I'm biased!

Historian, writer, intellectual and philosopher Tony Judt has previously written a dozen or so award-winning books. He died in 2010, the year this book was published. It's a brilliantly written, elegant call to arms about our current politics and pursuit of material self-interest. He focuses mostly on America, where he lived later in his life. He sets out what has been lost since Reagan/Thatcher, and calls for a return to social democratic ideals. It's a remarkable, thought provoking book, which seems more urgent now than it did even when it was published a mere 8 years ago.

The rather long subtitle for this book is: Uncovering the real causes of depression and the unexpected solutions. Journalist Johann Hari has suffered from depression since he was 18. He has been medicated for it since then - he is now 39. In this book he travels the world finding social scientists who believe that depression and anxiety are not caused by a chemical imbalance in our brains, and thus can't be fixed by medication.

The Anomaly is a thriller, and a very good one, that combines elements of Indiana Jones, Michael Crichton and The X Files. A TV crew, led by Nolan Moore, an amateur archaeologist and conspiracy theorist, arrives at The Grand Canyon in search of a hidden cave full of great treasure which was referred to in a historical report by an explorer at the beginning of the 20th Century. They become trapped underground, and from that moment the book never lets up. There are betrayals, horrors, weird stuff galore, but Nolan as narrator has an excellent, self-effacing humour.

I heard Tim Cope interviewed by Kim Hill on National Radio a while ago, and he spoke with such charm and confidence for such a young man, and about such an extraordinary journey, that I had to read it. Tim Cope was in his 20s when he decided to retrace the journey of Genghis Khan by riding on horseback from Mongolia to Hungary - 10,000 km over 3 years. As he travels, he learns about the traditions and history of the people of the steppe, and what they have lost of their way of life over the centuries. He's a very engaging and modest narrator, well read and informative.

I love A.M Homes's writing. Her memoir The Mistress's Daughter was brilliant, and she has written some terrific fiction. This is a short story collection, and a wildly varied one in terms of subject and tone, but many of the stories explore families and secret histories. Some of the stories are extremely funny, some savagely satirical, some moving. I didn't like all of them, and I suspect not many readers will, but it's definitely worth a look. Homes is a writer at the height of her game, and this is a worthy addition to her oeuvre.