This new book by the multi-award winning Kamila Shamsie, a Pakistani-English author, was long-listed for this year's Man Booker Prize. Apparently, it's a contemporary reimagining of Sophocles'Antigone, but don't let that put you off. It's an extremely tense literary thriller, telling the story of a Muslim family in London and the pressures they find themselves under, from within and without the family, in this age of Islamic State. It's a story of divided loyalties, love and terrorism.

The title of this YA novel refers to the ancient school in which it is set - St Aidans The Great School. It's a kind of younger version of Donna Tartt's The Secret History. A girl called Greer MacDonald wins a scholarship to attend this prestigious school, where most of the other students are incredibly wealthy. She is invited away for the weekend to the house of one of the wealthy students, and that's when the manipulation and yes, murder, begins. It's a high quality thriller, with sufficient twists and turns to keep you guessing. Highly recommended.

This book's main claim to fame, it seems, is that it's written in just one sentence. That could be interpreted as a gimmick, but it's not; it's more like channeling into a stream of consciousness. McCormack has done what seems to be impossible - he has written an entire book as though it is being thought, in real time. The book takes place over one hour, as the narrator, an engineer called Marcus Conway, looks back over his life and reflects on the rhythms and routines of his time on earth. The prose has an effortless flow to it, the reader hardly notices the lack of punctuation.

Utopia For Realists is a visionary book, about how we can make our lives and our society better. He questions why none of our political parties, either left or right, have the answers to solving the problems of homelessness, poverty, inequality, long working weeks etc. As the title suggests, he is realistic, and describes case studies where significant achievements have been made in these areas. Of particular interest is his advocacy for a Universal Basic Income, which I have come to believe is one answer to many of the issues plaguing Western society right now.

Matt Haig is a very versatile and highly imaginative writer. He writes for children and adults, and has written an essential memoir about depression. How To Stop Time is a novel. It's about Tom Hazard, who appears to be in his early 40s, but because he has a rare condition, he has been alive for centuries. He's in the habit of changing his identity and moving on every 8 years or so, before people become suspicious. That means not falling in love. Haig uses this set up to explore what life and love really mean, what it's like to lose and find yourself, how to learn how to live.

This book immediately appealed to me because of its cover - an American landscape of desert and mountains, reflected in a car mirror, slightly blurred with movement. It's a short novel, gritty, real and tough. It's told in the first person, narrated by a teenage boy, whose father has won a bitter custody battle for him and his brother. They move from Kansas to Albuquerque. Their violent, addicted father runs the household with menace and regular absences, the boys struggle to manage, but survive. This is a powerful portrait of American masculinity, violence and resilience.