• The Barefoot Lawyer by Chen Guangcheng. Blind Chinese dissident Chen caused a diplomatic incident when he sought refuge at the US embassy in Beijing three years ago. Now living in the US, this memoir by the “barefoot lawyer” promises to shed light on the author’s life and on life in modern China. (Macmillan, March 13)
    The Barefoot Lawyer by Chen Guangcheng. Blind Chinese dissident Chen caused a diplomatic incident when he sought refuge at the US embassy in Beijing three years ago. Now living in the US, this memoir by the “barefoot lawyer” promises to shed light on the author’s life and on life in modern China. (Macmillan, March 13)
  • One of Us by Asne Seierstad. The award-winning foreign correspondent and author of The Bookseller of Kabul attempts to unpick the story behind a violent act much closer to home. One of Us is Seierstad’s study of Anders Breivik and why he took the lives of 77 young Norwegians in 2011. (Virago, March 5)
    One of Us by Asne Seierstad. The award-winning foreign correspondent and author of The Bookseller of Kabul attempts to unpick the story behind a violent act much closer to home. One of Us is Seierstad’s study of Anders Breivik and why he took the lives of 77 young Norwegians in 2011. (Virago, March 5)
  • Leonora by Elena Poniatowska. Poniatowska’s novel reimagines the life and loves of the wealthy heiress turned surrealist painter Leonora Carrington, who fled to Mexico after the breakdown of her relationship with Max Ernst. The Mexican author became a close friend of the painter before she died. (Serpent’s Tail, March 5)
    Leonora by Elena Poniatowska. Poniatowska’s novel reimagines the life and loves of the wealthy heiress turned surrealist painter Leonora Carrington, who fled to Mexico after the breakdown of her relationship with Max Ernst. The Mexican author became a close friend of the painter before she died. (Serpent’s Tail, March 5)
  • Dancing in the Dark (My Struggle 4) by Karl Ove Knausgaard. The latest slice of the Norwegian novelist’s six-part story of his own life. The hero is 18 and leaves home to teach in a rural village in the Arctic Circle. Critics love the idea of this artistic feat: Knausgaard’s tedious prose is a masterful literary meditation on memory, apparently. (Harvill Secker, March 5)
    Dancing in the Dark (My Struggle 4) by Karl Ove Knausgaard. The latest slice of the Norwegian novelist’s six-part story of his own life. The hero is 18 and leaves home to teach in a rural village in the Arctic Circle. Critics love the idea of this artistic feat: Knausgaard’s tedious prose is a masterful literary meditation on memory, apparently. (Harvill Secker, March 5)
  • Sweetland by Michael Crummey. The inhabitants of a remote island in Newfoundland are to be bought off and relocated. Only one resists that offer, the elderly Moses Sweetland, who resolves to stay no matter what. Slowly, life’s comforts erode and all that’s left to him are his memories and the company of ghosts. (Corsair, March 5)
    Sweetland by Michael Crummey. The inhabitants of a remote island in Newfoundland are to be bought off and relocated. Only one resists that offer, the elderly Moses Sweetland, who resolves to stay no matter what. Slowly, life’s comforts erode and all that’s left to him are his memories and the company of ghosts. (Corsair, March 5)

Our top six books this week: Management guru Charles Handy latest about modern capitalism and more

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Take a look at the top six books we’re reading this week.

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