The Self-Help Compulsion: Searching for Advice in Modern Literature, by Beth Blum Gail Marshall considers a wide-ranging exploration of readers’ desire to find life lessons in books of many kinds By Gail Marshall 12 March
Human Forms: The Novel in the Age of Evolution, by Ian Duncan Gail Marshall applauds an intriguing study of the relations between Charles Darwin, George Eliot and Charles Dickens By Gail Marshall 28 November
Quaint, Exquisite: Victorian Aesthetics and the Idea of Japan, by Grace E. Lavery Gail Marshall applauds an impressive analysis of our changing images of Japan By Gail Marshall 27 June
How History Gets Things Wrong: The Neuroscience of Our Addiction to Stories, by Alex Rosenberg Do we learn incorrect and harmful lessons from our hard-wired love of narrative? asks Gail Marshall By Gail Marshall 25 October
Elements of Surprise: Our Mental Limits and the Satisfactions of Plot, by Vera Tobin Book of the week: this careful analysis shows cognitive science can be a critical literary tool, writes Gail Marshall By Gail Marshall 10 May
Outsiders: Five Women Writers Who Changed the World, by Lyndall Gordon Exclusion from male-dominated society fuelled female authors’ creativity, says Gail Marshall By Gail Marshall 23 November
