Our choice of the best recent books
Gainsborough by James Hamilton (Weidenfeld £25): this new biography of the great portraitist is compulsively readable
The Adversary by Emmanuel Carrère (Vintage £8.99): a French true-crime classic, republished and back in the bestsellers
Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down by Allan Jones (Bloomsbury £14.99): a music journalist’s riotously entertaining tales from the heyday of rock
The Great Nadar by Adam Begley (Tim Duggan £18.99): a bravura biography of the great photographer
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What’s happening in the literary world
Oban Adam Nicolson discusses his latest book, The Seabird’s Cry, at Waterstones, George Street, August 10, 7pm, free (01631 571 455)
Manchester Robin Stevens reads from her new book, The Guggenheim Mystery, at Waterstones, Deansgate, August 12, 1pm, free. Full details at waterstones.com
Edinburgh Edinburgh International Book Festival, August 12–28: with Roxane Gay, Nick Laird, Reni-Eddo Lodge and Zadie Smith. More at edbookfest.co.uk
London An evening with Elif Shafak, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, WC2, August 14, 7pm, free. Register at eventbrite.co.uk
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Bath Justin Sayarer talks about his travel memoir, Interstate: Hitchhiking Through the State of a Nation, at Mr B’s Emporium, John Street, August 23, 7pm, £14 (01225 331 155)