Recommended Books

The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh, Secker & Warburg, pounds 8.99. Extraordinary novel by a North Vietnamese about the devastations of the war years. Review by Geoff Dyer, 29 January.

The Following Story by Cees Nooteboom, tr Ina Rilke, Harvill, pounds 6.99. Witty novel about a man who goes to bed in Amsterdam and wakes in Lisbon. Winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Award for December / January. Interview by Nick Caistor, 22 January.

Round About a Pound a Week by Maud Pember Reeves, Virago, pounds 7.99. Limpid, gripping exploration of domestic poverty in pre-war London. Review by Natasha Walter, 5 February.

Georges Perec: A Life in Words by David Bellos, Harvill, pounds 35. Ample and generous biography of the remarkable French novelist. Review by Hugo Barnacle, 11 December.

Days of Anger by Sylvie Germain, tr. Christine Donougher, Dedalus, pounds 8.99. Prizewinning French epic of love and death in le foret profonde. Review by Robert Winder, 14 January.