Journalist with the Economist explores our relationship with this ‘zero-sum’ asset: you either have it or you don’t

Eoin Ó Broin and Mal McCann pay tribute to the Dublin Corporation chief housing architect who built 17,000 homes for the city’s poor

New books by Marissa Meyer, Nikita Gill, Joelle Wellington, Hannah Marshall and Xixi Tian

Miller-Idriss writes with clarity and urgency, showing how everyday sexism provides the scaffolding for extremism

Female voices triumph in vignettes accompanied by recipes

Gaeilge is possibly more popular now than at any time since the heyday of the Revival

The future Nobel winner’s near 40-year correspondence with the editor Charles Monteith is a fascinating record of an artistic collaboration and its evolution

The long-time PR adviser to politicians has saved her juiciest material for this second volume of memoirs

Among those contributing anecdoates are Charles Dance, Simon Russell Beale and Tom Hollander

The ‘profound artistry’ of Irish music through the words of Erick Falc’her Poyroux, Mick O’Connor and Seán Potts

Fiction can be a great gift thanks to authors such as Alexandra Benedict, Charlie Nutbrown and Tom McCaughren

Martina Evans on Hymn to All the Restless Girls, Fallen, Brink and Foretokens

Families’ ordeal and the wider context of the peace process is examined in this methodically compiled study of the 2004 heist

Canada and the Great Irish Famine is a fascinating collection of essays on disparate aspects of a crisis that today’s ‘Ireland is Full’ crowd might do well to reflect upon

The warmth with which Rushdie’s revisits the landscapes of his life results in humour and genuine sadness

Catholicism provided greater certainty than the Church of England, which was considered a wishy-washy institution by many in the 20th century

Exploring an unromantic, multi-faceted idea of service to our fellow humans

Collection of nine short stories is darkly funny, humane and alive to everyday miracles

Mícheál McCann, Declan Ryan and Martina Evans on their favourite poetry from this year

Cultural biography of the global icon, set against the rise of Asian America, focuses on race and identity

This fresh English translation by Kurt Beals introduces new resonances and ironies

The Wikipedia founder’s book has plenty of business advice but could be useful and interesting to anyone

Chinese bestseller has been touted as an everyman’s capitalism critique

Christopher Frayling’s elegant exploration of how art and artists have been depicted in film questions how our society values both

An Infinite Sadness by Antônio Xerxenesky’s; False War by Carlos Manuel Álvarez; Every Time We Say Goodbye by Ivana Sajko; and Not There by Mariusz Szczygieł

New books from John Wight and Paul O’Donaghue, plus a collection of essays on the political espionage novelist edited by Federico Varese

Two books show that creating a museum with a clear conscience isn’t always straightforward; another shows how we do love a good historical mystery

No doubting the scholarly rigour of this highly visual production, which reflects maps’ many distinctive styles and strategies

The author’s bleak debut novel critiques the commodification of youth and femininity in the US

It’s a wonder the Lemonheads frontman lived to tell the tale

Like the LA-based poet and author, protagonist Sean is an ex-journalist who works in a bookstore

Soline Humbert’s spiritual autobiography makes a strong case for women’s ordination in the Catholic Church

The science writer presents a series of case studies inspired by strange animal behaviour

Conocimiento: Writing Irish Borderlands by Eamonn Wall engagingly explores the consequences for writers of mobility, displacement and migration

Despite the gravity of the subject matter, Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder’s fascinating book asks difficult questions in a simple manner and is shot through with humour

There are occasional reminders that the bellicose Hopkins still lurks within the reformed man

Book by playwright’s grandson relates how public shame over Wilde’s downfall shadowed his family into the mid-20th century

Not all of this volume is good, but it does him justice as a portrait of a man that has been curated with care

Winter Papers 11 is a Christmas annual to stand the test of time, and An Alternative Irish Christmas is great for those jaded by other literary offerings

New books by Natasha Bache, Gabriel Rotello, Abir Mukherjee and Samir Machado de Machado

Quietly devastating study explores how enslaved people fought their oppressors over four centuries

Author’s portrayal of the unfolding of trauma is thoughtful and true to life

For scholars of Joyce or Irish women’s writing, this study should prove a valuable resource

Authors’ work is built from contradiction, moral panic and logical fallacies rather than research

A tome of architectural brilliance, uncomfortable historical truths and a complicated legacy of power and philanthropy

Naomi Alderman’s casual tone is such a contrast to the more incisive narrative voice in her fiction that this book doesn’t feel as if it was written by the same person

Unusual punchlines and premises are delivered that leave the reader disorientated and confounded

Great news for those who have longed for Cărtărescu’s complete Orbitor trilogy to be available in English: translator Sean Cotter has been commissioned to complete it

The Galway-based author transforms trauma into art and activism

Paschal Donohoe on superstar economist Branko Milanovic’s new work