Tom Read Wilson picks the book that made him the writer he is...

Mountains of muck, former Jihads and Michael Palin...

How to live when you have a 50% chance of developing early onset dementia

The most important family in British history...no - it's not the royals

Uncovering a deadly well of dark secrets...this month's retro reads: THE WELL by Elizabeth Jolley, HONEY by Elizabeth Jenkins, A GLOVE SHOP IN VIENNA by Eva Ibbotson

Tearing a strip off a children's entertainer and a wintry Sarah Moss... this month's contemporary fiction: Fabulous (& Furious) by Harper Ford, Bitter Melon by Liv Little, The Winter Guest by Sarah Moss

Spellbinding Susanna Clarke returns with a minute miracle: O Now! by Niall Williams, The Bishop of Durham by Susanna Clarke, The Bridge by Colm Toibin

Forget the pharmacy - your garden might have the cure

Three brothers. 10,000 miles. One Boat... Read the extraordinary story of how the Maclean brothers rowed unaided from Peru to Australia and raised £1 million

Closeted Carry On star who dreamed of a fireman rescue

Michael Morpurgo and his wife Clare's acts of extraordinary kindness...

I wrote Rocky, but they offered me $360,000 NOT to be in it...Sylvester Stallone shares the wildest stories from his life of hard graft and grit

Barbara Kingsolver's back...this week's literary fiction: PARTITA by Barbara Kingsolver, THE FLOATING WORLD by Ben Eastham, THE COMETS by Eoin McNamee

The brutal Nazi who saved my father's life...but also forced 10-year-olds into slave labour and didn't regret his war crimes

A westerner's guide to the REAL Japan