More than 700 pages of David Cornwell’s personal correspondence, edited by his son, reveal a different side to the master of Cold War espionage fiction – better known by his pen name, John le Carré – including his sense of humour, thoughtful kindness and gift for friendship.

Gigante, a professor at Stanford University, follows 60 books from the collection of Charles Lamb, the patron saint of book collectors, after his library was sold in 1848 New York. Their respective journeys, she argues, help us understand the underpinning of bibliomania, and tell a big-picture story of how books as objects themselves – and not simply the words they contain ­­­can be thrilling.

The bestselling London author of Gen X classics like High Fidelity and Fever Pitch revisits the classic Victorian novelist Charles Dickens to contrast and compare him with the enigmatic Detroit-born rock star. They may seem like unlikely bedfellows, but the ardent fan letter to both creators finds striking connections; Vogue says it “makes you want to re-read Great Expectations while listening to ‘Sign o’ the Times.’”

This posthumous collection assembles the science-fiction criticism from Nicholls, the Australian man of letters. The work dates back to the 1970s and his early career as an editor of the influential sci-fi journal Foundation, and the book includes later contributions to the Washington Post, with topics ranging from Dante and Ursula K. LeGuin to Moby-Dick and Beowulf.

These essays by the pseudonymous Italian author of the wildly popular Neapolitan trilogy take readers behind the curtain as Ferrante shares her writing process, ethos and insight into the craft – revealing everything except her true identity.

Overlook the back of a book at your peril. This history, from an English lecturer at University College London, about the unassuming, but often hotly debated stuff found in a book’s index, is an erudite and playful look at systems used for organizing information up to the digital age, and the sly jokes and acts of revenge historically wrought therein.

Chute, a literary scholar and professor at Northeastern University, compiles writings from around the world that explore Art Spiegelman’s groundbreaking 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel, Maus (as discussed in Zed Books’ recent overview of graphic novels for older adults), and make the case that it’s the most original, powerful and controversial book ever written about the Holocaust. Maus Now collects analytical articles written after its original 1980s syndication, for example, and appreciations by authors such as Philip Pullman.

Written by a history professor at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, the first comprehensive study of the Catholic Church’s notorious Index Librorum Prohibitorum – which attempted to censor religious, scientific and artistic works and held sway for more than 400 years – has new relevance, as well as lessons in an age of literary censorship and ongoing debates about free speech and banned books.

Published as a companion to the first major Maurice Sendak retrospective since his 2012 death, this is an extraordinary tribute to the imaginative powers of the perennially beloved, Caldecott-winning author of the 1963 children’s classic Where the Wild Things Are. The overview – edited by Weinberg, a friend and curator – covers six decades of the artist’s work, and includes previously unpublished sketches, paintings and storyboards, all put into cultural context alongside appreciative essays from Sendak’s disparate collaborators.

The pages of this paean by the Toronto-based poet and critic cover books, but also praise video stores and the practice of slowing down in general. It’s an ode to the pleasures and contemplative benefits of aimlessly wandering the aisles, open to serendipity and discovery. The fact that losing hours to browsing thwarts the ever-present online algorithms is a bonus.