Summer Reading feature by FT

FINANCIAL TIMES

'The Buried Giant', by Kazuo Ishiguro Ogres and dragons are not what we expect from the Man Booker Prize winner. Yet his first novel for a decade is absolutely characteristic, moving and unsettling. Review by Jason Cowley

Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader, by Herminia Ibarra Ibarra's excellent, concise and practical guide offers many ways for leaders to climb out of "the competency trap". Review by Andrew Hill

The Globalization of Inequality, by François Bourguignon Inequality is back, as both a subject of inquiry and a focus of concern. Review by Martin Wolf

'Our Kids: the American Dream in Crisis', by Robert Putnam Fifteen years after the celebrated ‘Bowling Alone’, the political scientist turns his attention to inequality. Review by Francis Fukuyama

'Towards the Flame: Empire, War and the End of Tsarist Russia', by Dominic Lieven A history of tsarist Russia's disastrous first world war puts aristocratic recklessness back at the centre of the story. Review by David Priestland

'The Diet Myth: The Real Science Behind What We Eat', by Tim Spector Scientists have grasped the importance of the microbiome just as modern lifestyles are ravaging it. Review by Clive Cookson

'The Italians', by John Hooper A lucid and elegant portrait of a nation enmeshed in tradition but beginning to recognise that it must embrace change. Review by John Lloyd

'John Aubrey: My Own Life', by Ruth Scurr An 'act of scholarly imagination' that has yielded a revealing portrait of the biographer, antiquarian and procrastinator. Review by Lisa Jardine