Paperback: The Book of Barely Imagined Beings by Caspar Henderson (Granta, £10.99)

This is a bestiary — a collection of beasts — and it’s the loveliest one I’ve seen for a while. Caspar Henderson calls it “a 21st Century Bestiary”, and it is — the descriptions of the creatures in question are up-to-date. But the illustrations, by Golbanou Moghaddas, are wonderfully Victorian. They are of the axolotl, the eel, the starfish, the octopus, the right whale, and many others. Henderson looks at these animals with a sensibility that makes you see them anew. Look at eels, and their tireless travelling! Look at axolotls! They look very much like aliens. Look at human feet! And the sweet face of the jumping spider, which eats bees.