Dark subject matter in graphic novels is nothing new – but a memoir about a childhood with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is up there with the darkest of them.

Dr Roy F Baumeister is the co-author of Willpower: Rediscovering Our Greatest Strength (£20, Allen Lane). Baumeister was described by Freakonomics' Stephen J Dubner an "extraordinarily creative scientist". Willpower, written with The New York Times' John Tierney, is a fascinating introduction to Baumeister (and others') work in analysing how willpower is controlled, both behaviourally and physically, and gives readers an idea how to adjust their behaviour to increase their own self-control. Baumeister is a currently professor of social psychology and the Francis Eppes eminent scholar at Florida State University.

Two things ring very true in Tim Moore's sharp and witty book about "unloved England". The first is his verdict on Leysdown-on-Sea, which he declares to be a mudflat on the Thames Estuary with a static caravan park, reminding him of "an eighteenth-century slave ship". It's a telling observation. I cycled past recently and my chief memory is of a shop tucked between amusement arcades classily labelling itself as "BOOZE AND FAGS".

On Sunday, in an otherwise complimentary review of The Obamas, Jodi Kantor's new book about the US President and his wife, historian Douglas Brinkley coined an unfortunate term: "chick non-fiction". Writing in The New York Times, Brinkley invited Kantor's potential readers to "Call it chick non-fiction, if you will; this book is not about politics, it's about marriage..."(He also described Kantor's portrait of the First Lady as "a hug, really".)

The founder of Quarto Books, known for its illustrated "how-to" non-fiction guides, yesterday signalled he is ready for a new chapter as he is quitting as chief executive after 36 years.

A woman who spent three months in a coma with a brain illness is celebrating the publication of the debut novel she had forgotten that she was writing. Alexandra Singer, 29, suffered long-term memory loss after an attack of cerebral lupus in 2008. While in hospital, her brother, Joshua, found the notes to the novel, Tea at the Grand Tazi. Ms Singer, from Cheadle, Greater Manchester, said: "I had a memory of writing but I thought I was dreaming."

Literary fairy tales are fighting back. Margo Lanagan's Tender Morsels, a superb re-writing of Snow-White and Rose Red, is a case in point. Now there is the equally striking The Snow Child, a first novel by Eowyn Ivey, a writer from Alaska. Don't expect anything fey or sentimental; both novels are as tough as they come.

A woman who spent three months in a coma is due to see the debut novel she had completely forgotten she was writing appear in print.

Angela Carter's Wise Children is narrated by Dora Chance, a sort of septuagenarian Ancient Mariner, dressed up in furs and kohl.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – reissued to tie in with the release of the film – received a mixed response when it was published in 2005. Some called it a masterpiece while others saw it as too saccharine. The truth is somewhere in between.