The best books of the week

Andrew O’Hagan’s searching essays on friendship; the life of the late Mike Lynch; Stewart O’Nan’s tender novel of ageing; part 3 of Yoko Tawada’s dystopian trilogy; Jean-Philippe Toussaint’s ambitious novel of futurology; a tour of Britain’s nuclear power stations; Tej Parikh’s pick of economics titles — plus Nilanjana Roy on fiction for Christmas