The best books of the week

Why Arctic land-grabs could lead to war; the highs and lows of David Bowie’s later music; the harms caused by our demand for ‘green’ batteries; Julian Barnes’s reflections on life and loss; biting commentary on humanity in novels by Rhett Davis and Madeline Cash; Suzi Feay’s pick of debut fiction; Nilanjana Roy on India’s railways — plus the best books to understand events in Venezuela