A massive bomb is set off in Paris by Islamic State and the French government wants Israeli spy Gabriel Allon to find the mastermind behind it before he can strike again. THE NAME'S ALLON...The Black Widow by Daniel Silva (Harper Collins)A massive bomb is set off in Paris by Islamic State and the French government wants Israeli spy Gabriel Allon to find the mastermind behind it before he can strike again. This is the 16th in Silva's Allon series - think James Bond meets Jason Bourne - and was written before the recent terror attacks in France and Belgium.THE ISSUEMuch buzz about Jonathan Safran Foer (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) and his eagerly anticipated third novel, Here I Am (Hamish Hamilton), out next month. It details, over three weeks in present-day Washington DC, the disintegration of a family home as a marriage falls apart. Dialogue is said to be extremely funny and the sex gloriously filthy.So far, so good. But the novel is also about an earthquake which destroys Israel, prompting an all-out Arab invasion of the Jewish homeland, and it is this focus, a provocative take on Zionism, that is bound to raise heated discussions.Despite the obvious political implications, that wasn't the point of the novel, Safran Foer told the London Sunday Times. He rather wanted to present a crisis that forced choice.The destruction of Israel, he said, "was a really explicit way to represent conflicts. But it does not mean the point was the context. The point was what the context brought to the surface."Everybody has barely sustainable paradoxes. Being a father while being a professional. Or married while being a young person who wants to feel attractive in the world. We have all of these tensions and some might be political. Like being Jewish and being liberal."I mean, if you imagine a group of people reading this, do you think most would say this is a pro-Israel book? Anti-Israel? Pro-marriage? Anti-marriage? People will see what they want. One friend said she was afraid it was going to be a knee-jerk, college anti-Israel book and case against marriage. Then she read it and felt weird closeness to both Israel and her husband. And I've had the opposite reaction, too."HAPPY HOURIf it's spring in Cape Town, then it's the Open Book Festival, which this year runs from September 7 to 11. Highlights aplenty and early booking is recommended. But one feature this year that deserves a mention is the Leopard's Leap #Words4Wine programme at the Homecoming Centre, 15a Buitenkant Street. Basically, you bring along a book, used or new, that you think someone else would enjoy reading, and you exchange it for a glass of wine. Daily from 5pm to 6pm. Entrance is free. For more details, see www.openbookfestival.co.zaTHE BOTTOM LINE"There is no period in Earth's history where the rate of rise of atmospheric CO2 is as great as it is today." - A Farewell to Ice: A Report from the Arctic by Peter Wadhams (Allen Lane)..