If you’re confused by the current political scene, you may or may not be reassured to learn that the people paid to understand it, including political journalists, are also struggling to keep up. Many of the twists and turns in parliament are so unprecedented that it’s not clear whether they are supposed to be happening or not.

Everyone is trying to sound better briefed than they actually are. There’s not even a great deal of point in burying yourself in Erskine May, the parliamentary bible of what MPs can and cannot do, because Speaker Bercow has been more than willing to ignore it too. Still, that weighty tome is now online, so at least you don’t have to haul it around with you on public transport.

The best book that explains how parliament works, in theory and in practice, is written by a former clerk of the House of Commons, Robert Rogers, and a group of experts. How Parliament Works is now in its eighth edition and is up-to-date on the effects of Brexit on Westminster; what difference a minority government makes; and how it runs itself. It’s clearly written, which makes it handy for students as well as adults who just want to understand the difference between a second reading, secondary legislation and a bill committee.

For an angry read on how these structures lead to things going wrong, turn to The Blunders of Our Governments by Anthony King and Ivor Crewe, which whisks you through some of the greatest mistakes of the past decades, including the poll tax, and explains how politicians of all colours could have ended up in this mess.

People very rarely lie in Westminster. This might sound absurd, but it’s true. What they do is use their words so carefully that only a linguist experienced in politicalese can translate what they actually mean. If a government says it “isn’t considering” proroguing parliament – as it did recently, before doing just that – this doesn’t necessarily mean that it isn’t going to prorogue parliament. The key is the verb: advisers will argue it doesn’t cover a decision that has already been taken. The best lexicon is the very entertaining Would They Lie to You? by Robert Hutton, which will help you understand what politicians are actually saying, while also making you profoundly dispirited about the way politics is conducted. See also Peter Oborne’s The Rise of Political Lying and The Triumph of the Political Class.

A kindlier look at the psyche of MPs is The House of Commons: An Anthropology of MPs at Work by Emma Crewe. It’s a little out of date, but some of the anecdotes are particularly useful. Crewe managed to spend a fair bit of time talking to an eccentric backbencher about how his whips often phoned to check he was definitely rebelling against the party. Most MPs would never give her such access today.

Also from a previous political era but eEssential to understanding what goes on when MPs decide to vote against their party are two books by the witty politics professor Philip Cowley. The Rebels and Revolts and Rebellions cover the Blair era, but some of those mistakes are being repeated now, or were too risky to contemplate more than a decade ago. If he takes another look at this bunch, his books will run to several volumes.

• Why We Get the Wrong Politicians by Isabel Hardman is published by Atlantic.