A Few Good Books

On our blog, we write about some of our all-time favorite books and authors, as well as those we’ve recently discovered. We feature writers whose work deserves to be more widely known, hoping that readers might be inspired to explore their books.

Einstein's Dreams, by Alan Lightman

Einstein's Dreams, by Alan Lightman

Shilpa Sudhakar
  This is a fictional collection of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein in 1905 when he was working at the patent office in Switzerland, while also building his theory of...
Elena Knows, by Claudia Pineiro

Elena Knows, by Claudia Pineiro

Shilpa Sudhakar
  Claudia Pineiro is one of Argentina’s foremost writers, generally acknowledged as the queen of crime fiction. What she is also known for is the piercing scrutiny of contemporary society...
Things: A Story of the Sixties, by Georges Perec

Things: A Story of the Sixties, by Georges Perec

Shilpa Sudhakar
Georges Perec (1936-1982) was a French writer known for his innovations in form. Things: A Story of the Sixties was titled Les Choses: une histoire des années soixante in the...
Called by the Hills, by Anuradha Roy

Called by the Hills, by Anuradha Roy

Shilpa Sudhakar
I intended to read Called by the Hills by Anuradha Roy soon after copies arrived at the bookshop last year. But then I learned that my sister had just finished...
Upward Bound by Woody Brown

Upward Bound by Woody Brown

Shilpa Sudhakar
A gentle and beautifully written debut novel about communication and human connection, and what it feels like for those with non-speaking autism to live in a world that, more often...
Frog and Other Essays by Anne Fadiman

Frog and Other Essays by Anne Fadiman

Shilpa Sudhakar

A new collection of essays from one of our all time favourite writers Anne Fadiman.

Book Recommendation: French Windows by Antoine Laurain

Book Recommendation: French Windows by Antoine Laurain

Sapna Sudhakar

Antoine Laurain is one of my favourite writers. I pick up every one of his books expecting to love it, and he almost never disappoints. French Windows has all the elements that I associate with his writing. It's charming, quirky, and interesting. But this book has the added element of murder and mystery. You never quite know where it is going...

Book Recommendation: Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Book Recommendation: Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Shilpa Sudhakar

This is a novel about siblings, Peter, 32 and Ivan, a decade younger. When the story begins, the boys have just lost their father. Peter is in charge of the service, and he can’t help being embarrassed by his kid brother Ivan - chess whiz, socially awkward, in his ugly rented suit, looking utterly lost...

Book Recommendation: Valentino and Sagittarius by Natalia Ginzburg

Book Recommendation: Valentino and Sagittarius by Natalia Ginzburg

Shilpa Sudhakar

Natalia Ginzburg has a way of getting into the heart of everyday life, its small rewards and stubborn obstacles. Her prose is plain and spare. In both novellas, the narrator uses a flat register - either resigned to their circumstances or detached enough to tell the tale from a remove. Any emotion you feel is therefore your own as you read.

Book Recommendation: Look Closer by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

Book Recommendation: Look Closer by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

Shilpa Sudhakar

A professor of English literature, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst sets out in this books to share his love for reading and to gently nudge those of us who have either never experienced, or have forgotten, the act of slow and leisurely reading — the sort of reading that we probably did quite naturally when we were children...

Book Recommendation: Murder Before Evensong by Richard Coles

Book Recommendation: Murder Before Evensong by Richard Coles

Sapna Sudhakar

This is the first book in the Canon Clement mystery series written by Richard Coles. It's set in the late 1980's in the village of Champton St Mary. Canon Daniel Clement is the rector of Champton. He lives there with his two boisterous dogs and his widowed mother, Audrey, who moved in with him a few years ago...

Book Recommendation: What I talk about when I talk about Running

Book Recommendation: What I talk about when I talk about Running

Shilpa Sudhakar

This is an insightful memoir that intertwines the author's experiences as a long-distance runner with his thoughts on writing, life, and aging, Murakami uses his passion for running, which he took up in his early thirties, as a central metaphor for his life and his craft. He explores how the dedication, perseverance, and even the pain of long-distance running mirror the challenges and rewards of writing...