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
Elena Knows, by Claudia Pineiro
Things: A Story of the Sixties, by Georges Perec
Called by the Hills, by Anuradha Roy
Upward Bound by Woody Brown
Frog and Other Essays by Anne Fadiman
A new collection of essays from one of our all time favourite writers Anne Fadiman.
Book Recommendation: French Windows by Antoine Laurain
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
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
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
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
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
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...
