Where does literature end and fantasy begin? The answer would seem to involve dragons, or at least, you might have thought so in the early months of 2015 if you were following the debate over Kazuo Ishiguro’s first novel in 10 years, The Buried Giant.
Speaking ahead of publication, the British writer wondered if readers might be put off by the superficial elements of his story, which follows an elderly couple on a quest through a medieval landscape populated by mythical creatures. and enveloped in an amnesia. inducing mist. His fears were partially realized. a review in the new york times described it as a “ham-handed fairy tale” reminiscent of george rr martin’s lord of the rings and game of thrones, while on the other side of the genre divide, the Novelist Ursula Le Guin took offense at Ishiguro’s apparent disdain and wrote scathingly about how her book failed as a fantasy. she and ishiguro then patched things up, but by then the terms of the book discussion were set: an old argument about literary snobbery had been reignited, and the buried giant was caught between the lines.
You are reading: Financial times best books 2015
Which was a shame, because in many ways this was a wholly characteristic ishiguro novel, both a study in the unreliability of historical memory dating back to his early works and a meditation on love and mortality. which poignantly resonated with its predecessor, Never Let Me Go (2005). And as the sci-fi elements of that book showed, there’s nothing new about Ishiguro experimenting with the genre. maybe it was his choice this time of fantasy that did it; What Margaret Atwood refers to as “speculative fiction” can sometimes struggle for mainstream literary recognition, but it still fares better than Martin’s Songs of Ice and Fire series, for all the verve and storytelling skill with which the American novelist has built his epic of power and politics in an era of impending climate catastrophe.
Writers relegated to the salon des refusés can take solace in the fact that the rules on which genres gain approval rarely sit still for long. The dystopian imaginations of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell did not relegate them to a literary ghetto, for example; And historical novels, once the shameless and shameless cousins of modernist fiction, have now won Britain’s Man Booker Award for four years running, most recently in the form of 1970s polyphonic portrait of Jamaica. marlon james, a brief history of seven murders
Indeed, it was noticeable this year that the books that excited readers and prize juries were often those most willing to test the conventions of genre. The fourth book in My Struggle, Karl Ove Knausgaard’s six-part, 3,600-page autobiographical cycle, arrived in English translation in March with many critics seemingly still unsure whether to treat it as a novel or a memoir. Ruth Scurr, similarly, wrought a quiet revolution in historical biography with John Aubrey: My Own Life, in which the 17th-century antiquary’s own writings are used to build a faux-diary that captures a personality and gives us a sense of the real texture of his life. And is Svetlana Alexievich, the Belarusian author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in October for her luminous interview-based books on subjects such as the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster and the Soviet-Afghan war, a journalist or an oral historian? Defying classification, for all that it may complicate the lives of librarians, booksellers and literary editors, is usually a good sign.
Perhaps the clearest example of genre jumping to be found in 2015 was the rise of books by journalists and tech writers about what has long been one of the central concerns of science fiction: the implications of artificial intelligence and automation. however, there was a marked difference in tone. When we meet androids in the work of novelists like Philip K Dick or Isaac Asimov, they are often tragic figures who demand an extension of sympathy: above all else, they long to be human, which they will always be denied. the reals on the horizon look like a much more worrying prospect.
few captured the mood as well as martin ford in the rise of the robots, the winner of the ft and mckinsey business book of the year award, which painted a bleak picture of the upheavals to come as a Increasing numbers of even highly skilled workers were displaced by machines. But his was one voice among many: In The Future of the Professions, Richard and Daniel Susskind discussed the ways computers were transforming medicine, law, and accounting; In Machines of Loving Grace, John Markoff celebrated the humanistic tradition in technology and made the case for “IA” (“increased intelligence”) rather than the more familiar “AI”; while in our own image, george zarkadakis speculated on what we can expect if an artificial superintelligence leaves humanity far behind.
could we be getting a little ahead of ourselves? At times it felt as if the haunting image of the robot was turning into a multitude of other trends that concern us: growing inequality, for example, which a year after thomas piketty’s capital in the 21st century was still a dominant theme of economics publications. and it became clear in 2015 that anxiety about technology extended far beyond artificial intelligence. This can be seen in novels such as Jonathan Franzen’s Pureness, whose characters reflect on the parallels between the Internet and totalitarian states; in journalistic works such as Jon Ronson’s examination of the dark side of social media, for which he has been publicly shamed; and in cultural criticism such as Laurence Scott’s Four-Dimensional Human, who turned to Victorian and Edwardian literature for ways to make sense of our current transformation from analog to digital beings.
The biggest publishing event of the year was undoubtedly Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, released to great fanfare in July after having been liberated from a safe-deposit box by the octogenarian Alabama writer’s lawyer. Presented as a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), it is in fact closer to an early draft, submitted in 1957 and admired especially for the childhood sequences that were slowly reworked into Lee’s era-defining novel of racial injustice in the American South; whether Watchman complemented or compromised the book that eventually emerged from it was the subject of much debate.
even so, the spectacle of atticus finch, the nightingale’s holy advocate, succumbing in later life to some of the prejudices he had previously been up against, could only stay in the throat for a year when outrage over the failed trials of us, the policemen, accused us. with the murder of unarmed black men it has rarely been out of the news. on race in america, two titles in particular stood out: claudia rankine’s citizen, who won many awards, including britain’s breakthrough award, for her poems questioning the bigotry found everywhere, from the campus to the tennis court; and between the world and me by ta-nehisi coates, a searing epistolary essay addressed to his teenage son that paid homage to james baldwin’s the fire next time (1963).
In Britain, political publishing clustered around a curious general election — one that was discussed at the time almost exclusively in terms of the new realities of coalition-building arithmetic but which took a decidedly retro turn: a majority Conservative government, a heavily defeated Labour party that swung quickly to the left and even the revival of a debate on nuclear disarmament. Fittingly, there was a 1980s feel to some of the autumn catalogues: Andy Beckett’s Promised You a Miracle took us back to the first three years of that decade, showing how the new individualist zeitgeist extended deep even into those parts of society most opposed to Thatcherism, while the latest volume of Charles Moore’s authorised biography of the Iron Lady herself provided a detailed and authoritative narrative of her second term, in which she did so much to cement her legacy.
by fall it was also clear that this was a year of great sales successes. The follow-up to Fifty Shades of El James, Grey, angered critics, but nonetheless quickly surpassed the 1 million mark in print in both the US and UK. uu. as in the UK. the second in both markets (although the first in its home territory) was go set a watchman, followed by the surprise package of the year, the debut of the paula hawkins thriller, the girl on the train, which sold almost 1.6 million copies and possibly would have done even better. Not many people mistook it for a 2013 Aj Waines title, Girl on a Train. Just for once, that much-heard lament from the dissenting members of the reading group might well have been justified: everyone else was talking about a different book.
for publishers long accustomed to living in the shadow of the kind of technological disruption so elegantly described by stephen witt in his account of the rise of file sharing how music became free, this could not have been more welcome. In fact, physical book sales rose in the UK for the first time since 2007, with Nielsen Bookscan figures for January-November up 5.4 per cent from a year earlier. Add to that British chain Waterstones pulling unwanted Kindles off its shelves and Amazon opening a physical bookstore, and it seemed the future might not be entirely digital after all. the stuff of fantasy? we’ll have to wait and see.
lucy cartwright illustrations
Economics
inequality: what can be done?, by anthony atkinson, harvard university press, rrp£19.95/rrp$29.95
atkinson is the doyen of scholars who have focused on trends in inequality over the last half century. In this important book, he focuses not so much on what happened or why, but on what to do about it, particularly in the UK. the result is a challenging set of proposals.
the courage to act: a memory of the crisis and its consequences, by ben bernanke, ww norton, rrp£22.99/rrp$35
bernanke headed the world’s largest central bank during the 2007-08 financial crisis. A distinguished scholar of the Great Depression, he was the right man to be in charge of American monetary policy at the time. Here he gives a compelling account of what he and the Fed did and why they did it. the book also provides reflections on the lessons. he is insufficiently radical in finance. but the federal’s defense of him against his critics is convincing.
The Globalization of Inequality, by François Bourguignon, translated by Thomas Scott-Railton, Princeton University Press, RRP£19.95/RRP$27.95
Bourguignon’s approach is global, not local, focusing more on what has happened to inequality than on what to do about it. This makes it a valuable addition to Atkinson’s book. Crucially, Bourguignon points to some good news: Inequality has fallen between households globally, albeit from extremely high levels, and there have been impressive reductions in the proportion of the world’s population living in extreme poverty.
the public wealth of nations, by dag detter and stefan fölster, palgrave macmillan, rrp£24.99/rrp$40
The balance sheet of the public sector does not only have liabilities. also has assets. managing those assets well is at least as important as managing the liabilities. Here the authors show how large, undervalued, and poorly managed public assets are in general.
other people’s money, by john kay, profile, rrp£16.99/publicaffairs, rrp$27.99
“the financial sector of modern Western economies is too big . . . its growth has not been accompanied by corresponding improvements in the provision of services to the non-financial economy”. In this excellent book, fellow FT columnist Kay explains how this happened and what to do about it.
economic rules, by dani rodrik, oup, rrp£16.99/ww norton, rrp$27.95
After the financial crisis, the economy is in the doghouse. Rodrik, one of the world’s most insightful policy analysts, wants it loose again, albeit on a leash. one should, he insists, consider economics as “a collection of models,” not as a single grand general theory. the economist’s art lies in knowing which model is appropriate for the task at hand.
Europe’s Orphan: The Future of the Euro and the Politics of Debt, by Martin Sandbu, Princeton University Press, RRP£19.95/RRP$29.95
my colleague from ft, martin sandbu, seeks to rescue the euro from opprobrium. his argument is that it is not the euro but wrong policy that has caused the eurozone crisis. monetary union does not need fiscal and political union. needs a debt restructuring. the book provides a sophisticated “liquidationist” alternative to the prevailing rhetoric.
Why are we waiting?: The logic, urgency and promise of tackling climate change, by nicholas stern, mit press, rrp£19.95/rrp$27.95
lord stern authored the 2007 stern review on the economics of climate change. in this follow-up, he argues forcefully that we continue to underestimate the costs of inaction. It’s time to act, he says, not only because the costs of not doing so can be enormous, but also because the costs of necessary action are getting smaller.
misbehaving: the making of behavioral economics, by richard thaler, allen lane, rpp£20/ww norton, rrp$27.95
This fun book describes the author’s role in creating an intellectual counter-revolution: the rise of “behavioral economics.” Not long ago, well-thought-out economists turned their attention to an imaginary species of sociopaths, rational maximizers whom Thaler calls “econs.” however, real people, whom he calls “humans,” are much more interesting. Thaler explains how much we’ve learned about the mistakes humans are prone to making.
Between Debt and the Devil: Money, Credit, and the Fixation of Global Finance, by Adair Turner, Princeton University Press, RRP£19.95/RRP$29.95
turner, former chairman of the financial services authority, provides a brilliant analysis of the fragility of our debt-driven economies. history has shown that confidence in the benefits of financial liberalization and the stability offered by inflation targeting was a “fatal assumption”. Hayek had applied this phrase to socialist planning. but the uncritical belief in the free market was essentially based on the same mistaken utopianism.
Climate Shock: The Economic Consequences of a Hotter Planet, by Gernot Wagner and Martin Weitzman, Princeton University Press, RRP£19.95/RRP$27.95
we insure our lives against an uncertain future; so why not our planet? That is the question addressed in this lively and thought-provoking book. the authors show that extreme weather changes are among the possible outcomes of the path we are on. rational and far-sighted politicians would like to eliminate such possibilities. however, if we want to achieve that goal, we must act now.
wolf king
Business
the rise of the robots by martin ford, oneworld, rrp£18.99/core books, rrp$28.99
ford’s chilling message in the rise of the robots, ft and mckinsey’s 2015 business book of the year, is that the transition to a less labor-intensive economy will be miserable and even dangerous as they collide inequality, technological unemployment and climate change. . Radical solutions are needed, but Ford warns that “the future may come long before we’re ready.”
Infallible: Why Security Can Be Dangerous and How Danger Protects Us, by greg ip, headline, rrp£20/little brown, rrp$28
This book is about financial crises and how, in trying to prevent them, regulators and central bankers sometimes create the conditions that cause them. but ip explains this paradox through entertaining and provocative parallels to the worlds of civil aviation, flood management, and forestry. Sometimes, he points out, it’s better to let a small fire burn than to put it out and risk a larger conflagration.
missing the signal: the untold story behind the extraordinary rise and spectacular fall of blackberry, by jacquie mcnish and sean silcoff, flatiron books, rrp$27.99
The story of how a talented engineer and an ambitious salesman created the trademark commercial communications device of the early 2000s is deftly told by Mcnish and Silcoff. his step-by-step account explains how right co-CEOs mike lazaridis and jim balsillie got in building and selling the device, and then how wrong they reacted to the all-conquering iphone.
Thirsty Dragon: China’s Lust for Bordeaux and the Threat to the World’s Best Wines, by Suzanne Mustacich, Henry Holt, RRP$32
in the latest book to illuminate the state of china through its citizens’ fast-growing obsessions (golf, art, and now wine), mustacich examines the chinese passion for coveted french vintages and the parallel growth of a wine national. industry.
digital gold: the untold story of bitcoin, by nathaniel popper, allen lane, rrp£20/harper, rrp$27.99
This timely first draft of the history of a new cryptocurrency provides as reliable a guide to the rise of bitcoin as possible, given the anarchy surrounding its creation, its volatile evolution, and its unpredictable future. an excellent explanation of the importance of innovation and its underlying technology, the blockchain.
unfinished business: women men work in family, by anne-marie sacrifice, oneworld, rrp£16.99/random house, rrp$28
An alternative view to that presented by Sheryl Sandberg’s support, this book is a more nuanced account of the obstacles women face in the workplace. from the latest research to her own experience, the massacre points out that the problem is not, pace sandberg, with women, but with work. specifically, employers, leadership habits, and policies must change to allow women to advance freely.
the silo effect, by gillian tett, little, brown, rrp£20/simon & schuster, RRP $28
From sony to facebook, ft us’s editor-in-chief uses colorful examples to show how reinforcing the walls between different parts of organizations can lead to disaster and, conversely, how “breaking silos” can unleash creativity. one of the underlying messages is that maintaining a healthy culture requires constant vigilance and effort.
how music became free, by stephen witt, bodley head, rrp£20/viking, rrp$27.95
Focusing on a few major figures, from doug morris, the tycoon at the top of the recorded music tree, to the highly organized pirates at the bottom, witt traces how an industry was turned upside down by the sharing of technology files. a colorful cautionary tale for any established business facing digital disruption.
andré hill
Politics
The Chinese Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy, by Daniel Bell, Princeton University Press, Rrp£19.95/Rrp$29.95
bell, a canadian philosopher who works at tsinghua university in beijing, argues that there is a “crisis of governance in western democracies” and makes the controversial argument that china offers a superior model, in which leaders They select on their merits and not on their merits. the electorate.
the looting machine by tom burgis, william collins, rrp£20/publicaffairs, rrp$27.99
The book’s thesis is conveyed by its subtitle: “warlords, tycoons, smugglers, and the systematic theft of Africa’s wealth.” Burgis, who worked as a correspondent for ft in Africa, presents a relentless portrait of the corruption that plagues the continent.
kissinger: 1923-1968: the idealist, by niall ferguson, allen lane, rrp£35/penguin press, rrp$39.95
Ferguson’s revisionist line, noted in his subtitle, may not convince those who see Kissinger as the master of realpolitik. but, at 1,000 pages, this is a tremendously detailed and well-argued study of the making of one of the foreign policy giants of the 20th century.
Submission, by Michel Houellebecq, William Heinemann, RRP£18.99/FSG, RRP$25
Normally, a novel would not be included in the politics books of the year, but the publication of houellebecq’s controversial novel, which deals with the election of an islamist president in france in 2022, was a political event in itself. The book is brilliant, funny, and deliberately offensive, offering a keen insight into the problems of modern France.
goodbye kabul: from afghanistan to a more dangerous world, by christina lamb, william collins, rrp£25
journalist lamb began covering afghanistan when the mujahideen were fighting the russians. here he offers a detailed, painful and compelling account of how and why the west failed in afghanistan.
margaret thatcher: the authorized biography, volume two: all she wants, by charles moore, allen lane, rrp£30
A beautifully written and deeply researched biography, covering the years from 1983 to 1987, when “Thatcherism” was at its height. Moore’s account covers dramatic events, such as the miners’ strike and the bombing of Brighton, and innovative policies, such as privatization.
the invention of russia: the journey from gorbachev’s freedom to putin’s war, by arkady ostrovsky, atlantic, rrp£20
A vivid account of the evolution of modern Russia by a former foot journalist. Ostrovsky shows how the liberal dreams of the Gorbachev era gave way to the authoritarian nationalism of the Putin period.
Our Children: The American Dream in Crisis, by Robert Putnam, Simon & schuster, RRP £18.99 / RRP $28
Putnam, one of America’s foremost political scientists, addresses America’s growing inequality and its effect on the “American Dream.” Through a mix of anecdote and data, he shows how the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs has wreaked social havoc.
The Unraveling: Great Hopes and Lost Opportunities in Iraq, by Emma Sky, Atlantic, rrp£18.99/publicaffairs, rrp$28.99
A vivid insider account of the failed US effort to rebuild Iraq by a critical but sympathetic British adviser who was embedded with US forces. shortlisted for the samuel johnson award.
gideon rachman
History
king john: england, magna carta, and the creation of a tyrant, by stephen church, macmillan, rrp£25/basic books, rrp$29.99
The Magna Carta, the cornerstone of constitutional government in the English-speaking world, passed its 800th anniversary this year. The church explains with exemplary clarity how the charter arose out of the turmoil of King John’s reign.
Charles I and the People of England, by David Cressy, Oup, MSRP £30/$49.95
cressy is the author of several delightful books on the social history of Tudor and Stuart England that are based on curious material buried in the archives. Here, the Ohio State University historian investigates what ordinary people thought of Charles I before the king’s tumultuous reign ended with his beheading in 1649.
A nation and not a rabble: the Irish revolution 1913-1923, by diarmaid ferriter, profile, rrp£30
New books about the violent dawn of Irish independence are appearing fast as the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising approaches. Ferriter sets the bar high for good writing and scholarship in this outstanding study.
Cunegonde’s Kidnapping: A Story of Religious Conflict in the Age of Enlightenment, by Benjamin Kaplan, Yale University Press, RRP£19.99/$30
In 1762, a religious conflict erupted on the Dutch-German border when a Catholic woman tried to kidnap a baby to prevent her baptism in a Protestant church. Kaplan paints a lucid and fascinating picture of the Enlightenment as a time of prejudice as well as tolerance.
into the flame: the war and the end of czarist russia, by dominic lieven, allen lane, rrp£25/viking, rrp$35
Aristocratic values, the imperial mentality and the rise of modern nationalisms are the great themes of this illuminating history of late Tsarist Russia. lieven writes with all the clarity, conviction, and fluent command of fonts that readers have come to expect from him.
Blood Runs Green: The Murder That Crippled Gilded Age Chicago, by gillian o’brien, university of chicago press, rrp$25
The 1889 Chicago murder of Patrick Henry Cronin, an Irish-American physician and political activist, was one of the great scandals of 19th-century American public life. o’brien tells the story with enormous enthusiasm.
the guardians: the league of nations and the crisis of empire, by susan pedersen, oup, rrp£22.99/$34.95
at the 1919 paris peace conference, the nations that emerged victorious from the first world war agreed to govern the conquered territories under mandates from the league of nations. In his groundbreaking study, Pedersen explores the tensions that arose from the collision of old-style imperialism with colonial nationalism and a new international bureaucratic order.
things and money at the time of the french revolution, by rebecca spang, harvard university press, rrp£25/$39.95
Spang, author of a highly original 2000 book on French history called The Invention of the Restaurant, has done it again. here he sees the French Revolution from new angles as he discusses the cultural meaning of money in a time of European warfare, domestic terror, and inflation.
‘they may live in the desert but nowhere else’: a story of the armenian genocide, by ronald grigor suny, princeton university press, rrp£24.95/$35
if you read a book about the 1915 Armenian genocide, do it. suny is one of the most renowned scholars in the western world from the caucasus region. His account of the fate of the Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks is harrowingly detailed and scrupulously objective.
tonio barber
Science
the vital question: why is life the way it is?, by nick lane, profile, rrp£25/ww norton, rrp$27.95
Biochemist Lane has written nothing less than a new theory of life, within the broad context of Darwinian evolution. he shows how simple microbes, which monopolized the earth for the first 2 billion years after life arose, took the momentous step to become the complex “eukaryotic” cells that evolved into animals, plants, fungi, and protozoa .
The Cunning of Uncertainty, by Helga Nowotny, Polity, RRP£16.99
nowotny, a great figure in European science policy, analyzes the impact of uncertainty on all aspects of modern life. she is particularly interested in efforts by researchers and technologists to reduce uncertainty, with mixed results. this is an important piece of social science that will entertain non-specialists as well.
neurotribes: the legacy of autism and how to think smarter about people who think differently, by steve silberman, allen & no win, rrp£16.99/avery, rrp$29.95
silberman, an american journalist, won the 2015 samuel johnson award for this research on autism. a rich combination of contemporary reporting and medical and social history, explains why autism spectrum disorders are diagnosed much more frequently today than they were a generation or two ago.
The Diet Myth: The Real Science Behind What We Eat, by Tim Spector, Weidenfeld & nicolson, RRP £14.99
Scientists are beginning to appreciate the medical importance of the microbiome, the resident population of approximately 100 tons of microbes within the human body. Several popular books have appeared this year on our microbial hosts, focusing on their role in promoting human health, and Spector, a world leader in twin genetic studies, has written the best of them.
the invention of science: a new history of the scientific revolution, by david wootton, allen lane, rrp£30/harper, rrp$35
a masterful account of the “scientific revolution” that transformed Western civilization during the 16th and 17th centuries. Wootton’s extensive book (over 750 pages) is packed with people, stories, facts, and arguments about the rise of experimentation to discover the laws of nature.
clive cookson
Art
portraits: john berger on artists, by john berger, edited by tom overton, verso, rrp£25/rrp$44.95
essays spanning 30,000 years of art history written by a writer who uniquely combines critical acuity and imaginative empathy with Marxist conviction. “If I am a political propagandist, I am proud of it,” Berger says, “but my heart and eyes remain those of a painter.” the combination is always enlightening.
Frank Auerbach: Speak and Paint, by Catherine Lampert, Thames & hudson, rrp£19.95/rrp$40
lamert has sat as a model for the reclusive artist for four decades. here he draws on her conversations to produce a passionate and sensitive portrait, close to biography but brighter and more alive than direct narration by conveying the rhythms of auerbach’s painting, life and thought.
See Also: Sidney Sheldon – Book Series In Order
paul cézanne: drawings and watercolors, by christopher lloyd, thames & hudson, rrp£24.95/getty, rrp$39.95
rilke called cézanne’s watercolors “as sure as his paints and as light as the paints are heavy”. This handsome compact reading volume is a deeply thought-out and lightly interpreted account, particularly of the rhapsodic watercolors with which Cézanne balanced drawing and painting, line and color, in shifting balances to convey sensation and feeling.
japan’s love of impressionism, edited by beate marks-hanssen, prestel, rrp£40/rrp$60
that rare thing, a new perspective on impressionism. This catalog of a current German exhibition, which recounts in particular Monet’s relationship with his Japanese collectors, reveals impressive paintings (Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Signac, Seurat) from collections virtually unknown in the West.
vermeer: the complete works, by karl schütz, taschen, rrp£99.99/rrp$150
There will never be an exhibition of Vermeer’s 35 surviving works, spread across museums around the world; This catalog with spectacular reproductions, close-up details and fold-outs is a supreme print retrospective of the great artist of silence, intimacy, the transitory gesture. art book of the year.
jackie wullschlager
Architecture
imaginary cities, by darran anderson, influx press, rrp£12.99
A compendium of fantasy cities that follows Marco Polo’s lead through Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, this remarkable study reveals the influence the metropolis of the mind has had on reality.
the power broker: robert moses and the fall of new york, by robert caro, bodley head, rrp£35/vintage, rrp$26
First published in 1974 but only now appearing in the UK, this slab of a book is an excellent monument to the man who built modern New York. As head of the city’s construction authorities in the mid-20th century, Moses wielded unprecedented power, destroying the city’s highways and reshaping the landscape.
Ruins and Fragments: Stories of Loss and Rediscovery, by robert harbison, reaktion, rrp£20/$35
Drawing parallels with modernist literature and art, Harbison suggests that the ruin and the fragment appeal to contemporary sensibilities precisely because of their incompleteness and their embodiment of loss and nostalgia. With Isis destroying ancient sites, this is a timely and beautifully written study of why we’re so attached to pieces of the past.
England’s Post War Listed Buildings, by Elain Harwood and James Davies, Batsford, Rrp£40/$60
brutalism and modernism have become very fashionable because the current dearth of thinking about architecture in social and political terms makes their monuments seem visionary, even more modern than many of today’s buildings. Harwood and Davies have put together a beautifully illustrated guide to this architectural legacy.
edwin heathcote
Cinema
alfred hitchcock, by peter ackroyd, chatto & windus, pvp £12.99
It’s a surprise that it’s taken Ackroyd so long to reach Hitchcock, a figure who always lurked on the spiritual fringes of London writers’ studios. the book is physically lean, but more insightful.
stuntwomen: the untold story of hollywood, by mollie gregory, university press of kentucky, rrp$40
Remember that indelible opening scene in Jaws? The lone swimmer claimed by the deep was a stuntwoman, Susan Backlinie, just one in a long list that Gregory highlights in a story that takes us back to the dawn of the movies.
composite cinematic: akira kurosawa and me, by shinobu hashimoto, translated by lori hitchcock morimoto, vertical, rrp$ 21.95
Few guides for aspiring screenwriters could match Hashimoto, whose long years writing for the great Kurosawa produced such landmarks as Rashomon and Seven Samurai. Much of this sharply observed memoir serves as a model for the relationships between writer and director. later, after the company of two parties, things get difficult.
danny leigh
classical music and opera
music, sense and nonsense: collected essays and lectures, by alfred brendel, bite, rrp£25
Not only the complete collected writings for the first time, but also the sum of the wisdom of a thinking musician looking back on his career. Brendel reflects deeply on Beethoven and Liszt, performance and recording, and, with endearing enthusiasm, an appreciation of his humor in music.
The Other Classical Music: Fifteen Great Traditions, edited by michael church, boydell press, rrp£25/rrp$45
From Turkish makam to Javanese gamelan and West African Mande music, the world of music encompasses a host of classical traditions. this compendium seeks to open the doors to the richness of 15 of the most substantial in a lively but understandable style.
my life with wagner, by christian thielemann, weidenfeld & nicolson, rrp£25
coincidence or not, this is the year christian thielemann achieved his life’s ambition. newly installed as music director at the bayreuth festival, thielemann lays out his thoughts on wagner the man and the artist.
richard fairman
Pop
at the all night cafe, by stuart david, little, brown, rrp£16.99/chicago review, rrp$15.95
belle and sebastian were strangers in the heyday of britpop, drinking beer and snorting cocaine. Stuart David, their former bass player, recounts the Scottish indie band’s origins in his charming memoir, a story whose most rock ‘n’ roll moment involves mild misconduct with After Eight Mints.
Raising the Noise: The Audio-Politics of a Global Music Revolution, by Michael Denning, verse, rrp£17.99/rrp$24.95
The year zero of noise uprising is 1925, when electrical recording techniques allowed vinyl to conquer the world. record companies hunted for new sounds: Argentine tango singers, Cuban son musicians, Egyptian taarab vocalists. denning links the vernacular recording explosion to an emerging era of decolonization.
I’ve Always Had a Unicorn: The Biography of Sandy Denny, by mick houghton, faber, rrp£20
The Fairport convention singer had one of the great voices of the 1970s. Houghton’s well-researched biography traces Denny’s success and his sabotage by drink and a fragile personality.
m train, by patti smith, bloomsbury, rrp£18.99/knopf, rrp$25
The sequel to Just Kids begins with Smith in a cafe with a notebook, wondering how to write about anything. Difficult Second Memory Syndrome, perhaps: But Smith conquers it in style, delivering flashbacks about writing, reading, and married life with Fred “Sonic” Smith.
ludovic hunter-tilney
sport
two hours: the impossible marathon running mission, by ed caesar, viking, rrp£16.99/simon & schuster, pvp $26
Runners have come tantalizingly close to finishing the 26-mile, 375-yard dash in less than two hours, but none have done it yet. Focusing on Kenyan athlete Geoffrey Mutai, Caesar’s book is an engaging study of the extremes of obsession and the limits of physiology.
Summer Wreath: The Story of County Championship Cricket, by stephen chalke, fairfield books, rrp£20
a wonderfully researched, beautifully written and lovingly produced story of the county championship. More than a continuous narrative, it is a series of illustrated vignettes that cover different topics and curiosities from decade to decade. the result is a book full of characters and laughter.
fifty-six: the story of the bradford fire, by martin fletcher, bloomsbury, rrp£16.99
fletcher was 12 years old when he went with his father, brother, uncle and grandfather to watch a bradford city football game on may 11, 1985. that night he returned home without his relatives, who were devoured by the fire that killed 56 on the old wooden stand a harrowing book, but also a sweet evocation of the provincial north of england.
One Man’s World: The Double Life of Emile Griffith, by Donald McRae, Simon & schuster, pvp £20
Mcrae, a South African who is arguably Britain’s most embellished sports author, has done it again with the story of a black boxer who was secretly gay, killed an opponent in the ring, then contracted dementia pugilistic. an amazing story, told simply through a combination of sensitive interviews and deep reading.
federer and me: a story of obsession, by william skidelsky, yellow jersey, rrp£16.99
Here’s tennis’ response to Nick Hornby’s high point: Skidelsky describes how the beauty of Roger Federer’s tennis game helped restore his sanity. The book is particularly strong on Federer’s place in tennis history, and funny about Federer’s nemesis, Rafael Nadal.
halftime: the glorious summer of 1934, by robert winder, wisden, rrp£18.99
this splendidly evocative book focuses on a fortnight when britain achieved near-simultaneous triumphs in cricket, tennis and golf. Winder recreates the mood of 1934, while providing a kind of triple biography of cricketer Hedley Verity, tennis player Fred Perry, and golfer Henry Cotton.
simón kuper
Fiction
a god in ruins, by kate atkinson, doubleday, rrp£20/small, brown, rrp$28
In his 2013 novel Life After Life, Atkinson followed a woman through multiple possible lives. this sequel of sorts focuses on the woman’s brother and contrasts his experiences as a bomber pilot with his decidedly uncomplicated life in peacetime. a celebration of silent heroism, told with great formal skill and narrative flair.
number 11, by jonathan coe, viking penguin, MSRP £16.99
like his acclaimed what a division! (1994), Coe’s eleventh novel is a satire on the state of the nation; it even features some of the same characters. If this one doesn’t quite live up to the heights of its predecessor, it’s still a provocative and highly amusing response to British austerity rhetoric.
the green path, by anne enright, cape, rrp£16.99/ww norton, rrp$26.95
like the reunion, winner of the enright booker in 2007, the greenway is centered around a family reunion. This time it’s the Madigans: the matriarch Rosaleen and her four children, who have become dysfunctional because of her mother’s self-centeredness. enright dissects its foibles with warmth, wit, and an invigorating lack of sentimentality.
purity, by jonathan franzen, fourth estate, rrp£20/fsg, rrp$28
so it’s not the best of franzen, it’s not up to the corrections (2001), let’s say. but he remains a formidably talented writer, and Purity, in which the eponymous heroine goes in search of her unknown father, is a serious, humane, and irresistibly readable portrait of our information-intoxicated age.
the buried giant, by kazuo ishiguro, faber, rrp£20/knopf, rrp$26.95
Even for a genre jumper like Ishiguro, his first novel in 10 years was a surprise: a fantasy set in mist-shrouded England not long after Roman times, complete with a dragon and an elderly Sir Gawain. With its vivid images and measured prose, the book is an expanded reflection on historical memory and oblivion.
The Penguin Book of the British Short Story, edited by Philip Hensher, Penguin, two volumes, RRP£25 each
In two beautifully designed volumes, Hensher showcases “probably the richest, most varied, and historically longest national tradition” of short story writing in the world, from Daniel Defoe to Zadie Smith. If it’s impossible not to disagree with some of the omissions, no Katherine Mansfield, no Em Forster, you have to admire Hensher’s defense of unknown names alongside established greats.
a brief history of seven murders, by marlon james, oneworld, rrp£8.99/riverhead, rrp$17
james became the first jamaican winner of the man booker award with this exploration of the events surrounding the shooting of bob marley in december 1976. narrated through multiple voices (gangsters, a groupie, a station chief the cia and others) also records the crack boom in the united states in the 1980s; But if James doesn’t shy away from depicting brutal violence, there’s humanity and humor here, too.
the account of the moor, by laila lalami, periscope, rrp£9.99/vintage, rrp$15.95
The Moor in question is Estebanico, a slave mentioned in passing in a 16th-century record as one of the four survivors of the disastrous Florida expedition of the conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez. From this fleeting reference, Lalami has woven a compelling story of “the disease of empire” in the new world.
the crossing, by andrew miller, scepter, suggested retail price: £18.99
A conundrum lies at the heart of Miller’s follow-up to his pure Coast winner: heroine Maud may be irresistible to dashing Tim, who has a child with her, but he can never quite pierce her self-sufficiency. neither does the reader, even as we follow maud on a perilous solo yacht trip after the family falls apart. Part relationship study, part sailing history, this strange but gripping book lingers on the mind for a long time.
signs for lost children, by sarah moss, granta, recommended retail price: £12.99
A sequel to Bodies of Light (2014), Moss’s novel continues the story of Ally, who struggles to be taken seriously as a doctor in the unforgiving environment of a Victorian lunatic asylum. meanwhile, the husband he has just married must undertake a long journey to japan. Moss vividly brings his contrasting experiences to life in this nuanced study of lives constrained or liberated by circumstance.
the little red chairs, by edna o’brien, faber, rrp£18.99
Inspired by Radovan Karadzic’s disguise while on the run, The Little Red Chairs begins with the arrival of a bearded stranger, “Doctor Vladimir Dragan, healer and sex therapist”, in a small Irish town. What follows is a masterful study of evil and human resilience, its darkness offset by O’Brien’s poetic vitality towards the sensual world.
the fishermen, by chigozie obioma, one, rrp£14.99 / little, brown, rrp$26
When their father moves away, four brothers in Nigeria consider themselves freed from their ambitions for themselves: instead of studying hard for a living in the professions, they spend their time fishing. But even in the 1990s, old superstitions, in the form of a madman’s prophecy, can poison seemingly solid relationships. obioma’s masterful debut novel was shortlisted for the man booker and won the ft/oppenheimerfunds emerging voices fiction award.
the year of the fugitives, by sunjeev sahota, chopper, rrp£14.99
Set in the UK and India, Sahota’s man booker shortlisted novel centers on three men who have left India in search of work, and the devoted Sikh “visa-going girlfriend” of one of them. they. the streets are not paved with gold in this starkly powerful novel.
cockfosters, by helen simpson, jonathan cape, MSRP £15.99
Starting in the 1990s Four Bare Legs on a Bed, Simpson’s collections of sharp and witty stories have largely traced his own lifetime into his concerns. now in her mid-fifties, she focuses on the sometimes poignant, sometimes just vexing trials of middle age; the resulting stories are warm, funny, and keenly observed.
the wallcreeper/mislaid, by nell zink, four estate, rrp£20/published in us by dorothy (wallcreeper) and ecco (mislaid)
two oddities in a single yellow slipcase: the first novel, the wall-crawler, published in the united states last year when zink was 50, is an eccentric tale of eco-activism and marital failure; its follow-up, Lost, is an equally quirky novel about a white mother and child posing as black. if narratives often feel just plain off the rails, zink’s vivid and sparkling prose is ample compensation.
neville falcon
Fiction in translation
a general theory of forgetting, by josé eduardo agualusa, translated by daniel hahn, harvill secker, rrp£14.99/archipelago, rrp$18
On the eve of Angola’s independence from Portugal in 1975, the agoraphobic Ludo locks herself in an apartment in Luanda. She spends the next three decades in self-imposed isolation as a civil war rages outside her, until a chance encounter with a young thief finally leads her to a transformed country. a remarkable novel by one of angola’s most remarkable storytellers.
The Meursault Investigation, by Kamel Daoud, translated by John Cullen, Oneworld, RRP£8.99/Other Press, RRP$14.95
Winner of this year’s goncourt prize for best first novel, albert camus’s powerful narrative of the outsider is not only a deconstruction of a literary classic, but also a plaintive meditation on the growing power of conservative islam in modern algeria .
the story of the lost child, by elena ferrante, translated by euan cameron, europa editions, rrp£11.99/$18
The latest installment of Ferrante’s triumphant Neapolitan quartet takes up the story of lifelong friends Lila and Lenù. the novel brilliantly focuses, like its predecessors, on the emotional complexities and rollercoaster intensity of friendship between its now-matured protagonists.
one night, markovitch, by ayelet gundar-goshen, translated by sondra silverston, pushkin press, rrp£10
This confident debut from Israeli gundar-goshen begins as a picaresque novel about yaacov and his womanizing friend zeev, two villagers in pre-WWII palestine who sign up for a scheme to marry european jewish women and bring them from return to the native country. a tender and sensual study of human weaknesses and desires.
seiobo down there by lászló krasznahorkai, translated by ottilie mulzet, tuskar rock, rrp£16.99/new directions, rrp$17.95
A series of interlinked stories form the core of this novel by the 2015 international man booker award winner. One of hungary’s foremost authors creates poignant meditations on beauty and our responses to it.
so you don’t get lost in the neighbourhood, by patrick modiono, translated by euan cameron, maclehose, rrp£14.99/houghton mifflin harcourt, rrp$24
“It’s full of ghosts here,” says a character in the 2014 Nobel Prize winner’s latest work, which will be translated into English. The loss of an address book leads the protagonist to confront his past in the post-war suburbs of Paris in an atmospheric novel that follows the emotional contours of the author’s early life.
In the night of time, by antonio muñoz molina, translated by edith grossman, tuskar rock press, rrp£16.99/houghton mifflin harcourt, rrp$30
A successful architect finds himself embroiled in the twin upheavals of the Spanish Civil War and an overwhelming love story in this novel by one of Spain’s foremost authors. a gripping tale of a man struggling with guilt and desire as the world falls apart.
a strangeness in my mind, by orhan pamuk, translated by ekin oklap, faber, rrp£20/knopf, rrp$28.95
Through the story of Mevlut Karatas, who migrates from Anatolia to Istanbul as a child and grows up to become a street vendor, the 2006 Nobel Laureate offers another loving meditation on his hometown. a polyphonic novel about desire, memory, change and the lost pleasures of walking through the vanished neighborhoods of istanbul.
angel gurria-quintana
Literary non-fiction
ted hughes: the unauthorized life, of jonathan bate, william collins, rrp£30/harper, rrp$40
Bate’s book began as a “Literary Life,” backed by a great deal of research and unrestricted access, but Hughes’s widow had second thoughts. The result, however, was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and still manages to illuminate the poet’s literary presence.
young eliot: from st louis to the waste land by robert crawford, jonathan cape, rrp£25/farrar, straus & giroux, rrp$35
Crawford’s comprehensive biography of TS Eliot’s early life discusses the poet’s early education. Read along with Christopher Ricks’ masterful two-volume Annotated Works for Elliot in surround sound.
landmarks, by robert macfarlane, hamish hamilton, rrp£20
shortlisted for the samuel johnson award, macfarlane’s book focuses on the words we have accumulated for the earth around us. a richly complex work by an acclaimed nature writer.
the human being in four dimensions: ways of being in the digital world, by laurence scott, william heinemann, rrp£20
in his study of our hyperactive internet age, scott’s interest lies less in the technology than in those who use it. Scott’s references are admirably broad, spanning high and low culture in a layered and complex narrative (and Samuel Johnson shortlisted).
See Also: Eugenia Price – Book Series In Order
john aubrey: my own life, by ruth scurr, chatto & wind, rrp£25
shortlisted for the 2015 costa biography prize, ruth scurr’s experimental “act of academic imagination” brings to life 17th century antiquary and author of short lives, john aubrey. Collecting Aubrey’s own words from various sources, Scurr’s book captures a man’s voice more often than not as a “ghostly record keeper” in his own writing.
john le carré: the biography, by adam sisman, bloomsbury, rrp£25/harper, rrp$28.99
While Sisman may not present the literary case for Le Carré’s novels as convincingly as some would like, it does offer insight into the complex and contradictory life of George Smiley’s creator. a fascinating precursor to le carré’s promised memoir.
the white path, by edmund de waal, chatto & windus, rrp£20/fsg, rrp$27
The ceramist and author of the amber-eyed hare (2010) returns with his history of porcelain from ancient China to the present day. In a tandem autobiographical thread, de Waal also recounts his own love affair with the material.
carl wilkinson
Poetry
the poems of ts eliot: the annotated text, volumes 1 and 2, edited by christopher ricks and jim mccue, faber, rrp£40 each/johns hopkins university press, rrp$44.95 and rrp $39.95 respectively
This meeting of one of the most important poets of the 20th century and one of our greatest scholars is an exercise in literary generosity. Ricks and co-editor McCue offer eight pages of illuminating commentary for each page of Eliot’s poems, some of which are collected here for the first time.
horace: poems, edited by paul quarrie, library for all, rrp£9.99
Everyone’s elegant “pocket poets” series includes some surprising treats. In this edition, almost as fascinating as Horace’s lines are some of the collected translators: Milton, Byron, even Elizabeth I.
steep tea, from jee leong koh, carcanet, suggested price £9.99
The Singapore-born poet’s first UK publication is disciplined yet adventurous in form, informal in tone and deeply personal in subject matter. Koh’s verses address the divided heritage of his post-colonial upbringing, as well as the tension between an émigré’s longing for home and the rejection of nostalgia.
citizen: an american lyric, by claudia rankine, penguin poetry, rrp£9.99/graywolf, rrp$20
rankine won the ahead award (and several others in the united states) for this collection of prose poems and essays. Inspired by observations of everyday racism, these cleverly crafted vignettes are fierce, witty, thought-provoking, and alarming.
maria crawford
Crime
Tell No Tales, by Eva Dolan, Harvill Secker, RRP £12.99
dolan’s long walk home (2014) focused on migrant workers threatened by ruthless gang members. Detectives Zigic and Ferreira return in Tell No Such, this time investigating neo-Nazis in a Peterborough that’s a far cry from the cozy stereotypes of provincial cathedral cities.
the mulberry tree, by charles mccarry, head of zeus, rrp£18.99/mysterious press, rrp$26
Are there any thriller writers alive today who have worked for the cia and wrote speeches for eisenhower? Yes, there is, and McCarry, after his spectacular early career, has achieved remarkable success as a novelist. In his latest book, a young spy infiltrates the CIA to avenge the death of his father.
icarus, by deon meyer, translated by kl seegers, hodder & stoughton, RRP £17.99
Meyer’s novels present an unvarnished picture of social divisions in post-apartheid South Africa. Here Captain Benny Griessel investigates the murder of a man behind an internet service that provides cheating couples with plausible stories, but, like his clients, was he all he seemed to be?
the murder of bobbi lomax, by cal moriarty, faber, rrp£12.99
When bombs go off in an American city, one survivor turns out to have belonged to a sinister cult, the Faith. Could he also be a murderer? Moriarty’s debut novel is a searing examination of both the criminal mastermind and the dark secrets that lie within America’s Bible Belt.
barry forshaw
Science fiction
escape from baghdad! by saad hossain, unnamed press, rrp$16.00
Unclassifiably wild, strange and crazy, Hossain’s first novel mixes Islamic mysticism, Greek myth, alchemy and superheroes. In the post-invasion chaos of Iraq, there are fortunes to be made and minds to be lost. the tone is salty and cynical, with a vein of satire pulsing just below the surface.
where, by kit reed, tor, rrp$25.99
The inhabitants of an island off the coast of South Carolina mysteriously disappear, transported to a kind of limbo. loved ones left behind search for answers. it’s like a cool, cerebral version of lost that unblinkingly exposes the ugliness that lurks in the human heart.
aurora, by kim stanley robinson, orbit, rrp£18.99/rrp$26
another future building masterpiece from robinson. a large spaceship travels to colonize a distant moon. their mission fails, but the crew’s attempts to salvage something from the disaster provide compelling drama. the author has an abiding faith in humanity’s ability to harness technology to our advantage.
seveneves, by neal stephenson, borough press, rrp£20/william morrow, rrp$35
The moon explodes and the earth ends, but a stubborn group of survivors on an expanded international space station fight to keep the flame of humanity alive. Stephenson brings polymatic research and narrative flair to this remarkable piece of apocalyptic fiction.
james lovegrove
Children’s
Paris up, up and away, by hélène druvert, thames & hudson, RRP £14.95 / RRP $24.95
a delicate illustrated book that uses laser-cut silhouettes to evoke the French capital in all its romantic splendor. excellent, both technically and aesthetically.
asterix and the lost scroll, by jean-yves ferri and didier conrad, translated by anthea bell, orion, rrp£10.99/asterix rrp$17.99
The indomitable Gaul is back in this second installment from Ferri and Conrad, deftly stepping into the spot left vacant by the original creators of Asterix, Goscinny and Uderzo. a chapter from caesar’s memoir disappears in a witty and outlandish satire of the wikileaks era.
anyone but ivy pocket, by caleb krisp, bloomsbury, rrp£10.99/greenwillow, rrp$17.99
There are no less reliable narrators than ivy pocket. Unwaveringly convinced of her own wonder, the lady’s maid, Ivy, doesn’t realize how irritating she is to others, but she still achieves her goal of delivering a mystical diamond to a young aristocrat. the moonstone with laughter.
fuzzy clay, by louis sachar, bloomsbury, rrp£12.99/delacorte, rrp$16.99
Fantastic runaway science story from the author of holes. A mutated form of a new organic biofuel escapes from the lab and wreaks havoc on the surrounding community. the tension is well sustained throughout, the characterization sharp.
james lovegrove
Young adult
liquidator, by andy mulligan, david fickling books, RRP £12.99
The always inventive Mulligan turns his attention to the interns. A group of classmates take on short assignments in the sad world of adults, only to find themselves thrown into danger when one of them discovers a horrible secret behind a new soda called liquidator.
the last of the spirits, by chris priestley, bloomsbury, rrp£6.99/rrp$18.99
priestley shows us the story of scrooge from a new angle, that of two hungry children who are unlucky enough to cross paths. they are, of course, the boy called ignorance and the girl called need. a witty take on a perennial fable.
railhead, by philip reeve, oup, MSRP £9.99
This narrative of a teenage thief traversing the universe on space trains is thrilling, but its most chilling effects come through its examination of what it means to be human. reeve creates a hauntingly beautiful world.
the wonders, by brian selznick, scholastic, rrp£16.99/rrp$32.99
Part graphic novel, part prose narrative, Wonderland is a puzzle box of a book. What links the titular dynasty of 18th-century actors to the boy Joseph, who in 1990 comes to live with his lonely uncle in Spitalfields? a mystery wrapped in a love letter to a quickly disappearing london.
suzi feay
Travel
barbarian days: a life of surfing, by william finnegan, privateer, rrp£14.99/penguin, rrp$27.95
Finnegan, a New York writer, is best known for his coverage of American conflict and poverty, but he has also been a lifelong fan of surfing. Barbarian Days, a chronicle of his obsession as he travels from California to Hawaii, South Africa and Fiji, promises to become a staple for anyone interested in the sport.
deep south, by paul theroux, hamish hamilton, rrp£20/eamon dolan — houghton mifflin harcourt, rrp$29.95
theroux’s journey through the southern states of his native united states focuses not on the wind-blown mansions of the popular imagination, but on the humble towns that development hasn’t left behind. theroux finds warmth and beauty, but also extreme poverty.
one mile down, by david vann, william heinemann, rrp£18.99/da capo, rrp$14.95
While on vacation in Turkey, Vann comes across the steel hull of a 90-foot ship and, fulfilling a dream, decides to rebuild it and sail the Mediterranean. what happens next is a protracted disaster, an antidote to the usual run of escape-in-the-sun memories.
tom robbins
Fashion and style
sports guide: los angeles 1897, by liz goldwyn, regan arts, rrp$29.99
Admired by fashion designer Erdem Moralioglu, Goldwyn’s book is a series of deeply researched but fictionalized accounts of the prostitution business in late 19th century Los Angeles. Goldwyn, an avid collector of vintage lingerie and one of the world’s most greedy couture clients, writes with candid imagination of a time when “vice ruled the city.”
model woman: eileen ford and the business of beauty, by robert lacey, harper, rrp£20/rrp$29.99
A biography of the super agent who built the Ford model empire, Lacey’s book offers a fascinating insight into the “modeling matriarch” and her role in creating the supermodel phenomenon. While Lacey doesn’t hesitate to describe her most brutal professional demeanor, he is careful to record Ford’s contribution to fashion over a career spanning nearly 50 years.
jo ellison
Food
mamushka: recipes from ukraine and beyond, by olia hercules, mitchell beazley, rrp£25
Whatever your preconceptions about Ukrainian food, be prepared to shake them. hercules features brilliant cuisine heavily influenced by the Middle East, delicious home cooking, and excellent preservation techniques.
the nordic cookbook, by magnus nilsson, phaidon, rrp£29.95/rrp$49.95
an extensive journey through the food of the Nordic region, now so fashionable. Nilsson, the brains behind the faviken restaurant, writes engagingly not only about the traditional and occasionally terrifying stuff (the fermented shark and stuffed puffins), but also about the national favorites that have emerged in recent years, challenging our notions of “authenticity”.
tim hayward
gardens
the art of gardening: design inspiration and innovative planting techniques from chanticleer, by gardeners at chanticleer and r william thomas, timber press, rrp£25/rrp$34.95
the ambitious title is justified by r william thomas’s 26 years of work experience in longwood, before becoming head gardener at another great american garden, chanticleer, in 2003. anyone who has been seduced by the skillful use of the chanticleer color, shape and sculpture will find all the guidance they need.
the magical world of moss gardening, by annie martin, timber press, rrp$34.95
Any talk about the nuanced delights of moss gardening is often overshadowed by lawn-borers who want to know how to eradicate that moss. here is the antidote. Martin’s whistle-blower survey of moss gardens from Japan to North America should convert even die-hard moss militants.
oxford university gardens, by tim richardson, frances lincoln, rrp£40
richardson’s knowledgeable narration and andrew lawson’s superb photography evoke gardens in their heyday, from my colleague robin lane fox’s free-form “euro-grass” border of color at new college to the wonderful planting of worcester by simon bagnall.
jane owen
Lionel BarberEditor of the Financial Times
in how music became free, stephen witt recounts how technology in the form of the digital mp3 format brought the music industry to its knees. This book is a tour de force, delving into the criminal underworld of hackers and thieves, as well as the complacent corporate boardroom. Shortlisted for the 2015 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.
Larissa MacFarquharAuthor of Strangers Drowning: Voyages to the Brink of Moral Extremity
mislaid by nell zink is an exquisite novel soufflé, effervescently absurd and unrelentingly malicious. But it’s carnal, satirical, and American enough to be more sincere than Camp: It’s Ivy Compton-Burnett crossed with Mary Karr. A teenage lesbian has two children with a caustic gay poet who lives in a Virginia bayou, then elopes with her pale blonde daughter and poses as black. the characters are only vehicles of phrases; but those lines are so delightful that they remind you how pleasurable it can be to step out of realism into a lighter, bubblier place.
Michael MoritzChairman of Sequoia Capital and co-author with Sir Alex Ferguson of Leading
Interwoven with the inevitable recapitulation of a torrent of matches, a strangely moving self-portrait emerges from engagement, didier drogba’s account of his footballing life. The image is that of a man who, after a disturbing childhood and almost a decade of toiling in football’s youth ranks, finally achieved the security he longed for: for a very few winters at Chelsea, the club he calls home; in the Ivory Coast, the country of his childhood; and, above all, with a woman with whom, since he was 22, he has raised four children. An undertone of sensitivity and self-consciousness runs through this work: a startling revelation from a man who, at his best, seemed carved in bronze, but whose moral compass is poignantly calibrated.
Lucy KellawayFT columnist
The only thing wrong with the fourth volume of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet — the story of an intense, lethal friendship between two women — is that it is the last one. On finishing each of the volumes that follow two girls born in a violent, corrupt Naples neighbourhood in the 1950s as they grow up and compete for lovers, success and fame, there was the consolation of more to come. The Story of the Lost Child brings this beautifully translated literary soap opera to an enigmatic close, leaving you missing both Lila and Lenù, and marvelling at the scale of the damage that one woman can inflict on another.
Chigozie ObiomaAuthor of The Fishermen, winner of the 2015 FT and OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Award for Fiction
2015’s howling masterpiece must surely be eka kurniawan’s beauty is a wound. it is, I mean it, a howl, an outrage, and a sheer burst of particular talent. it’s the kind of thing you want fiction to do, and the kind of thing you want to imagine it doing. tells the story of a woman who returns from the dead after giving birth to a human “shirt” that is ironically called “beauty”. Kurniawan sharpens Indonesian history with uncommon energy.
Simon SchamaAuthor of The Face of Britain and FT contributing editor
“giant above all in the capacity for joy” is primo levi’s way of characterizing rabelais: an unlikely choice of literary hero for levi until one realizes it, from the complete works edited by ann goldstein Lurking within the gravely poetic chronicler of torment was a man starved for life. All of Levi’s great works of sadness and solemnity are gathered here, but also many surprises: vivid and witty meditations on, among other things, earwigs, Ezra Pound, who “to make sure he wasn’t misunderstood, even wrote in Chinese” , and his grandfather’s cloth shop in Turin, as well as some beautiful poems. It’s time to stop treating Levi as a tear prompter and consider him instead as a composer of illuminations; the charms of the world put together with the mysteries and terrors of it.
Steve SilbermanAuthor of Neurotribes, winner of the 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize
There is no question that raising a son or daughter on the autism spectrum can be extraordinarily difficult. Now, in Uniquely Human by Barry Prizant and Tom Fields-Meyer, we finally have a book that gives parents and therapists compassionate insight into these children’s most challenging behaviors, informed by the memories of autistic adults. By viewing behaviors like tantrums and self-injury as attempts to make sense of a world that feels overwhelming (rather than simply “symptoms”), Prizant and Fields-Meyer allow parents to directly alleviate sources of their children’s distress and focus on building. on its strengths.
Caroline DanielEditor of FT Weekend
robert harris, once the political editor of fleet street, channeled his knowledge of the nuance and narcissism of modern politics and brought it back to the world of julius caesar, a world that elevated backstabbing to a new level. epic. I had skipped over the first two books in this Cicero trilogy and started with the last one, Dictator. revolves around three powerful men, julius caesar, pompey the great, and marcus crassus, but harris frames his book in the voyeuristic realities of cicero’s everyday life (“caesar’s bare, hairless torso reclining on a massage table” ) and the compromises he made to stay alive and engaged in the bloody turn of events.
Elif ShafakAuthor of The Architect’s Apprentice
not in the name of god by jonathan sacks, former chief rabbi of britain, draws on history and theology to explore the roots of religiously inspired violence and what he describes as “altruistic evil”. Dualistic thought forms are at the core of religion, dividing humanity into tribes of “us” versus “them.” what is new, however, is an escalation of hostility and violence exacerbated by political and social conflicts, technology and the power of networks. this is a powerful, compelling and timely book that does not deny the dark side of faith. Sacks stresses that extremists create more extremists, but insists that it is not too late to stop this vicious cycle.
Mariana MazzucatoProfessor in the economics of innovation, University of Sussex, and author of The Entrepreneurial State
given the important role that china is playing around the world, economically and increasingly technologically, we must try to understand it and keep an open mind about what we learn. Daniel Bell’s China Model does just that, provocatively asking whether China’s “political meritocracy” can offer a legitimate alternative to Western democracy. The book challenges the parameters of static economic debate, sharpening our understanding with a view of a model that is neither a “top-down planned system” nor an “emerging market system.” bell is not an apologist for china but someone who teaches us to ask different questions. and these questions are fascinating.
Martin FordAuthor of The Rise of the Robots, winner of the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award
The End of Plenty by Joel Bourne is an interesting look at the challenges we are likely to face in producing enough food in an era of unprecedented global population, environmental impact, and climate change. For someone who has focused primarily on the implications of accelerating information technology, this book was a stark reminder that Moore’s Law does not apply to food production technology and that there is a very real risk that we Let’s move towards a future in which digital abundance coexists with a scarcity of tangible resources that are essential for human survival and well-being.
Antony BeevorAuthor of Ardennes 1944: Hitler’s Last Gamble
In black soil, timothy snyder forces us to look again at the greatest crimes of the 20th century. Hitler wanted to erase the identity of neighboring nations. Stalin too. abolishing a nation made its citizens vulnerable. Snyder’s arguments provide an important warning from history. We only have to look at the collapse of nation states in the Middle East and ISIS’s attempted annihilation of the Yazidis and other religious groups to know that the dangers are still with us.
Melissa HarrisonAuthor of At Hawthorn Time, shortlisted for the 2015 Costa Novel Award
Sometimes a writer at the peak of his powers expands on what literature is capable of, and this was the case with Claudia Rankine’s astonishingly subtle dissection of the daily poison of structural racism. the experimental form of Citizen: An American Letter helps you go far beyond the personal, cleverly playing on the reader’s assumptions until our sympathy and anger are engaged, and our unexamined biases are revealed. is an amazing example of the power of poetry to express something long unsaid and leave readers transformed by the experience.
Alexander McCall SmithAuthor of The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine (No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency)
after flodden, rosemary corning introduced us to her talents as a historical novelist. she now cements her reputation with dacre’s war, a wonderfully moving and romantic account of the fighting on the border between england and scotland in the sixteenth century. people misunderstand scotland if they think the highlands had a monopoly on anarchy; the highlanders could teach the frontiersmen nothing in fierceness and cunning. If you want to understand why relations between England and Scotland have not always been easy, then Goering’s magnificent novel will help you. walter scott would have enjoyed it very much.
Carlo RovelliPhysicist and author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
in Explaining the World: Steven Weinberg’s Discovery of Modern Science and Frank Wilczek’s A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design, two Nobel physicists offer two startlingly different accounts of the history of science, from antiquity to their own discoveries. Weinberg takes an unapologetically opinionated stance, where philosophy, beauty, etc., are denounced as misleading. wilczek outlines a dreamlike vision, where beauty and harmony are essential ingredients in the search for knowledge. who is right both: this is the magic of science, which coherently combines very diverse abilities. Weinberg is the father of the electroweak theory, Wilczek of the strong interaction. still unsolved is gravity: what are the skills we need to solve it? we don’t know yet.
See Also: 12 Best Preschool STEM Books for Little Learners – STEM Education Guide