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Books of Note

Conversations On Kindness by Bernadette Russell

I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. I’m not sure if I’d known what was coming, I would have started it so impulsively. We live in a world where the leader of a major political party (I had to check this was actually true, as I’ve been ill and was concerned I’d had a fever dream where I’d imagined she was a senior politician) describes diversity initiatives as a “poison” , and the presumptive leader of the “free world” (apologies for the liberal use of parentheses, but I’m struggling to overcome deep skepticism about the cultural and political structures which we tend to take for granted and feel powerless to alter for the benefit of us all – i.e. those whose labour is exploited by capital [ more on this later ]) can call the teaching staff at Harvard “woke” and blame the first tragic air disaster in more than 20 years on disabled staff at air traffic control . These are facts, I checked! It’s worth interjecting at this point with a quick definition of woke, as expresse...

The File on H by Ismail Kadare

The Radleys by Matt Haig

House Of Suns by Alastair Reynolds

The President's Last Love by Andrey Kurkov

A Tan And Sandy Silence, and The Long Lavender Look by John D McDonald

The Bloodstone Papers by Glen Duncan

The Fowler Family Business by Jonathan Meades

Hereward: The Last Englishman by Peter Rex

Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo

A Box Of Birds by Charles Fernyhough

Triumphant Return Appendix 1

Triumphant Return*

The Quiet Girl by Peter Høeg