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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 Seed Collectors by Scarlett Thomas

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon by Crystal Zevon

Kleinzeit by Russell Hoban

The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break by Steven Sherrill

Mr g: A Novel About The Creation by Alan Lightman

The Echo by James Smythe

Last Night On Earth by Kevin Maher

The City And The City by China Miéville

Big Reads circa 2007

The Book Of The New Sun Tetralogy by Gene Wolfe

The Book Of The New Sun, Volume 2: Sword and Citadel, by Gene Wolfe

The Book of The New Sun, Volume 1: Shadow and Claw, by Gene Wolfe

Orfeo by Richard Powers

Day by A. L. Kennedy

Sabbatical by John Barth

Odd Corners by William Hjortsberg

The Case of the General's Thumb by Andrey Kurkov

Player One by Douglas Coupland