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I'm often asked to recommend books; I'll pin the ones I've enjoyed recently here. Please add your thoughts on any of the books I've pinned.
Another one to read if you want to understand the economic situation; another one by a former FT colleague. This is really good: it starts with a discussion of what money actually is, then goes through a discussion of how we've managed debt, the gold standard, Bretton Woods and where we are now. Highly recommended.
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Stunningly good book by the author of Empire of the Sun: it's about the earth some time in the future after a geophysical event has caused the climate to revert to that of a primeval swamp. Shades of Heart of Darkness together with Lord of the Flies, it's about a small group of people in what remains of London, drowned by lagoons and swamped by giant plants, bats and reptiles. The scientists are also in some strange way going back in time - until unwanted visitors arrive. Breathtakingly good!
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This is a geeky subject, but everyone should read it. It's about the emergence of Conficker, a terribly promiscuous worm that in theory could have brought down the internet. It didn't; nobody knows why. But a lot of people were very worried and put a lot of time and effort into trying to combat it. It's a fascinating tale, and should if nothing else tell you why you must keep your computer patched and up to date.
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Yes, I know everyone's going on about this, but the three Hunger Games books are a good read. A bit clunky in their allegorising, but put that aside and you've got a well-realised world in which cowed districts in a future USA send two children to take part in a fight-til-death reality show. Strong narrative, moral ambiguity - not just for kids, though written for young adults.
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Great holiday/commuting read - an interesting premise (bloke randomly inherits a lot of money from someone he didn't know, his subsequent journey of discovery), well constructed and pretty well-written and a wide-ranging, fast-moving narrative.
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This is a fascinating look at Britain in the immediate postwar period, before the prosperity and optimism of the 50s kicked in. It's quite dense in places, but totally readable. It captures the idealism of the socialist government and is an eye-opener about how far we've come from those days and how far what we call the left today has moved from its roots. Fascinating; a guide to what is almost a different country.
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Great book, telling the story of the Guardian's involvement with the ghastly Julian Assange (who I sincerely hope loses his appeal and is extradited to Sweden). Rattling narrative, and quite an insight into the Guardian, Wikileaks and Assange himself.
Another of my Anya Seton favourites.This is about Bess Winthrop, niece of John Winthrop, one of the founding fathers of the USA, and the extraordinarily brave and independent life she led.
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Another book set mostly during the war, but from the perspective of a Hungarian family, this tells some of the lesser-known stories of suffering in a gripping way.
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Also by Connie Willis, who wrote Blackout, this is about the same time-travelling department of Oxford in the late 21st century. In this one, a historian goes back to the 14th century, and, due to a problem with the technology, ends up in the Black Death. I really enjoyed this when I read it - couldn't put it down.
This is a bit slow in parts, but I really enjoyed it (and I'm enjoying the sequel, All Clear, right now). It's about historians from the late 21st century travelling back to the war to study it - great detail of London in the Blitz and a neat time-travel twist.
If you enjoyed Anya Seton's Katherine (see separate pin), you should follow it up by reading this. I like Alison Weir's books; this one is her examination of the facts of Katherine Swynford's life, and it's a tremendous companion to Seton's novel.
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One of my very favourite novels. I first read it when I was a teenager and I re-read it every couple of years. It's the book that got me interested in history. It's the rather romanticised, seen-through-the-prism-of-the-50s telling of the story of Katherine Swynford, who was John of Gaunt's mistress and eventually his third wife. They had several children who at the end of his life were legitimised and who went on to found the Tudor dynasty, and whose descendants formed some of the key people in the Wars of the Roses. All Seton's books are good, if very much in the historical fiction genre, but this I think is her masterpiece.
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Kate Bevan Definitely read it again! And then if you haven't read it, read The Winthrop Woman, which I'm also about to pin.
Kate Bevan oh, and then read Alison Weir's book on Katherine, also pinned here!
This is a great book - playful, dark, occasionally erotic, with nods to the classic horror genre. It does what it says on the tin, rattling along and - it seems - setting up for a sequel at the end. Hope that's the case; I really enoyed it.
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Kate Bevan Good news: there is a sequel coming! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tal... Bad news: there doesn't seem to be a Kindle version yet, but I suspect that's to protect the hardback sales.
Everything by my friend Michela Wrong is a fantastic read: this book of hers, about Zaire under Mobuto is what kicked off my reading about Congo. Incredibly vivid and a tremendous portrait of a nation undera dictator, this is a fantastic book.
While I was reading about colonial Africa last year I finally got around to reading this striking novel of the end of colonial Congo. It's about the family of an American missionary as the colonial regime is about to collapse, and it's a gripping portrait of a family in thrall to a bully and in thrall to the wider circumstances of environment and politics.
I tend to read in themes, and last year I got into reading about colonial Africa. Congo under King Leopold and the Belgians is an extraordinary story, and this tells it grippingly.
There is no better guide to how the financial markets imploded under the weight of the subprime scandal. Gillian Tett is a former FT colleague and a writer I hugely respect - she's taken a very complex subject and told it as a gripping story of madness, denial and roaring markets.
This is one of my favourite novels. It's a huge sweep, covering the second world war and encompassing occupied France, the relative safety of the USA, London and the concentration camps in a huge and satisfying and deeply involving narrative.
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I read this directly after Birdsong, to which it is loosely a sequel, though you could certainly read it as a standalone. It's a complex plot and very involving, though it covers ground that's been well-trodden in fiction many times - the occupation of France during the second world war, the activities of the Resistance and of the British women who took part.
Faulks' first book is a bit slow to get going, but I found it the most compelling of his novels. It's both moving in its very real description of a love story, and terribly bleak: I was left gasping by it at the end. Which isn't a reason not to read it - it's an excellent book.
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I first read this ages ago, but came back to it after the rather disappointing recent BBC adaptation, and this time found that I couldn't put it down. It dots a bit about in time, and it's a bit ponderous in places, but it's a very affecting book. The coda, set in the 1970s, gives it a redemptive power that the BBC adaptation didn't have. Highly recommended.
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Book Two in the Rivers of London series, and just as enjoyable as the first. I'm looking forward to subsequent books later this year.
The first of a series, and another book that involves the supernatural, which I wouldn't say I'm particularly into as a genre, but this is imaginative and clever. It's about a copper who finds himself joining a little-known and, well, arcane branch of the Met.
This is the first of a trilogy; I'm really looking forward to the second and third books when they're published later this year. It's about a witch who falls in love with a vampire, which sounds daft but is actually pretty gripping: I couldn't put it down.
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Fetching pins…
Becky Hoban I thoroughly enjoyed the three books. Now, I'm ready for the movie! :)
Ruth Westbury I think by book 3 she had run out of steam a little and the narrative was a little confused, but the 1st two were a very good read.