Some 40 years after writing the first episode of Upstairs, Downstairs, novelist Fay Weldon is creating a trilogy about an aristocratic family in Edwardian London. The second of those novels, Long Live the King, will be published May 7.
Hunger by Knut Hamsun (Penguin, $15). An intense, bitter, and brilliant first novel written in 1890 by a Scandinavian Dostoyevsky who went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. I give it to my creative-writing students—in this admirable translation from the Norwegian by Sverre Lyngstad—to put them off a literary career. It never works.
Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison (Gollancz, $18). This 1967 collection of science fiction stories includes the great masters of the genre at the time, and the times were rich indeed. If science fiction is still a closed book to you, try these prophetic, insightful, and ingenious views of a future, and reform. A bonus: Writers everywhere are much cheered by the blessed Ellison’s “pay the writer” rant, which you can watch on YouTube.
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The Siege by Ismail Kadare (Grove, $15). First published in Albania in 1970, The Siege is now available in a truly literary English translation by David Bellos. Kadare, a frequent Nobel Prize contender, gives a lively and sophisticated view of the practicalities, absurdities, and inevitabilities of warfare from the point of view of a medieval quartermaster.
Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West (New Directions, $14). A black comedy but with nothing funny about it, a Depression (and depression) novel more apt today than ever, as a young (male) advice columnist takes on board the awfulness of life. Nothing changes. Once read, this book is never forgotten.
Dickens’ Women by Miriam Margolyes and Sonia Fraser (Hesperus, $15). A riveting read and a riotous performance by Margolyes—a fresh view of Dickens to re-energize the blasé.
Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24). A notable first novel, in which our hero looks after the immaculate apartment of a famous musician friend. Wooden floors loom large in his life, as do the ruinous cats Shossy and Stravvy. Impeccably stylish, impressively satirical—though it might just be yourself that you’re laughing at.
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The dazzling coral gardens of Raja AmpatThe Week Recommends Region of Indonesia is home to perhaps the planet’s most photogenic archipelago.
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‘Never more precarious’: the UN turns 80The Explainer It’s an unhappy birthday for the United Nations, which enters its ninth decade in crisis
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Trump’s White House ballroom: a threat to the republic?Talking Point Trump be far from the first US president to leave his mark on the Executive Mansion, but to critics his remodel is yet more overreach
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Beth Macy’s 6 favorite books about living in a divided nationFeature The journalist recommends works by Nicholas Buccola, Matthew Desmond, and more
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Elizabeth Gilbert’s favorite books about women overcoming difficultiesFeature The author recommends works by Tove Jansson, Lauren Groff, and more
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Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is moreFeature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
