Curtis Sittenfeld is a judge for this year’s Sunday Times Audible Short Story Prize, which will be announced on 8 July. Her novel Rodham is now out in paperback.
1. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari (2011)
Although I’m a novelist, I’ve been consuming non-fiction to try to understand how we – Americans specifically, human beings in general – arrived at this point. Sapiens, which starts with the Big Bang and runs to the recent past, helped me to contextualise just how fleeting – and precarious – our moment in time is.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Vintage £10.99; The Week Bookshop £8.99
2. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Isabel Wilkerson (2020)
That the US has a deeply racist history is not exactly news, but Wilkerson’s lucid analysis challenged me to think about racism in new ways. She’s exceptionally good at telling vivid anecdotes about both minor moments and enormous historical tragedies.
Allen Lane £20; The Week Bookshop £15.99
3. The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap
Stephanie Coontz (1992)
Published in 1992 and reissued in updated form in 2016, this book argues that much of the received wisdom about “traditional” families is based on 1950s American sitcoms – even though the 1950s were ahistorical and atypical in terms of gender roles and economic opportunity.
Basic Books £15.99; The Week Bookshop £12.99
4. Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire
Brad Stone (2021)
Amazon’s reach is so extensive that it can seem easier to list the few areas of commerce that it doesn’t touch than the many it does. Stone even-handedly describes the history, expansion and major personalities of the company.
Simon & Schuster £20; The Week Bookshop £15.99
5. So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
Jon Ronson (2015)
I’ve been listening to the audio version of this book, perfectly read by the author. I had the idea that Ronson’s take on online shaming would be coolly analytical, but I was mistaken – though what it describes is deeply disturbing, the book is warmly anecdotal and often oddly funny.
-
What is Tony Blair's plan for Gaza?Today's Big Question Former PM has reportedly been putting together a post-war strategy 'for the past several months'
-
When does autumn begin?The Explainer The UK is experiencing a 'false autumn', as climate change shifts seasonal weather patterns
-
The rise of the performative maleTalking Point What the latest internet trope tells us about gender roles, dating and male illiteracy
-
Woof! Britain's love affair with dogsThe Explainer The UK's canine population is booming. What does that mean for man's best friend?
-
Millet: Life on the Land – an 'absorbing' exhibitionThe Week Recommends Free exhibition at the National Gallery showcases the French artist's moving paintings of rural life
-
Thomasina Miers picks her favourite booksThe Week Recommends The food writer shares works by Arundhati Roy, Claire Keegan and Charles Dickens
-
6 laid-back homes for surfersFeature Featuring a home near a world-renowned surf spot in Hawaii and a house built to withstand the elements in South Carolina
-
Twelfth Night or What You Will: a 'riotous' late-summer jamboreeThe Week Recommends Robin Belfield's 'carnivalesque' new staging at Shakespeare's Globe is 'joyfully tongue-in-cheek'
-
Hostage: Netflix's 'fun, fast and brash potboiler'The Week Recommends Suranne Jones is 'relentlessly defiant' as prime minister Abigail Dalton
-
Music reviews: Chance the Rapper, Cass McCombs, and Molly TuttleFeature "Star Line," "Interior Live Oak," and "So Long Little Miss Sunshine"
-
Film reviews: Eden and Honey Don't!Feature Seekers of a new utopia spiral into savagery and a queer private eye prowls a high-desert town
