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.
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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.
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Nigel Farage: was he a teenage racist?Talking Point Farage’s denials have been ‘slippery’, but should claims from Reform leader’s schooldays be on the news agenda?
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Pushing for peace: is Trump appeasing Moscow?In Depth European leaders succeeded in bringing themselves in from the cold and softening Moscow’s terms, but Kyiv still faces an unenviable choice
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Crossword: November 29, 2025The daily crossword from The Week
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We Did OK, Kid: Anthony Hopkins’ candid memoir is a ‘page-turner’The Week Recommends The 87-year-old recounts his journey from ‘hopeless’ student to Oscar-winning actor
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The Mushroom Tapes: a compelling deep dive into the trial that gripped AustraliaThe Week Recommends Acclaimed authors team up for a ‘sensitive and insightful’ examination of what led a seemingly ordinary woman to poison four people
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‘Chess’feature Imperial Theatre, New York City
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‘Notes on Being a Man’ by Scott Galloway and ‘Bread of Angels: A Memoir’ by Patti Smithfeature A self-help guide for lonely young men and a new memoir from the godmother of punk
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6 homes built in the 1700sFeature Featuring a restored Federal-style estate in Virginia and quaint farm in Connecticut
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Film reviews: 'Wicked: For Good' and 'Rental Family'Feature Glinda the Good is forced to choose sides and an actor takes work filling holes in strangers' lives
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Nick Clegg picks his favourite booksThe Week Recommends The former deputy prime minister shares works by J.M. Coetzee, Marcel Theroux and Conrad Russell
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Park Avenue: New York family drama with a ‘staggeringly good’ castThe Week Recommends Fiona Shaw and Katherine Waterston have a ‘combative chemistry’ as a mother and daughter at a crossroads
