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British actor Jason Isaacs is best known for his performances in The Patriot, Black Hawk Down, and the Harry Potter film series. In the current season of HBO's The White Lotus, he co-stars as a Southern financier who's facing a steep downfall while vacationing with family.
'The Human Stain' by Philip Roth (2000)
Roth inhabits the world of his protagonist so perfectly and navigates the character's big secret with such humanity that it beggars belief that this novel is not autobiographical. Read it in awe. Buy it here.
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'The World According to Garp' by John Irving (1978)
I've not revisited this novel since I was 15, when it reignited a love for reading that skateboarding had sidelined. I didn't look up for three days as I devoured its mix of richly complex characters, gasp-out-loud plotting, and heartbreaking misadventures. Buy it here.
'There's Nothing Wrong With Her' by Kate Weinberg (2024)
My wife has had debilitating long Covid for more than three years. This delicious recent novel about a frustrated 45-year-old podcast producer was inspired by the author's similar struggle and gave me an insight into some of the despair my wife wrestles with daily. There's Nothing Wrong With Her is a witty tale of panic, lust, the search for identity, and, by way of fantasy, the helpful companionship of a long-dead Italian nobleman. Buy it here.
'1984' by George Orwell (1949)
I remember those halcyon days when Orwell's novel seemed like a fantastical cautionary tale. That was before we were introduced to the world of alternative facts. Now, it has its terrifyingly real face pressed up against all of our windows and AI is crowbarring them open. Never has it been more important to identify doublespeak for ourselves. Buy it here.
'The Magician's Nephew' by C.S. Lewis (1955)
I loved all the Narnia books as a kid. When Peter was told he wouldn't be coming back, I understood something devastating about mortality. I'm recommending this one because Greta Gerwig is about to make a film of it, which I can't wait to see. Buy it here.
'Jerusalem' by Simon Sebag Montefiore (2011)
Here's a recommendation for any strident virtue-signalers who think the issues in the Middle East can be reduced to a slogan or easy labels. Montefiore's book is a definitive, apolitical, mesmerizing account of the most invaded and occupied city on Earth and the carnage that built today's headlines. Buy it here.
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