Niall Williams shares his favourite books
The Irish novelist chooses works by Charles Dickens, Seamus Heaney and Wendell Berry

The Irish novelist and playwright chooses his five favourite books. His latest novel, "Time of the Child", is out now.
Station Island
Seamus Heaney, 1984
Seamus's are the books most taken down from the shelf. There are three sections in this volume, but it's the 33-page title poem that seems to me a masterpiece. It is a narrative sequence, both confessional and dramatic, and has the questing urgency of all pilgrimage, to arrive at a place of peace.
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.
Available on The Week Bookshop
Love in the Time of Cholera
Gabriel García Márquez, 1985
This story of an epic love unrequited for 50 years, nine months, and four days is written with Gabriel García Márquez's hallmark humour and wisdom. It confronts the realities of aging and consoles us with the revelation that if we can only keep believing, then the miracle of love is still possible.
Available on The Week Bookshop
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Great Expectations
Charles Dickens, 1861
The book that made me want to be a novelist. Reading it in a classroom at age 14, it entered me like no book before or since. Dickens's world was more real than the Dublin outside. When Pip fell in love with Estella, so did I; when his heart was broken, mine was too.
Available on The Week Bookshop
Housekeeping
Marilynne Robinson, 1980
This hauntingly beautiful novel is a flawless thing. It tells the story of Ruth and her younger sister Lucille's haphazard upbringing under the care of their eccentric aunt Sylvie in Fingerbone. The narration is hued with melancholy, the sentences hypnotic, and the whole book made with a grace not often found in fiction.
Available on The Week Bookshop
The World-Ending Fire
Wendell Berry, 2017
A collection of essays, written with Wendell Berry's signature grace and gravitas, each one stakes out its ground with authority, and the wisdom that comes from paying close attention to the land. After reading one of these essays, you pause, lift your head, and go outside.
Available on The Week Bookshop
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
How should Keir Starmer right the Labour ship?
Today's Big Question Rightward shift on immigration and welfare not the answer to 'haemorrhaging of hope, trust and electoral support'
-
What are the Abraham Accords and why are they under threat?
The Explainer The 2020 agreements would be 'undermined' if Israel annexes West Bank, UAE warns
-
Rigatoni with 'no-vodka sauce' recipe
The Week Recommends Comfort food meets a clever alcohol-free twist on a classic
-
One great cookbook: 'Jam Bakes'
The Week Recommends A guide to pristine jam-making, plus the baked goods that love them
-
September's books tell of friendship in middle age, teachers versus fascists, and Covid psychosis
the week recommends September books include Angela Flournoy's 'The Wilderness,' Randi Weingarten's 'Why Fascists Fear Teachers' and Patricia Lockwood's 'Will There Ever Be Another You'
-
6 blooming homes for gardeners
Feature Featuring a greenhouse in Illinois and 13 raised garden beds in New Mexico
-
The Roses: Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch star in black comedy reboot
The Week Recommends 'Acidly enjoyable' remake of the 1980s classic features a warring couple and toxic love
-
Film reviews: The Roses, Splitsville, and Twinless
Feature A happy union devolves into domestic warfare, a couple's open marriage reaps chaos, and an unlikely friendship takes surprising turns
-
Music reviews: Laufey, Deftones, and Earl Sweatshirt
Feature "A Matter of Time," "Private Music," and "Live Laugh Love"
-
6 products and apps to help fight jet lag
The Week Recommends Don't let travel fatigue drag you down