When you make a purchase using links on our site, The Week may earn a commission. All reviews are written independently by our editorial team.
Samantha Harvey's most recent novel, "Orbital," was last year's winner of the Booker Prize. Now available in paperback, the novel tracks the experience of a team of astronauts on the International Space Station across a 24-hour span.
'The Siege of Krishnapur' by J.G. Farrell (1973)
Farrell fictionally constructs, explores, and deconstructs the 1857 siege of Lucknow in this brilliant, funny, moving novel. He rinses the British imperialists for their arrogance and stupidity, but nobody is spared his satire. One of the best books of the 20th century, no argument. Buy it here.
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.
'Home' by Marilynne Robinson (2008)
My first novel ended up on the Orange Prize shortlist many years ago. When I read through the shortlist, I got to Home and I thought, Oh well, there goes my chance of a win. Home did win, of course. It's a masterpiece, an exquisite, attentive, intricately balanced novel, with the dialogue and dramatic intensity of a stage play. Buy it here.
'Mountains of the Moon' by I.J. Kay (2012)
This novel will one day be considered a classic. It's a gritty but tender tale of a damaged life, with prose that's deft, quick, and spirited, a plot that pulls like a freight train, and one of the best child narrators you'll ever encounter. Buy it here.
'All That Man Is' by David Szalay (2016)
This novel consists of nine portraits of masculinity, each a different man in a different decade of life. The effect is virtuosic, almost operatic. To write with such aliveness to a character, and to do it nine times, is genius. Anybody who reads about the French teenager holidaying in Cyprus will be gifted with mental imagery they will never again dispel. Buy it here.
'The Mill on the Floss' by George Eliot (1860)
I could just as easily have chosen Silas Marner, but had to whittle it down. I've heard people say that Eliot's writing lacks humor, and this I can't understand; The Mill on the Floss is scored with wit and with a sly understanding of life's absurdities. Buy it here.
'Overview' by Benjamin Grant (2016)
This book of satellite imagery of Earth had its genesis in Grant's Instagram project The Daily Overview. Except for the last chapter, "Where We Are Not," the book focuses on imagery of humankind's impact on the planet: permafrost melt, lithium mines, shipping containers. Strange, lovely, troubling. The book asks us to wake up to ourselves as a species. Buy it here.
This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.
-
Political cartoons for January 31Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include congressional spin, Obamacare subsidies, and more
-
Syria’s Kurds: abandoned by their US allyTalking Point Ahmed al-Sharaa’s lightning offensive against Syrian Kurdistan belies his promise to respect the country’s ethnic minorities
-
The ‘mad king’: has Trump finally lost it?Talking Point Rambling speeches, wind turbine obsession, and an ‘unhinged’ letter to Norway’s prime minister have caused concern whether the rest of his term is ‘sustainable’
-
The Beckhams: the feud dividing BritainIn the Spotlight ‘Civil war’ between the Beckhams and their estranged son ‘resonates’ with families across the country
-
6 homes with incredible balconiesFeature Featuring a graceful terrace above the trees in Utah and a posh wraparound in New York City
-
The Flower Bearers: a ‘visceral depiction of violence, loss and emotional destruction’The Week Recommends Rachel Eliza Griffiths’ ‘open wound of a memoir’ is also a powerful ‘love story’ and a ‘portrait of sisterhood’
-
Steal: ‘glossy’ Amazon Prime thriller starring Sophie TurnerThe Week Recommends The Game of Thrones alumna dazzles as a ‘disillusioned twentysomething’ whose life takes a dramatic turn during a financial heist
-
Anna Ancher: Painting Light – a ‘moving’ exhibitionThe Week Recommends Dulwich Picture Gallery show celebrates the Danish artist’s ‘virtuosic handling of the shifting Nordic light’
-
H is for Hawk: Claire Foy is ‘terrific’ in tender grief dramaThe Week Recommends Moving adaptation of Helen Macdonald’s bestselling memoir
-
Our Town: Michael Sheen stars in ‘beautiful’ Thornton Wilder classicThe Week Recommends Opening show at the Welsh National Theatre promises a ‘bright’ future
-
Music reviews: Zach Bryan, Dry Cleaning, and Madison BeerFeature “With Heaven on Top,” “Secret Love,” and “Locket”
