Sarah Moss picks her favourite books
The author shares works by Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Wordsworth and Ross Gay

The Dublin-based writer of the acclaimed novels "Ghost Wall", "Summerwater" and "Names for the Sea" picks her favourite books. Her new book, the memoir "My Good Bright Wolf", is out now.
The Grasmere Journals
Dorothy Wordsworth, 1897
This been in my pantheon since I was a PhD student trying to reconcile my subversive respect for domestic skills with scholarly ambition. In a time and place where it seemed that baking and research were inimical, and that no one would take seriously the research of a woman who made jam, it proclaimed that kitchen work, sociability, art and scholarship could be interwoven as the stuff of a good life.
Subscribe to 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.
A Room of One's Own
Virginia Woolf, 1929
Woolf seems to offer the opposite view, that without property and solitude there can be no writing, but it's much more radical. She returns to the body and its needs, insisting on the necessity of pleasure, of abundance rather than adequacy, and she's way before her time in describing the inseparability of patriarchy and white supremacy.
Ordinary Notes
Christina Sharpe, 2023
Sharpe's book is, among other things, "A Room of One's Own" for modern times, exploring the conditions in which we might practise decolonised, anti-racist art and scholarship. It's a work that invites return, reflection, rereading. I'm still near the beginning of my conversation with it.
All My Puny Sorrows
Miriam Toews, 2014
There are many novels I reread, but most of them are predictable. I ration my returns to Miriam Toews's "All My Puny Sorrows", a model of how to look darkness in the eyes and giggle. It's about a single mother, her friends, her suicidal sister and their mother. It's sad and smart and funny and I quote it at sad and smart and funny moments.
The Book of Delights
Ross Gay, 2019
I didn't read "The Book of Delights" for ages because I thought it would be sentimental. I was wrong. Each essay is a delicious little controlled explosion of joy, which is activism in a broken world.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Illicit mercury is poisoning the Amazon
Under the Radar 'Essential' to illegal gold mining, toxic mercury is being trafficked across Latin America, 'fuelling violence' and 'environmental devastation'
-
Israel faces international anger as Gazans starve
Feature World leaders pressure Israel to let in aid as famine spreads across Gaza
-
Redistricting: How the GOP could win in 2026
Feature Trump pushes early redistricting in Texas to help Republicans keep control of the House in next year's elections
-
Destination unknown: the exciting ins and outs of mystery travel
The Week Recommends Surprise yourself the next time you vacation
-
The easy elegance of Cap Ferret
The Week Recommends 'Elemental and otherworldly' destination is loved for its natural beauty
-
Ozzy Osbourne obituary: heavy metal wildman and lovable reality TV dad
In the Spotlight For Osbourne, metal was 'not the music of hell but rather the music of Earth, not a fantasy but a survival guide'
-
Spring greens and chickpea curry recipe
The Week Recommends This mouthwatering curry is quick to throw together
-
5 cultural and scenic trails to wander on four wheels
The Week Recommends Leave the hiking shoes at home
-
Gazer: 'paranoid noir chiller' is a gripping watch
The Week Recommends Ryan J. Sloan's debut film is haunted with 'skin-crawling unease'
-
William Kentridge: The Pull of Gravity – a 'bold' exhibition
The Week Recommends The South African artist brings his distinctive works to Yorkshire Sculpture Park
-
Sarah Dunant shares her favourite books
The Week Recommends The British novelist picks works by Sergeanne Golon, Jill Burke and Natalie Zemon