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.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
How does Inauguration Day work?
The Explainer Part Constitution, part tradition
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
When does a Roth 401(k) make more sense?
The Explainer There are several key differences between a Roth 401(k) and a 401(k) that may make one option more beneficial than the other
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
'The proudly backward were validated by self-loathing Western intellectuals'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
TV to watch in January, including 'Severance' and 'The Night Agent'
The Week Recommends Two hit series are back this month for much-anticipated second seasons
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Better Man: Robbie Williams's 'dynamic' monkey biopic is 'occasionally over ripe'
Former Take That star is replaced with a CGI chimpanzee in musical-stuffed film
By The Week UK Published
-
Movies to watch in January, including 'Wolf Man' and 'The Last Showgirl'
The Week Recommends A creature feature, a bizarre biopic and a haunted house movie from the ghost's POV
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Properties of the week: dreamy ski chalets
The Week Recommends Featuring homes in Norway, Austria and France
By The Week UK Published
-
Nicci French: crime-writing duo Sean French and Nicci Gerrard share their favourite books
The Week Recommends The pair choose books by C.S. Lewis, Charlotte Brontë and more
By The Week UK Published
-
Versailles: Science and Splendour – a 'blockbuster' exploration of 18th-century innovation
The Week Recommends The show highlights how three French monarchs were fascinated with scientific research
By The Week UK Published
-
8 eagerly awaited hotels opening in 2025
The Week Recommends A new year means several anticipated hotel openings are on the horizon
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
The Tempest: classic 'lost at sea' in Jamie Lloyd's production
Talking Point Sigourney Weaver gives 'wooden delivery' as Prospero at Theatre Royal Drury Lane
By The Week UK Published