Latest Book Recommendations

The Best Boarding School Novels, recommended by Anbara Salam

Boarding schools make great settings for novels, says Anbara Salam, author of new coming of age drama Belladonna. The combination of immense privilege with the claustrophobia of a closed society can create an intense pressure cooker atmosphere in which characters might be forged.

Recent Recommendations

“He wanted to be a celebrity politician” Richard Toye, Professor of Modern History at the University of Exeter, recommends the best books on Winston Churchill

"Nearly every nation has used camps at some point” Andrea Pitzer, author of One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps, recommends the best memoirs and books on concentration camps

“He says in The Plague that most people aren’t bad, they just misunderstand what’s important” Camus expert Jamie Lombardi talks us through the best books by Albert Camus

Most Popular Expert Interviews

“Pessimists tend not to notice changes for the better” Philosopher Nigel Warburton on Critical Thinking Books

"World War II continues to be the most important war in history because of the effect that it had on so many people’s lives." British military historian Sir Antony Beevor on the best books on World War II

“It’s about three things: connection, connection and connection. Really good sex is about a deep, not just physical, but emotional, connection.” Susan Quilliam, who updated The Joy of Sex, on Sex

"History is not inevitable. It is based on decisions and choices that people make" Brent Glass, Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, on American History

"I still always enjoying reading and re-reading Nietzsche" Brian Leiter, Director of the Center for Law, Philosophy, and Human Values at the University of Chicago, recommends the best Nietzsche books

“Historians are always asking what parts of the past we need in order to imagine our future” Professor Imani Perry of Princeton University on African American history

Most Recommended Books

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright
wealth of nations
Plato's Republic
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
Here comes everyone by Clay Shirky

Recent Reader Lists

Our aim is to make Five Books the place to go to on the web for book recommendations, arranged by topic. Help us achieve our goal by making a reading list on a subject you know a lot about. These lists have been created by our readers using our new interactive tool. Browse them all, or make your own.

Books on Adolescence, recommended by eric_parker4

Normal People
by Sally Rooney

The Catcher in the Rye
by J. D. Salinger

Brighton Rock
by Graham Greene

The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins

Giver (Essential Modern Classics)
by Lois Lowry

The Best Books on Economic Growth, recommended by econpwr

Economics: The User's Guide
by Ha-Joon Chang

A Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy (The Graz Schumpeter Lectures)
by Joel Mokyr

The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War (The Princeton
by Robert J. Gordon & Robert J. Gordon

Stubborn Attachments: A Vision for a Society of Free, Prosperous, and Responsible Individuals
by Tyler Cowen

Growth: From Microorganisms to Megacities (The MIT Press)
by Vaclav Smil

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