The Best Books About Sleep, recommended by Experts on Five Books
A solid sleep schedule is the bedrock of a healthy lifestyle. But a surprising number of people either struggle to maintain a good routine, or to stay asleep once they finally manage to drift away. We've gathered together a list of recommended books for anyone out there ready to get serious about sleep.
THRILLERS Heaven My Home by Attica Locke
“If I was going to teach a class on writing thrillers—which I wouldn’t, I’d be a horrible teacher—I would use Attica Locke”—Karin Slaughter, thriller writer
HISTORICAL FICTION The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
“The Mercies is based on real events: a 1617 storm in Vardø, Norway, and the witch trials that followed…This is a pretty stunning book”—Paul Carlucci, novelist
HISTORY BOOKS Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
“This is just about the best book on politics I’ve ever read…it’s an unputdownable historical account”—Alastair Campbell, political strategist
NONFICTION BOOKS
🏆 Winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature Last Witnesses by Svetlana Alexievich
“This is an early work, recording and retelling the stories of elderly Soviet citizens about the days in the Second World War when the war reached their villages…It is the most beautiful, brilliant, heartbreakingly sad book I have ever read”—James Rebanks, writer
HISTORICAL FICTION The Alexander Trilogy by Mary Renault
“There are quite a lot of novels about Alexander and I think that, of them all, Mary Renault’s is the most readable and the most entertaining…Mary Renault really knew her sources”—Hugh Bowden, historian
BIOGRAPHY Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
“I love this book…He focuses on why Steve Jobs was such an unusual character but also to what extent he represents the spirit of Silicon Valley and modern entrepreneurship”—Thomas Hellmann, professor of business
SCIENCE FICTION Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
“It’s a difficult book to summarise, because it’s very hallucinatory and weird! Every aspect of it is brighter than life, somehow”—Natasha Pulley, novelist
FANTASY His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
This is one of my favourite books. Lyra…is a character of action. She isn’t sitting in a corner reading. She is out there and she is having a real effect on her story”—Kiran Millwood Hargrave, novelist
THE BEST KINDLES IN 2025 Which Kindle to get?
“That’s an easy question for me, Kindle Paperwhite is the most popular Kindle by far…It has all the best features that you would want”—Maneetpaul Singh, Kindle reviewer and author of Kindle Bookworm
CLASSIC LITERATURE Villette by Charlotte Brontë
“I have been reading Villette, a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre. There is something almost preternatural in its power”—George Eliot, novelist
PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
“If you want to be a crime writer, it is one of the books that you absolutely have to read. It has been one of the most successful, if not the most successful, crime novels of the 20th century”—Peter James, crime novelist
NONFICTION BOOKS Putin’s Sledgehammer by Candace Rondeaux
“The book…is a jaw-dropping account of Russian mercenary activities in Syria, several African countries and Ukraine, featuring troll farms, PR campaigns and information warfare as well as gruesome murders and even cannibalism”—Sophie Roell, Five Books editor
FICTION Flashlight: A Novel by Susan Choi
“The Wall Street Journal declared Flashlight ‘the first major American novel to be published this year.’ It’s an complex family saga, which spans decades and continents”—Cal Flyn, deputy editor, Five Books
The Best Mystery Books of 2025
“On this list, we also include books that have been nominated for prestigious awards, like the Edgars in the US and the Dagger Awards in the UK”
AI BOOKS ChatGPT-4 offers its own opinions on artificial intelligence “These books offer valuable insights into the development, challenges, and future prospects of AI”—ChatGPT-4, AI chatbot
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