Interviewer

Cal Flyn, Deputy Editor
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn is a writer from the Highlands of Scotland.
Her latest book, Islands of Abandonment—about the ecology and psychology of abandoned places—is out now. It has been shortlisted for the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize, the Wainwright Prize for writing on global conservation, the British Academy Book Prize, and for the title of Scottish Nonfiction Book of the Year.
At Five Books, she interviews on subjects including literary fiction and nonfiction, psychology, nature, environment, and science fiction.
Interviews by Cal Flyn
The Best Science Fiction of 2023: The Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist, recommended by Tom Hunter
Every year, the judges of the Arthur C Clarke Award select the best sci-fi novels of the previous twelve months. We asked prize director Tom Hunter to talk us through the six science fiction books that made the 2023 shortlist—including a space opera romance and a high-concept action thriller that has already won the most prestigious award in Francophone literature. See our list of The Best Science Fiction of 2024
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1
The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail
by W. Jeffrey Bolster -
2
Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters
by Kate Brown -
3
Ecological Imperialism
by Alfred Crosby -
4
The Unending Frontier: An Environmental History of the Early Modern World
by John F. Richards -
5
The Ecology of Oil: Environment, Labor, and the Mexican Revolution, 1900-1938
by Myrna I. Santiago
The best books on Environmental History, recommended by John R McNeill
The best books on Environmental History, recommended by John R McNeill
Environmental history is the study of the relationship between society and the natural world—both in terms of human impacts on the environment, and the constraints placed upon cultures by the landscapes they live in. Here, John R. McNeill, a pioneer of the field, recommends five of the best environmental history books with ambition, engaging prose, and heft.
Novels of the Rich and Wealthy, recommended by Andrew Hunter Murray
Many of us fantasize about suddenly coming into a great fortune, but literature has often explored the dissatisfaction and moral corruption of the very wealthy. Here, the novelist and broadcaster Andrew Hunter Murray selects five brilliant novels about rich people and reflects on why you probably don’t want to be a billionaire.
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1
Hwang Chini
by Hong Sŏkchung, translation Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton -
2
The Guest: A Novel
by Hwang Sok-yong, translated by Kyung-ja Chun and Maya West -
3
The Dwarf
by Cho Se-hǔi, translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton -
4
One Left: A Novel
by Kim Soom, translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton -
5
Togani
by Gong Ji-young, translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton
The Best Korean Novels, recommended by Bruce Fulton
The Best Korean Novels, recommended by Bruce Fulton
Korean popular culture—television, film, and music—has been sweeping the globe. But Korean literature is darker and more serious than you might assume, given the fun and irreverent nature of ‘K-pop.’ Here, the respected translator and academic Bruce Fulton highlights five key Korean novels that offer insight into the culture and troubled history of the Korean peninsula.
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1
G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century
by Beverly Gage -
2
The Grimkés: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family
by Kerri K. Greenidge -
3
Mr. B: George Balanchine’s Twentieth Century
by Jennifer Homans -
4
Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life
by Clare Mac Cumhaill & Rachael Wiseman -
5
Up from the Depths: Herman Melville, Lewis Mumford, and Rediscovery in Dark Times
by Aaron Sachs
The Best Biographies of 2023: The National Book Critics Circle Shortlist, recommended by Elizabeth Taylor
The Best Biographies of 2023: The National Book Critics Circle Shortlist, recommended by Elizabeth Taylor
Talented biographers examine the interplay between individual qualities and greater social forces, explains Elizabeth Taylor—chair of the judges for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle award for biography. Here, she offers us an overview of their five-book shortlist, including a garlanded account of the life of J. Edgar Hoover and a group biography of post-war female philosophers.
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1
Heaven and Hell
by Jón Kalman Stefánson, translated by Philip Roughton -
2
Land of Love and Ruins
by Oddný Eir, translated by Philip Roughton -
3
The Blue Fox
by Sjón, translated by Victoria Cribb -
4
On Time and Water
by Andri Snaer Magnason, translated by Lytton Smith -
5
The Social Life of Dreams: A Thousand Years of Negotiated Meanings in Iceland
by Adrienne Heijnen
The best books on Iceland, recommended by Sarah Thomas
The best books on Iceland, recommended by Sarah Thomas
Those seeking insight into the otherworldly landscape and unique culture of Iceland would do well to read these five books, ranging from a work of ethnography to a spellbinding fantasy novel, selected for us by the award-winning memoirist Sarah Thomas. In Iceland, she explains, the landscape “is a protagonist, not a backdrop; one from which we can learn everything we need to know.”
The Best Space Opera Books, recommended by Kate Elliott
Space opera—a popular subgenre of science fiction—features louder-than-life characters, hair-raising action sequences, and spacefaring civilisations. Kate Elliott, a prolific author of sci fi and fantasy novels, recommends five space opera books that will grab you by the collar and drag you off on an intergalactic adventure.
The best books on The History of Food, recommended by Diane Purkiss
History too often glosses over basic questions of subsistence and food availability, argues Oxford academic Diane Purkiss—whose new book English Food is a social history told through the food on people’s tables. Here, she recommends five books about the history of food that focus on the diet of the common person as opposed to the royal banquet table.
The Best Science Fiction Books About Aliens, recommended by Jaime Green
Science fiction helps us work through not only the possibilities of the cosmos but also the nature of humanity itself, argues Jaime Green—science writer and author of a new book on the search for alien biology, The Possibility of Life. Here she highlights five classic works of sci-fi that explore ideas of consciousness and communication in the setting of outer space.
The Best Nature Memoirs, recommended by Victoria Bennett
Nature is intrinsic to our experience of being alive and reading about it allows us to connect not just with the natural world but with ourselves. Here Victoria Bennett, author of All My Wild Mothers, a memoir of grief and creating an apothecary garden, recommends five other nature memoirs, highlighting personal and reflective prose by writers including Lauret Savoy, Mary Oliver, and Jamaica Kincaid.