Interviewer

Sophie Roell, Editor
Sophie Roell is co-founder and editor of Five Books. Previously she worked as a journalist in London, Beijing, Shanghai and New York. As a financial reporter, she covered the early years of the Chinese stock markets and the transition of its economy after Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 tour of the south. She wrote about the North Korean economy from Pyongyang in 2001.
She studied modern history as an undergraduate at Oxford and, after travelling the world as a reporter for five years, took the Master’s in Regional Studies-East Asia at Harvard University. This wonderfully flexible program insists on at least one East Asian language and some courses on East Asia, but leaves plenty of room to roam about the university taking courses on random subjects. Five Books, set up in 2009, is an attempt to continue that experience.
Below, you’ll find Sophie’s Five Books interviews with experts. Her own recommendations, normally nonfiction, are here. She also reads a lot of mysteries.
Interviews by Sophie Roell
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1
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
by J.K. Rowling -
2
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
by J.K. Rowling -
3
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
by J.K. Rowling -
4
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
by J.K. Rowling -
5
Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix
by J.K. Rowling -
6
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter Books in Order
Harry Potter Books in Order
We’ve listed all the Harry Potter books in the order they were written below, from the first book, The Philosopher’s Stone (aka The Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States), which appeared in 1997, to the final book in the series, The Deathly Hallows, a decade later, in 2007.
Psychological Thrillers with a Twist, recommended by Hannah Beckerman
It’s tempting to think that good psychological thrillers are all about plot twists, but in reality it’s the characters that make some books truly memorable. Novelist and literary critic Hannah Beckerman recommends five of her favourites, from Agatha Christie to Alex Michaelides.
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1
Don Quixote
by Miguel de Cervantes -
2
Berta Isla
by Javier Marías & Margaret Jull Costa (translator) -
3
Homeland (Patria)
by Fernando Aramburu and Alfred MacAdam (translator) -
4
The Frozen Heart (El corazón helado)
by Almudena Grandes -
5
An Olympic Death (Sabotaje olímpico)
by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán and Ed Emery (translator)
The Best Novels by Spanish Authors, recommended by Richard Village
The Best Novels by Spanish Authors, recommended by Richard Village
If you like your novels long, Spanish literature has some gems to lose yourself in. Richard Village, translator and publisher of Spanish Beauty, recommends five of his favourites, from the chaos of 17th-century Spain to the traumas of the 20th century, and also including a classic detective novel.
The Best 18th-Century Novels, recommended by Sophie Gee
There’s nothing in modern works of fiction that wasn’t already there in the great novels of the 18th century, argues Sophie Gee, a professor of English at Princeton University and co-host of the Secret Life of Books podcast. She talks us through five of her favourites, from the irrepressible Moll Flanders to the melancholic beauty of Sense and Sensibility.
Spy Novels Based on Real Events, recommended by Charles Beaumont
James Bond novels may be a lot of fun to read, but as a depiction of life as a spy, they are pure fantasy. Novelist and ex-spy Charles Beaumont recommends five brilliant novels based on true events—and the manipulation and dishonesty that lie at the heart of espionage work.
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1
In Cold Blood
by Truman Capote -
2
A Thread of Violence: A Story of Truth, Invention, and Murder
by Mark O'Connell -
3
This House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial
by Helen Garner -
4
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
by David Grann -
5
Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone
by Richard Lloyd Parry
The Best Historical Nonfiction Books, recommended by Kate Summerscale
The Best Historical Nonfiction Books, recommended by Kate Summerscale
British author Kate Summerscale has mastered the art of writing historical nonfiction books that are real page-turners. Here, she shares some of her own favorites, from the murder of a family in 1959 Kansas to the tragedy of Japan after the 2011 tsunami.
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1
The Book of Khalid
by Ameen Rihani -
2
The Open Door
by Latifa al-Zayyat & Marilyn Booth (translator) -
3
Season of Migration to the North
by Tayeb Salih and Denys Johnson-Davies (translator) -
4
The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist
by Emile Habiby & Trevor LeGassick and Salma Khadra Jayyusi (translators) -
5
Wild Thorns
by Sahar Khalifeh & Trevor Le Gassick and Elizabeth Fernea (translators)
The Best 20th-Century Arab Novels, recommended by Raphael Cormack
The Best 20th-Century Arab Novels, recommended by Raphael Cormack
Whether it’s a tragic novel set in post-indepedence Sudan or picaresque stories about a Palestinian living in Israel after 1948, many of the key Arab novels of the 20th century are available in English. Raphael Cormack, a professor of Arabic studies at Durham University, talks us through five novels from a variety of countries that explore different themes and trends in the evolution of the novel in the Arabic-speaking world.
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1
The Taoist Experience: An Anthology
by Livia Kohn -
2
The Daode jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying: Daoism, Buddhism, and the Laozi in the Tang Dynasty
by Friederike Assandri (translator) -
3
Zhuangzi: A New Translation of the Sayings of Master Zhuang as Interpreted by Guo Xiang
by Richard John Lynn (translator) -
4
Taoism and the Arts of China
by Stephen Little (editor) -
5
Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life
by John Gray
The best books on Taoism, recommended by Simon Cox
The best books on Taoism, recommended by Simon Cox
In the West, Daoism (also spelled ‘Taoism’ in English) has sometimes been reduced to a ‘go with the flow’ approach to life, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Simon Cox, a scholar and martial arts teacher, recommends five books that demonstrate Daoism’s “robust intellectual and aesthetic traditions” since the movement first appeared in China two-and-a-half millennia ago.
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1
Hildegard of Bingen
by Fiona Maddocks -
2
Arnold Schoenberg
by Charles Rosen -
3
Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century
by Paul Kildea -
4
Elisabeth Lutyens and Edward Clark: The Orchestration of Progress in British Twentieth-Century Music
by Annika Forkert -
5
Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song
by Judith Tick
The Best Music Biographies, recommended by Andrew Ford
The Best Music Biographies, recommended by Andrew Ford
Biographies of musicians are a good way to learn more about music without getting too technical, argues musicologist and composer Andrew Ford, author of the brilliant Shortest History of Music. He chooses five of his favorite music biographies, books that set “a life in the context of the times and a musical life in the context of the music.”
The best books on Chile, recommended by Natascha Scott-Stokes
Chile is a country of extremes says travel writer and translator Natascha Scott-Stokes, who has lived there for nearly two decades. She chooses five books that give a good sense of the country, from a novel by one of Chile’s great writers, to the biography of the folk singer who was brutally murdered after the 1973 military coup.