Books by Liane Moriarty

“I chose it because it’s a great example of contemporary fiction related to prophecy. It’s about a psychic who gets on a delayed flight, and goes into a trance, and starts telling everyone on the flight their fate. When they land, she doesn’t remember anything about this, but a few days later, some of the things that she had foreseen start to occur and that unnerves the people whose future she had predicted. I like the book because it’s contemporary, it’s well written, it’s funny. It raises a lot of questions about first, the industry of psychics and how popular that still is – it’s worth millions and millions of dollars every year. Secondly, it shows how, even when you don’t believe a psychic, when somebody tells us what our future is going to be, we’re so susceptible to being influenced, and so superstitious that even when we ourselves don’t believe in psychics, it can affect how we experience life subsequently, how we view ourselves and our destiny. It raises questions about whether we can defy the odds, whether we can change what seems to be inevitable.” Read more...

The best books on Prophecy

Carissa Véliz, Philosopher

“She’s crafted a very engaging story, that is very much a page turner. All the shimmering attractions of the modern wellness industry are there—infinity pools, super-smoothies, personal wellness advisors—but so too are all the anxieties. The plot clearly veers towards an image of the wellness industry as something malevolent, even cultish, a set of practices that verge on brainwashing and which raise difficult questions about consent.” Read more...

The best books on Wellness

James Riley, Literary Scholar