Recent Recommendations
FICTION BOOKS
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
“Orbital by Samantha Harvey is an obliquely political and beautifully strange narrative in which the message is never in your face – rather, diffused from above in a way that is at once mesmerizing and troubling”
CRITICAL THINKING BOOKS
Third Millennium Thinking by Saul Perlmutter, Robert MacCoun and John Campbell
“This is a brilliant book by eminent thinkers in their fields who are also superb communicators”
HISTORICAL NOVELS
My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor
“Joseph O’Connor gives a masterclass in the different voices of the people gathered around the priest Hugh O’Flaherty to help him organise and run the Escape Line—the escape routes out of Italy for POWs and others being pursued by the Nazis”
Most Popular Expert Interviews
FANTASY NOVELS
The best ‘cozy fantasy’ books, as recommended by T.J. Klune
“During the pandemic, readers turned to books filled with hope and joy and togetherness, because that’s what we were missing”
HISTORICAL FICTION
The Best Historical Fiction Set in the American South, recommended by Xan Brooks
“There is the sense of it being a haunted land, still screaming, with no clarity or resolution”
HISTORICAL FICTION
The Best Historical Fiction of 2024: the Walter Scott Prize with judging chair Katharine Grant
“It’s been a wonderful year for historical fiction”
SCIENCE BOOKS
The Best Science Books of 2024: The Royal Society Book Prize
“The prize is about the best science communication in books…reaching a broad audience in a novel way, that is informative or clever or funny”
NONFICTION BOOKS
The 2024 British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding
Charles Tripp, chair of the judging panel, talks us through this year’s shortlist
FICTION BOOKS
Notable Novels of Fall 2024, recommended by deputy editor Cal Flyn
“What are the novels everyone is talking about in Fall 2024?”
MYTHOLOGY
The best books on Greek myths, recommended by Lucy Coats
“A myth is basically a way of explaining the world”
MILITARY HISTORY
British military historian Sir Antony Beevor on the best books on World War II
“Goebbels was a diabolical genius. He saw that hatred was not enough and you had to combine hatred with fear if you were going to get the maximum killing potential out of your followers”
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.
