Five Books Newsletter 26

This week's interview

http://www.fivebooks.com/interviews/maxim-d-shrayer-on-vasily-grossman http://www.fivebooks.com/interviews/maxim-d-shrayer-on-vasily-grossman

Maxim D Shrayer on Vasily Grossman

The Soviet writer bore witness to the horrors of Russia's World War Two and the Shoah — and deserves a place in literary history, says scholar Maxim D Shrayer.

Books of the Week

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/blondes-by-joanna-pitman“Why should blonde hair be considered so attractive? You couldn’t imagine a book written about brown hair, or black hair.”

Ellen de Bruin on Dutch Women (and Happiness (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/ellen-de-bruin-on-women-and-happiness)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/my-shit-life-so-far-by-frankie-boyle“If you’re telling lots of jokes, it’s easier to talk about what’s bad about a country without it becoming so depressing that you don’t want to read the book.”

Danny Dorling on Modern Britain (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/danny-dorling-on-modern-britain)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/precolonial-black-africa-by-cheikh-anta-diop“He wrote about black African civilisation before colonialism. How blacks governed themselves, ran their economies and so on.”

George Ayittey on Africa through African Eyes (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/george-ayittey-on-africa-through-african-eyes)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/lonely-hearts-cosmos-story-scientific-quest-secret-universe-by-dennis-overbye“If you want to know how astronomy really works then this is a book you should read.”

Stuart Clark on Astronomers (http://www.fivebooks.com/interviews/stuart-clark-on-astronomers)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/twelve-who-ruled-by-rr-palmer“Palmer’s book is why I went into French history, and why I wanted to study the French Revolution.”

Lynn Hunt on the French Revolution (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/lynn-hunt-on-french-revolution)

Quote of the Week

"In California, if you want to produce solar energy, you have to fill in a 140-page form. ”
Bob Johnstone on Solar Power (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/bob-johnstone-on-solar-power)