Five Books Newsletter 9

Five Books Newsletter

Dear Five Books reader,

Below our book links for this Friday, chosen from our library of interviews.

Our new interview this week is on Growing up in the Anthropocene (http://www.fivebooks.com/interviews/caspar-henderson-on-growing-anthropocene) . If, like me, you hadn't heard the word before, now is your chance to find out what it means. Caspar Henderson, author of The Book of Barely Imagined Beings explains and also makes an excellent set of book recommendations...

Have a lovely weekend!

Sophie Roell

sophie.roell@fivebooks.com (sophie.roell@fivebooks.com)

This Week's Books

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/les-misérables-victor-hugo-by-victor-hugo

"I read Les Misérables when I was a kid and then re-read it last summer and, do you know, I am now convinced that it is the greatest novel of all time. Every story in the world is somewhere in there."

David Bellos on Great French Novels (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/david-bellos-on-great-french-novels)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/luzhin-defense-by-vladimir-nabokov

"You think that you’re battling another person, but there is actually something much more powerful that you’re battling, which is chess itself. And chess itself, it seems, will always win."

Dominic Lawson on Chess (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/dominic-lawson-on-chess)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/homage-catalonia-by-george-orwell

"This book should be handed out in journalism school. It says that all of us have viewpoints – and that to say that, as reporters, we’re robots, is a lie. And if you do say that, you shouldn’t be a reporter. If you have no opinions of your own, if you have no views, beliefs or passions, you shouldn’t enter the profession."

Guy Raz on Essential Reading for Reporters (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/guy-raz-on-essential-reading-reporters)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/town-house-by-norah-lofts

"The most outstanding historical novel that I have ever read.’"

Alison Weir on Historical Fiction (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/alison-weir-on-historical-fiction)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/free-market-innovation-machine-by-william-j-baumol

"Will Baumol is one of the most fruitful and creative economists around."

Diane Coyle on The Soulful Science (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/diane-coyle-on-soulful-science)

Quote of the Week

"A lot of people think that optimism is about being overly positive about everything and believing that everything is going to turn out very well. That is a kind of blind optimism."
Elaine Fox on Optimism (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/elaine-fox-on-optimism)