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.
HISTORY BOOKS Black Spartacus by Sudhir Hazareesingh
🏆 Winner of the 2021 Wolfson History Prize
“I am Toussaint Louverture, you have perhaps heard my name. You are aware, brothers, that I have undertaken vengeance, and that I want freedom and equality to reign in Saint-Domingue”
HISTORICAL FICTION Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
“It’s a very civilised novel, set in New York in the 1740s, in which a man named Smith arrives like a stone thrown in a pond to upset the merchants’ lives.”—Toby Clements on the funniest historical novels
NONFICTION BOOKS The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale 🏆 Winner of the 2008 Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction
“Many crimes can also tell you something larger about society, and this one got very much at the notion of how we feel about the sanctity of our home”—David Grann, writer
CLASSIC LITERATURE The Diary of Anne Frank
‘That’s what so difficult in this day and age: the moment we think of our ideals, our dreams, our beautiful future, horrible reality intervenes and destroys them”–Anne Frank, 15 July 1944
FANTASY Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
“It’s a magic that feels absolutely real, as if the book were an eyewitness account. Not since Lewis has the supernatural been such a thrilling, immediate, concrete presence on the page”—Lev Grossman, critic and novelist
NONFICTION BOOKS Our Enemies Will Vanish by Yaroslav Trofimov
“Trofimov explains how the bloodiest war Europe has seen since 1945 broke out, and sets out with admirable clarity what is at stake for Ukraine, as well as for the rest of the world”—Peter Frankopan, chair, 2024 Orwell Prize for Political Writing
THE BEST BOOKS FOR KIDS Can You Get Rainbows in Space? by Dr Sheila Kanani
🏆 Winner of the 2024 Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize
“We all loved finding out about why some monkeys have red bottoms”—Tiani, aged 11
SPY THRILLERS Beirut Station by Paul Vidich
“Paul Vidich is so good…People write to me and say, ‘I would never have discovered Paul Vidich if it wasn’t for you and now I can’t get enough of it.’”—Shane Whaley, host, Spybrary podcast
FICTION The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
🏆 Winner of the 2017 Nobe Prize in Literature
“I absolutely love this book. It’s extraordinary. It’s essentially about memory and forgetting. It’s about terrible atrocities that have happened between different groups of people and how they can then manage to live together”—Marion Turner, Oxford University
NEW LITERARY FICTION The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk
“The Nobel Prize-winner returns with what has been described variously as ‘a satirical take’ and ‘a feminist twist’ on Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain“—Cal Flyn, deputy editor, Five Books
ECONOMICS BOOKS The Worldly Philosophers by Robert L. Heilbroner
“This is a great book. It still has not been equalled. It’s a run through where the classical economists came from, who they were, what they thought and why they thought what they though”—Brad DeLong, economist, UC Berkeley
TOP ‘ROMANTASY’ BOOKS to get you started
“A word of warning—these books are real page turners and you’ll find yourself reading until the early hours of the morning”—Francesca Martin, journalist
⬇️
ROMANTASY A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
“This is one of the most popular book series in the world of romantasy—and with good reason. Book one is fun, book two and three are even better and there are plenty of great plot twists to keep you hooked”—Francesca Martin, journalist
AI BOOKS ChatGPT-4 offers its own opinions on artificial intelligence “These books offer valuable insights into the development, challenges, and future prospects of AI”—ChatGPT-4, AI chatbot
SCIENCE FICTION The Best Sci-Fi Books of the Past Decade, a round-up by Sylvia Bishop
“Fans vote every year for the best of sci fi and fantasy, in both the Hugo Awards and the Nebula Awards”
SCIENCE FICTION
Five of the best ‘hard’ sci-fi novels, as recommended by Adrian Tschaikovsky “If you’re writing with the left wall of actually fitting in with the science, then that pushes you into interesting territory.”
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”
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.
