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Summer is the time for road trips — and books that can take you on a journey of discovery.
Giant of literary fiction: John le Carré was both influenced by, and influential on, Britain’s secret services.
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Le Carré drew on his own experience to change public perceptions of the world of spying.
Tara June Winch has won Australia’s two major writing prizes in one year.
Penguin Random House
These two prize-winning books speak volumes about how we face trying times, might recognise the beauty in brokenness and maybe find ways to repair the wounds of the past.
Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade (1941).
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Sam Spade only appeared in one novel. But he left his mark, with the help of the Hollywood legend who portrayed him.
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Trixie Belden wasn’t as pretty as her best friend, or a cool as Nancy Drew. But she had a ‘mental computer’ for solving mysteries and a non-judgmental moral core.
The New York Public Library
It was funny at the time — but rereading Ben Elton’s 1989 bestselling satirical novel Stark today is profoundly unsettling.
America’s top economists like to tell stories.
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Realizing that economics is a lot like fiction helps us better evaluate the claims economists make about the world we all live in.
People have sought more security and safety in their reading.
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From reading more to re-reading safe favourites, there are early signs that the COVID-19 has influenced how and what we are reading.
Stephen King famously called Jim Thompson’s Sheriff Lou Ford ‘the Great American Sociopath.’
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The author’s novels, famous for their bleakly sociopathic depiction of American culture, testify to the insanity and abusiveness that surround us.
Shinjuku, Tokyo.
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In recent fiction, cities are coming alive.
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Kokomo by Victoria Hannan has been touted as a ‘millennial novel’ – but its search for love and connection are timeless.
Top selection: the 2020 Booker Prize longlist.
Booker Prize
The Booker Prize has always struggled with inclusivity.
Tara June Winch, author of The Yield.
The winner of the 2020 Miles Franklin award is a powerful and deeply moving book, unstinting in its depiction of sociopolitical disasters.
Library of Congress
The real Hillary Rodham Clinton said yes the third time Bill proposed – in Curtis Sittenfeld’s novel, she says no.
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This year’s six shortlisted novels shimmer with relevance.
Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010).
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Young adult post-disaster fiction is more concerned with how we survive than understanding the causes of disaster. We can read it to explore our fears, responses and our capacity to adapt.
Hemingway and his eldest son, Bumby, pose in Havana harbor in 1933.
Collection of David Meeker
While the man the world knows as ‘Papa’ balanced the demands of parenting with his work, his letters and fiction offer a window into the depth of his paternal feeling.
Stéphane Bourgoin fabricated his life story, including a murdered wife.
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For a handful of French writers, the best fiction they wrote was their life story.
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Fictional, magical cities can help us understand our own urban lives.
Storytelling and empathy – the power of sharing your dreams.
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Listening to other people’s dreams can help to improve your empathy levels.