Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman
What would the world look like, if we didn’t assume the worst of our fellow human beings? If collectively we had a positive, an...
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Apr 6, 20212 min read
Revolting Prostitutes by Molly Smith and Juno Mac
In their powerful and eye-opening manifesto Revolting Prostitutes, Juno Mac and Molly Smith make the point for sex workers’ rights loud...
Mar 30, 20213 min read
I'm Supposed to Protect You from All This by Nadja Spiegelman
Ah, this book! This is one that is going to stay with me for a long time. While reading it, I was already looking forward to starting it...
Mar 16, 20212 min read
Fiction and Non-Fiction by Chinua Achebe
Last week I read both an essay collection and a novel by the celebrated Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. Africa’s Tarnished Name is a...
Mar 9, 20213 min read
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Poetic and heart-breaking. Those are the first words that come to mind when I think about Toni Morrison’s masterpiece Beloved. I only...
Mar 2, 20213 min read
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
"Youth is an irreplaceable treasure, and the only respectable thing to do with irreplaceable treasure is to waste it."
Feb 23, 20212 min read
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock
I stumbled upon Stephen Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town on some reading list online – and I am so glad I did! Something...
Feb 16, 20213 min read
Un Tempo Gentile di Milena Agus
English version below Un Tempo Gentile di Milena Agus è ambientato in un piccolo paese della Sardegna contadina, dimenticata e isolata....
Feb 9, 20212 min read
The Bookseller's Tale by Martin Latham
“This is the story of our love affair with books, whether we arrange them on our shelves, inhale their smell, scrawl in their margins or...
Feb 2, 20213 min read
Scherzetto by Domenico Starnone
English version below Scherzetto di Domenico Starnone è la storia di un incontro di quattro giorni tra un nonno scontroso e suo nipote di...
Jan 26, 20212 min read
Second Nature by Michael Pollan
“Writing and gardening, these two ways of rendering the world in rows, have a great deal in common.” Disguised as a gardening book,...
Jan 14, 20212 min read
Ghosts by Dolly Alderton
Nina is 32, a successful food writer working on her third book, finally owns property in London – even though it is a bit shabby and has...
Jan 12, 20212 min read
At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell
In the Bec-da-Gaz bar, towards the end of 1932, philosopher Raymond Aron made a statement that would kickstart the development of...
Dec 30, 20202 min read
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Imagine you had the opportunity to try on different lives – parallel (or perpendicular) to the one you lead. Who and where would you be,...
Dec 27, 20205 min read
My 2020 Booker Prize Winner
Over the past few weeks I read my way through the 2020 Booker Prize Shortlist – and a month after Shuggie Bain has been announced the...
Dec 22, 20203 min read
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ 2015 essay Between the World and Me is a great contemporary read to follow James Baldwin's essays. Coates picks up...
Dec 18, 20203 min read
James Baldwin - Essays
I had a wonderful week: I spent it with James Baldwin's essays in The Fire Next Time and Notes of a Native Son. I first fell in love with...
Dec 10, 20202 min read
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
“The only people for me are the mad one, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same...
Nov 26, 20202 min read
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
Everyone, please stop whatever you are doing and go read Jamaica Kincaid's essay A Small Place! This is a work about colonialism, an...
Nov 16, 20202 min read
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
It has almost been two weeks since I finished reading Naked Lunch and I am still not sure what to make of it. Therefore, the following is...
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