Books you'll want to be seen reading

Reading any novel shortlisted for the Booker Prize will immediately show you're in the know when it comes to prestigious literature. In James, Everett reinvents Mark Twain’s classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Following James as he flees enslavement, navigating the perilous waters of the Mississippi alongside a runaway boy, this is a masterful interrogation of race, agency, and the myths America tells itself. Both an audacious literary feat and an unflinching act of reclamation, James is a novel that demands to be read – and seen.

Aboard a speeding train bound for Paris, destinies collide in this taut, thrilling novel that captures a world on the cusp of transformation, from the bestselling author of Room, Emma Donoghue. It’s 1895, and the Granville-to-Paris express carries a diverse cast of passengers: a radical anarchist, a solitary child, a struggling artist, a secretive young woman and a wealthy statesman with his ailing wife. As industry propels society forward, class divides and hidden tensions simmer beneath the surface. Rich in historical detail, The Paris Express is a book that will mark you as a reader of literary excellence. 

Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty is a sure sign of impeccable literary taste. It is an elegant, incisive exploration of privilege, desire, and power in Thatcher’s Britain. When Nick Guest, an earnest and beauty-obsessed Oxford graduate, is drawn into the orbit of the wealthy, politically connected Fedden family, he believes he has found a place in their glittering world. But as the decade’s indulgence gives way to its darker undercurrents, Nick’s precarious position becomes impossible to ignore. Winner of the Man Booker Prize and named one of The New York Times’ 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, The Line of Beauty is a book that is as stylish as it is profound.

One of the most influential works of fiction ever written to this day is George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a brilliant political satire and allegorical farmyard fable about the corroding effects of power. The story of an equalitarian dream that descends into an increasingly divided and hierarchical society, riddled with lies and corruption, this thoughtful read feels at times frighteningly relevant. Whipping out this read on the commute will let all your fellow passengers know that you're an astute political mind.

Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, Heaven follows a fourteen-year-old boy, mercilessly bullied for his lazy eye, and the unlikely friendship he forms with Kojima, a girl suffering her own silent torments. As they cling to each other in search of solace, Kawakami probes the unsettling question: is shared suffering a foundation for true connection, or merely another kind of trap? Heaven is a bold and thought-provoking novel from one of Japan’s most essential contemporary writers, and a clear indication that you have a sophisticated appreciation for translated literature.

Eyes will be drawn to size of this impressive book in your hands. Spanning from the 1950s through to the 1990s in a non-linear fashion, Underworld is an 832 page panoramic vision of America. You’ll weave in and out of a number of intertwined yet varied themes, including baseball, waste disposal, guns and the Cold War. Considered DeLillo’s greatest work, and shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, it's a remarkable story of men and women, together and apart, searching for meaning and connection in the toughest of times.

The women of the Trojan War have waited long enough to tell their side of the story. In this electrifying retelling, the forgotten voices – mothers, queens, warriors, and goddesses – take centre stage, reclaiming a narrative that has for centuries belonged to men. Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, A Thousand Ships is Natalie Haynes’ weaves together the fates of Trojan survivors, vengeful deities, and the wives left behind. With the wit of a classicist and the fire of a storyteller, Haynes crafts a novel that is both erudite and urgent. Reading this book isn’t just about loving mythology, it’s about showing you’re invested in seeing history’s most enduring tales in an entirely new light.

Few novels provoke as much fascination – and unease – as American Psycho. Bret Easton Ellis’s blistering satire of 1980s excess and moral decay remains one of the most controversial books of modern literature, a work as horrifying as it is darkly comic. Patrick Bateman is both a monster and a mirror, reflecting the soulless consumerism of his era with chilling precision. Banned, censored, and debated since its release, American Psycho has lost none of its power to shock. This modern classic isn't just a book – its a status symbol and a bold statement.

Now this one can look like a daunting read, but if we saw you tackling this moralistic masterpiece on your commute, we’d be seriously impressed. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is a compelling story of a brutal double murder and its aftermath. Dostoevsky takes us right into the dark depths of the protagonist Raskolnikov’s troubled mind, as he battles his conscience, society, radicalism and tradition while the the consequences of his murderous actions loom ever greater. A sensation in its day, this novel has left an indelible stamp on the world of literature.

The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire – now that’s a title that’s bound to turn heads wherever it shows up. From the winner of the 2022 Royal Society Science Book Prize and a writer unafraid to tackle the biggest existential questions, the book takes readers on a journey from our prehistoric origins to the unsettling reality that our species’ dominance may already be waning. Climate change, economic stagnation and falling birth rates all point toward an inescapable conclusion. Yet within this sobering narrative lies a call to action – if we recognize our trajectory, can we change it?

Don’t worry, they aren’t staring at you, just at the peculiar title of the multi-million copy bestselling book you’re carrying. The Man Who Mistook his wife for a Hat is a provocative non-fiction exploration of the mysteries of the human mind from the twentieth century’s greatest neurologist, Oliver Sacks. Featuring extraordinary stories of patients struggling to adapt to neurological disorders that you can hardly believe, you’ll struggle to put this book down.

You’ll have noticed that non-fiction popular science books such as Sapiens have taken the world by storm, so, why not take it back to the original with the Origin of Species, Darwin's world-changing theory of evolution. You’ll absorb some of Darwin’s genius but also experience his boundless enthusiasm for our planet and its many species. Not to mention this pocket-sized Macmillan Collector’s Library edition is perfect to read on the go!

A Manual for Cleaning Women is a rediscovered gem from Lucia Berlin. She invites you in with her extraordinary honesty about complex subjects with effortless clarity and a voice that is anarchic, compassionate and completely unique. Each story has a particular interest in the working-class and the marginalised experiences, rich with chaos, pain and the beauty of everyday life. This is truly one of the most remarkable short story collections in twentieth-century American fiction.