The Determinists reopens the free will debate because what’s at stake could shape how we hold each other accountable. In this thought-provoking work of philosophical nonfiction, Lawrence David Rose takes on one of philosophy’s oldest questions: Do human beings genuinely possess free will, or are our thoughts and actions simply the inevitable byproducts of biology, […]
Category: Book Reviews
A man takes a job washing pots in a restaurant cellar at one in the morning, because the night shift pays five marks a week more and he has a family. He is a police officer, recently demoted as far down the ladder as it goes, and a colleague asks why he bothers with this […]
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American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee
A grey-haired woman who manages a video-rental shop comes into the luxury goods store three doors down, embarrassed to be there at all. Her only son is getting married. She has been putting money aside for his bride since before he had a girlfriend. The saleswoman shows her pearl studs first, then diamonds, and quietly […]
Seven weeks. That is what stands between the Booker Prize 2026 shortlist and the ceremony at Old Billingsgate on 9 November, and it is enough time to read all six if you start now and pick the order sensibly. I did the reading for the thirteen-book longlist over the summer, so for once I can […]
Divinely romantic, deliciously queer—a high-stakes, haunted magical rescue This second book in Sarah Glenn Marsh’s Rogue Devotions series is a magical adventure about found family and the swoonworthy love interests they meet along the way. “A lot can happen in three days. The whole world can change in less time than that. It has before.” […]
A character-rich small town mystery about how we can’t change the past without deadly consequences Who decides when a story has ended? Who decides which stories get told? And how long can a story stay buried, before it comes back to haunt those who would rather forget? Game warden and part-time constable Nate Briggs faces […]
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Survival Show by Juno Dawson
The queue for the audition snakes around a private clinic in a smog-choked northern city, hundreds of teenage girls in cropped tops, all of them with the same idea about showing their stomachs. Inside the studio, twenty at a time are lined up against the back wall and photographed. Then a producer reads out seven […]
A subversive portrait of female friendship and feminist activism set in the years leading up to and during Prohibition Fueled by a string of expertly managed mysteries (both personal and criminal), The Neighborhood Dames is historical fiction at its grounded best—challenging social norms and hopeful of change. The Neighborhood Dames opens with former songwriter and […]
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Deadly Dilemma by Anthony Gurley
Content warning: suicidal ideation A deeply personal memoir about depression, faith, and the lifelong search for self-worth Anthony Gurley explores suicide, faith, identity, purpose, and self-worth in Deadly Dilemma. The memoir opens with what appears to be a present-day suicide letter. From there, the story traces Anthony “Gene” Gurley’s life from childhood into adulthood as […]
A book with an absurd title but a serious pursuit to understand what it means to become whole While some experiments require a laboratory, Rupert Kite conducts his in the messy, unpredictable laboratory of everyday life. Whereas the previous volume in Kite’s Becoming Conscious memoir examined what it meant to feel alienated from the world […]