I read fiction because it changes something in me. And of course, fiction transports us and is a source of relaxation, and disengages us from our preoccupations. This is the power of good literature. Very different from non-fiction.
Some recent favourite authors are John Salter and the Japanese cult author Keigo Higashino. John Salter led me to Philip Roth and Saul Bellow. I am also impressed by Malaysian authors Tash Aw, Margaret Thien and Tan Hwan Eng.
I was happy to discover “Ten Minutes and 38 Seconds in this Strange World” by a Turkish writer Elif Shavak. In fact, it was Simon Schama’s excellent review of this book in the Financial Times which made me want to pick up this book. It is an intensely spellbinding novel that tells the story of a murdered sex worker as she recounts memories of her life—from birth to her final breath—against the backdrop of key moments in Turkish history.
Here are some of the fiction I have read in recent years. Swipe to see some of these book covers.
• All That Is, A Sport and a Pastime and Light Years by James Salter
• The Devotion of Suspect X, Malice: A Mystery and Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino
• Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw
• The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Hwan Eng
• Do Not Say We have Nothing by Margaret Thein
• Seize the Day by Saul Bellow
• Human Stain by Philip Roth
• Ten Minutes and 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shavak
• Late in the Day by Tessa Hadley
• The Dinner by Herman Koch
• Man on Fire by Stephen Kelman
• Milk by Deborah Levy
What is your favourite fiction book this year?