Greg Williams, editor
Set during the Nigerian civil war of the 1960s, Half a Yellow Sun is a rich exploration of the lives of a number of characters – from a house boy to a privileged professor’s wife – as their lives unravel. Adichie’s control of language is masterful and her characters complex and utterly believable. Although the situation the characters find themselves in is horrific, the novel is filled with compassion: this book will stay long with you long after you finish its final, haunting chapters.
James Temperton, digital editor
It’s nearly fifteen years old, but the foul-mouthed, chaotic, unreliable narrative of Vernon God Little feels more relevant and important than ever. Vernon is a brilliant, disgusting protagonist in a world that’s lost its mind and is out to destroy him.
Mary Lees, art editor
I look at everything with a slightly different eye after reading Feral, spying land management in our most ‘natural’ of spaces in the UK. Monbiot investigates the possibility of restoring our bruised ecosystems by letting nature take over once again, unmanaged. Despite Monboit’s negative predisposition towards a changed world, the book left me with a feeling of positivity. There is opportunity to use land in a better way and to improve the relationship between man and animals – an excitement in the idea of roaming wild elephants in the UK!
Simon Ward, chief sub-editor
The first book to slap me around the face and stay with me was A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. Yes, it's disturbing and violent, but yarbles to all that: it's also a prescient and fiercely intelligent tale that dragged this 15-year-old malchick – as well as countless pop-culture figures since – into Alex's dark world of ultra-violence, Beethoven, Nadsat and questionable aversion therapy. Choodessny!
Liat Clark, commissioning editor
I don’t have a favourite novel, but this is one of many I could never ‘shake’. It tells us death is not as inhumane and formidable as we think; that love, friendship and humour will persist even in the most dire of circumstances; and how vital storytelling is to our humanity. And it was given to me by someone who taught me all three of those things in their lifetime through their own stories.
Andy Vandervell, engagement manager
Any Human Heart is a roller coaster of a novel. I felt like I'd lost an old dear friend by the end. It charts the fictional journey of Logan Mountstuart through 20th-century history, evoking hilarity, scandal, farce, introspection, cynicism, sadness, despair, affection and love along the way. Written in journal form, Mountstuart's life intersects with many a famous historical figure, including Ernest Hemingway, Ian Fleming and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, but each journal is really about a different 'self' Mounstuart inhabits as he gets older. If you enjoy it, Boyd's fictional memoir The New Confessions is an excellent next stop.
Andrew Diprose, creative director
Sure, this isn’t Dave’s finest fiction but its dystopian near-future world and lively pace made it just about un-putdownable. I read it over a couple of days on a summer holiday. I was literally hiding from my family to find the peace I needed to read...just-one-more-chapter.
Rowland Manthorpe, associate editor
I love philosophical novels (so much I actually co-wrote one) and I love fantasy, and this trilogy is the perfect combination of both. The news that there are going to be follow-ups is the best/most nerve-wracking thing to happen outside a political event.
Phill Fields, deputy creative director
A book that cleverly reveals a post apocalyptic world that has been torn apart by a global pandemic, through the eyes of travelling Shakespeare troupe. It brilliantly intertwines the lives of the characters, before and after the disaster, whilst they move across a dangerous and dark world where those who survive can’t always be trusted. Too good not to read!
Jeremy White, product editor
A dark comedy about the impending end of the world? Yes, I wonder why it returns to mind as one of my favourite books? And what’s not to love about the invention of one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse being Pollution, because Pestilence had to retire after the discovery of penicillin. Read now so you can enjoy Gaiman’s mini-series adaptation coming to BBC and Amazon next year.
Alexandra Simon-Lewis, digital intern
Bram Stoker's Dracula is a phenomenal horror novel with so much scope, tackling cultural anxieties and technological advancement - never for a moment does it bore you. It’s like a travel journal on acid. Packed with suspense, intrigue and a healthy dose of science, it makes for a cracking read.
Matt Burgess, staff writer
The was my favourite book as a child. The majesty of the fantasy world, which in reality wasn't that different from our own, created by Philip Pullman captured my imagination. I remember reading the book under my bed covers with a tiny light when I should have been asleep and trying to figure out what my own Dæmon would be. I still haven't worked it out.
Oliver Franklin-Wallis, commissioning editor
Picking a favourite is too hard, so instead, I’ll pick a few recent joys: Ed Yong’s I Contain Multitudes is a joyous and informative dive into the emerging science around microbiomes – and not just our own, but across the natural world. If you’re into the coming robo-pocalypse, I hugely enjoyed John Brockman’s essay collection What To Think About Machines That Think. Everyone should read the collected works of David Grann, particularly his upcoming Killers Of The Flower Moon, a true murder-mystery about the formation of the FBI. And finally, for sheer inventiveness, you can’t beat George Saunders’ debut novel Lincoln In The Bardo.
Dalia Nassimi, deputy director of photography
One of the most amazing and elaborate collections of contemporary art in the world – by Eli and Edith Broad. Housed in a seriously stunning, custom-built building in downtown LA. Also a glorious reminder of my honeymoon last summer.
Tola Onanuga, deputy chief sub-editor
This was one of the first books I read and I loved it from beginning to end. I was captivated by the weird and wonderful world that Dahl dreamed up – and the quirky characters that inhabited it. From the Oompa Loompas’ dance routines to Veronica Gloop's untimely demise, there was always some wacky twist to keep me hooked. I always root for the underdog, so seeing Charlie get his much-deserved prize was the perfect ending.
Steve Peck, director of photography
A brutally honest personal account of coming to terms with Pure OCD. Looking at the Amazon reviews, it's proving inspirational for fellow suffers, too.
Ciaran Christopher, app designer
I read this after a year of being out of uni and realised that no-one actually has all their shit together by the time they have a degree, and that it's ok to progress at my pace.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
