The most recommended new books

At age 11, I tried to commit suicide, and at age 42, I was in a mental hospital from depression because I didn’t hear from God (or, rather, I didn’t think I did!). Since then, I’ve learned that God speaks in ways I didn’t expect or understand, and my passion is to communicate that truth to others who struggle with depression.

God Talks is a great tool I use to share how God speaks to everyone in a unique way, and His way leads to answers that will help you accomplish your work and enjoy your life.

As one who loves history and the sport of running, I consistently turn to historian, literary scholar, world-ranked runner, and race announcer Roger Robinson as an ultimate voice when it comes to accurate and accessible running history. He is a true academic, but whose prose and insight both inform and entertain. Along with his When Running Made History book, in which he brings you in the announcer’s booth with him as the voice of some of the greatest races in the past several decades, Running Throughout Time travels deeper into centuries of historical running archives for clarity, truth, and importance. I always enjoy his storytelling and the way in which he presents momentous moments in a conversational manner. They are timeless.

As a fan of the Tom Clancy genre, I felt like I was right back reading Clancy’s classics when I picked up Red Winter. Most of the new Clancy fiction surrounds Jack Ryan, Jr., and while I enjoy those works as well, it was fun to return to the Cold World era.

Cameron pays homage to the greatness that was Clancy, and while I can no longer read the master of modern-day political thrillers, I found a worthy successor.

I enjoyed uncovering a past mission of Jack Ryan, who is one of my all-time favorite characters in fiction. As a child of the Cold War, it was a fun ride behind the Iron Curtain.

Reading this book changed the way I think about language. 

The authors reject the usual arguments about how language evolved on their head—universal grammars and language instincts. Instead, they suggest that the evolution of language is messy and improvisational, like a long-running game of charades.

This metaphor leads to interesting insights into communications, grammar, and more. It’s thoroughly researched but never stodgy, and if you love language, you’ll be as fascinated as I was.

This book breaks all the rules because, well, Ji-won, a young Korean-American girl, literally breaks the rules (and the law) by becoming a serial killer in the face of societal expectations. I love a woman who’s not concerned with being or acting pretty, and we see that in Ji-won far before she ever gets a bite of her first blue eye.

The commentary in this novel is sharp, and much of what Ji-won experiences resonates with me as a Korean-American. Though she is by no means a role model, it was satisfying to see someone who might typically be overlooked go on a grotesque, revenge-fueled violence spree. This book was intelligent and subversive in all the right ways.

In this beguiling, appetising, elegantly written book, food writer and journalist Fuchsia Dunlop shares her deep appreciation of Chinese cuisine. As the English author of acclaimed Chinese cookbooks, she is well-placed to do so.

Seductive descriptions of beautifully cooked Chinese meals she has enjoyed—exquisite clear soups, thrilling stir-fries, delicately cooked prawns—are an inviting strand woven together with Chinese history and insights into the skills underlying Chinese cuisine. She writes from a place of excellent knowledge with clarity, insight, and wit.

Intriguingly, she notes both the sad, over-simplified stereotyping of Chinese food in the West and how ‘European’ cuisine is misunderstood in China. The banquet Dunlop is inviting us to share as readers truly is a rich and splendid feast.

If I didn’t already own a paddle board, I would have to acquire one, having picked up this book. Jo has explored the rivers, lakes, lochs, canals, harbors, coasts, and beaches of England, Scotland, and Wales and discovered ideal waterways for paddleboarding.

The photographs are tempting enough, but her sheer delight at the places she describes so beautifully drove me to make a list of places to visit on my motorbike. 

I’m a sucker for gorgeous prose, Wisconsin landscape as a character, strong female protagonists, small-town community dynamics, and the complexities of found family—Carol Dunbar’s debut novel checks all of these boxes and then some.

I got so excited when I read this book. The prose crackles. The sensory details are vivid. It’s a literary slow-burn with just enough sizzle to keep you turning pages, and I savored every word. What would you do if you were a young wife and mother living off-grid in Northwoods, Wisconsin, and your partner suddenly became incapacitated? Dunbar left me feeling like I now know.

There are many books on WW2 but this one is really different: incredibly readable, full of deep, intriguing insights and information.

What I particularly like is the way that Oulds extracts the importance of the cultural backgrounds of the combatants in terms of how this determined the outcome. In essence, the Anglo-sphere's long-standing cultural development of individualism, innovation, and market-forces explains so much of what went 'wrong' for the Axis powers.

Further, this narrative provides profound insights into some of the characters. For example, the extent to which Hitler was a compulsive gambler; also, the depths of his strategic incompetence. This is a joy to read - I finished it in a few days since I couldn't put it down.

James Hynes’ novel focuses on Jacob, nicknamed “Sparrow”, who’s a slave in a brothel in New Carthage at the end of the Roman Empire. Yum!

Although the book itself is too brutal for my taste, as it goes through development, perhaps they could add a thread of lightness, especially in the lives and friendships Sparrow develops with many of the “Wolves” (prostitutes).
As a series, this could be a Gladiator-meets-Harlots, with a darkness and depth that would give us insight into the lowest rung of the Roman Empire, with the possibility of a dozen sub-stories to fill out as we trod through this dark time.