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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 9h

If you’ve ever been at all curious about ancient Carthage and why the Romans fought the Punic Wars against them, or why Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants and what happened to him afterwards, this is the book for you fivebooks.com/book/carthag... @gevemac.bsky.social @wwnorton.com

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 12h

"If you lived in the south or the Midlands and you were skilled or even semi-skilled and had a job in one of the new industries such as the car industry...or synthetic textiles or pharmaceuticals or domestic goods manufacturing, then you were much more prosperous." fivebooks.com/best-books/j...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 28/09/2026

Nonfiction on fivebooks.com: fivebooks.com/category/non...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 27/09/2026

“You couldn’t make this up. If it were a novel, you’d think it was too much. But it’s a true story — that’s what makes it so extraordinary.” Historian Andrea Wulf recommended "Wedlock" by Wendy Moore, describing it as an “absolute page-turner.” fivebooks.com/book/wedlock...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 25/09/2026

"The Republic" by Plato was recommended by philosopher Jonathan Glover He says: “It contains a tremendous amount of nonsense about what the ideal society would be like. 1/2

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 24/09/2026

Eric Ambler (1909-1998) was a British writer of spy novels. According to novelist M.C. Beaton (1936-2019): "He’s a great craftsman, Eric Ambler. I think he’s better than John le Carré.” fivebooks.com/people/eric-...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 24/09/2026

Science Fiction on Fivebooks.com: fivebooks.com/category/fic...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 24/09/2026

If you like funny crime novels, "A Beginner's Guide to Breaking and Entering" by Andrew Hunter Murray was shortlisted for the Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. Prize judge Justin Albert said: “After I read it, I found myself wandering around Holland Park in London, looking at all the houses, 1/2

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 22/09/2026

From ancient Rome and Tudor England to revolution, empire and the upheavals of the 20th century, historical fiction lets us experience history from the inside. Explore the best historical novels, recommended by novelists, historians and other experts on Five Books: fivebooks.com/category/fic...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 22/09/2026

The Roman poet Virgil, author of the epic Aeneid about the legendary origins of Rome, died on 21 September 19 BC, at the age of 50. Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel Lavinia, about the woman Aeneas is destined to marry, was recommended by Aeneid translator Sarah Ruden fivebooks.com/book/lavinia...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 17/09/2026

"Hadji Murad" is a novella by Leo Tolstoy set against the Russian expansion into the Caucasus—a conflict in which Tolstoy himself served as a young army officer. The story follows Hadji Murad, an Avar fighter caught between the forces of the Russian Empire and his former allies.

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 17/09/2026

"The attachment of moral right or wrong to individual sexual activities is really a Biblical thing." fivebooks.com/best-books/e...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 16/09/2026

History on Five Books: fivebooks.com/category/his...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 15/09/2026

On 15 September, we remember those who fought and fell in the Battle of Britain. “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” Geoffrey Wellum’s First Light, recommended by historian James Holland, is a good memoir of what it was like: fivebooks.com/book/first-l...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 14/09/2026

NEW: The best Chinese science fiction, recommended by Professor Mingwei Song of Wellesley College. "It’s subversive, in the sense that it’s not giving us a common accepted understanding of reality." fivebooks.com/best-books/t...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 11/09/2026

"Maria Edgeworth was both a great novelist in her own right and a major influence on Jane Austen....Belinda is a page-turner. I’ve been calling attention to what’s interesting from a literary history point of view, but it’s first and foremost a great read."—Sophie Gee fivebooks.com/best-books/1...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 11/09/2026

Where were you on September 11th, 2001? In our 9/11 interviews, experts discuss the best books on the causes and history of 9/11, as well as the consequences of that tragic day. fivebooks.com/books/9-11-b...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 10/09/2026

"The Looming Tower" by Lawrence Wright, about the road to 9/11—the ideology behind it and the missed opportunities to stop it—is one of our most recommended books on Five Books. It was picked out by leading experts on terrorism. fivebooks.com/book/looming...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 07/09/2026

"The Narrow Road to the Deep North" by Richard Flanagan tells the story of Dorrigo Evans, a doctor from Tasmania who, as an old man, flashes back to his time in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, building the infamous Burma Railway. 1/2

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 07/09/2026

P. D. James (1920–2014) was one of the great names of British crime fiction. She is best known for her detective novels featuring Adam Dalgliesh, a Scotland Yard detective and poet, though she also wrote standalone novels and the dystopian novel "The Children of Men." fivebooks.com/people/books...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 03/09/2026

The 19th century was a golden age for books, with the flourishing of great realist novels, as well as epic adventure stories and what would turn out to be distinct genres It was also an important time for the history of ideas. fivebooks.com/best-books/t...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 03/09/2026

#OTD in 1939 Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany after it failed to withdraw its troops from Poland. Read about World War 2 on Five Books: fivebooks.com/category/his...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 01/09/2026

RIP Wendell Berry (1934-2026). “If you care about food, farming and the environment then you really have to read and understand this book and Wendell Berry’s work."—James Rebanks. fivebooks.com/book/the-wor...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 29/08/2026

With so many novels and works of fiction to choose from these days, where do you start? Here, we've put together reading lists compiled in interviews with novelists, critics and academics to help you find the best novels and works of fiction. fivebooks.com/category/fic...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 28/08/2026

#OTD in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. His speechwriter, Clarence Jones (1931-2026), told us how he didn't stick to the script: fivebooks.com/book/dr-mart... #civilrights #americanhistory #famousspeeches #MLK

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 27/08/2026

#OTD in 1929 American novelist Ira Levin was born, described by fellow writer Stephen King as “the Swiss watchmaker of the suspense novel; in terms of plot, he makes what the rest of us do look like those five-dollar watches you can buy at discount drugstores.” fivebooks.com/people/books...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 26/08/2026

“It’s a fantastic book… This one I love: it’s a debut novel set in the Middle Ages in England. It’s narrated by a young girl, Tibb.”—Stephanie Merritt, Wodehouse Prize judge 🏆 A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike, winner of the 2025 Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. fivebooks.com/book/a-littl...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 25/08/2026

RIP Dolly Parton (1946-2026). We loved so much about you, but as a book website, we particularly appreciated your dedication to getting children reading. fivebooks.com/best-books/d...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 24/08/2026

#OTD in 1899, Jorge Luis Borges was born in Buenos Aires. His short fiction has been recommended many times by interviewees on Five Books—from Fictions and Labyrinths to The Garden of Forking Paths. fivebooks.com/people/jorge...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 04/08/2026

The classics of English literature: whether you're reading for school or for pleasure, it can be hard to get a grip on the Western canon—and even harder to understand it. fivebooks.com/category/fic...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 21/07/2026

The People's Republic of China is one of five remaining countries in the world ruled by a communist party: the Chinese Communist Party or CCP, which has ruled China since 1949. fivebooks.com/category/pol...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 15/07/2026

“To explore the history of the BBC is basically to consider the history of the last century of British life” fivebooks.com/best-books/b...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 10/07/2026

“Wordsworth is in all sorts of ways just as indebted to Coleridge as Coleridge ever was to Wordsworth.” fivebooks.com/best-books/s...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 04/07/2026

Here, we've pulled together a list of short literary novels—most of them fewer than 200 pages in length—that have been recommended on Five Books over the years. fivebooks.com/best-books/s...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 03/06/2026

Whether you're looking for the best biographies of 2025, or outstanding works written decades or even centuries ago, we have some recommendations. fivebooks.com/category/bio...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 21/03/2026

A variety of writers, comics and academics recommend their best funny humour books and their favourite comic writing. fivebooks.com/category/fic...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 16/03/2026

"Fathers can’t really be replaced, in full, especially by somebody who doesn’t feel like a father." fivebooks.com/best-books/f...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 15/03/2026

"The combination of polls and elections keep democracies and politicians on the straight and narrow." fivebooks.com/best-books/p...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 15/03/2026

“Funny is funny. Whether you’re writing for kids or adults, the same rules of comedy apply” fivebooks.com/best-books/m...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 13/03/2026

NEW: Political scientist @buxtonjulia chooses five books on modern Venezuelan politics and explains how the country has been plagued by its vast oil reserves: fivebooks.com/best-books/v... Books by @SujathaTF, @mtinkersalas, @frrodriguezc

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 28/05/2025

“What has passed between us is too much to be passed over in a sentence. We need to talk, to open our hearts to one another, examine them, and then together plan the future we want.” RIP Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (1936-2025) fivebooks.com/people/ngugi...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 27/05/2025

“He’s the thriller writer’s writer in many ways. People like le Carré and Graham Greene heaped a lot of praise on Ambler" fivebooks.com/people/eric-...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 17/05/2025

“Vidal has clearly read the historical sources. He must have looked at the art and architecture. The story is crafted so carefully." fivebooks.com/people/gore-...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 28/11/2024

Happy Thanksgiving to all our US readers. Thank you for all the support you've given us over the last year. #Thanksgiving2024

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 27/10/2023

Loving our new handle (which is our domain name). Many thanks to @atproto.com for the clear instructions in their blog: blueskyweb.xyz/blog/4-28-20...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 04/10/2023

The best books on Third Culture Kids At its core, every young adult book is about figuring out who you are and what your place in the world is, argues Elizabeth Wein, author of numerous books for children and young adults. fivebooks.com/best-books/t...

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Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations @fivebooks.com · 23/09/2023

Notable Memoirs of 2023 Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn selects the best recent autobiographical writing in this round-up of notable memoirs of 2023—taking in new work from such literary giants and a humorous debut depicting life in a haunted antiquarian bookshop. fivebooks.com/best-books/n...

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