A round-up of the books to read right now
The Curated Book List started as a weekly round-up: each week we chose a theme and then picked books around it. Books that personally touched us and that we can recommend as some of our favourites. Some are classics and some are obscure and hard to find. All are worth your time.
Past themes included international conflict, books set in Africa by African writers, comedy, addiction and mental illness, and road trips and discovering America. Today the list lives on in our themed reading lists below.
- The Best Last Lines in NovelsA great closing line can tie a bow on a story or upend everything you just read. Our pick of the best last lines in novels, from Gatsby and Heart of Darkness to Pooh Corner.
- Children's Books for Adults: 5 Classics Worth Re-ReadingEloise, Ferdinand, Corduroy, The Little Prince and Charlotte's Web: five children's classics that reveal far more when you reread them as an adult, and why they still matter.
- A Reading List for Poker and Casino FansFrom Pushkin's Queen of Spades to Graham Greene's Monte Carlo and Maria Konnikova's year at the poker table: our curated list of the best books for casino and poker fans.
- Banned Books: A Chronological HistoryFrom Lysistrata to The Satanic Verses: the long history of censorship told through famous banned books, with where and why each one was banned or challenged.
- Writers You Should Know: Christopher IsherwoodThe English novelist whose Berlin stories became Cabaret, whose A Single Man broke taboos and whose life spanned Weimar Berlin and Hollywood. Where to start with Christopher Isherwood.
- The Best Poker and Gambling Books: From Fifth Street to Thinking in BetsA journalist who reached the World Series final table, a champion on decisions, and the MIT students who beat blackjack: the best poker and gambling books, reviewed.
Have a theme you would like us to cover next? Suggest it here.