Books

A Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking Hawking set out to explain the universe with no maths, just the ideas, and made cosmology a bestseller 1 recommender A Bright Ray of Darkness Ethan Hawke A young actor whose marriage has collapsed finds his way back through a production of Henry IV, in Ethan Hawke's third novel. A Burning Megha Majumdar One careless post after an attack, and three lives that find her more useful guilty. 2 recommenders Back Roads Tawni O'Dell Tawni O'Dell's novel follows a teenage boy left to raise his sisters after their mother is jailed for killing their abusive father. 1 recommender Bad Blood John Carreyrou A billion dollars raised on a machine that never worked, and the reporting that finally broke it. 1 recommender Bad Feminist Roxane Gay Permission to hold the politics and still like the wrong things, from a writer done with consistency. 1 recommender Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up Abigail Shrier The argument that therapy culture has made childhood more fragile, and the dispute over whether it causes the decline or merely responds to it. 1 recommender Baldwin Keith Middlemas and John Barnes 1 recommender Bandits in the Roman Empire Thomas Grünewald 1 recommender Banker to the Poor Muhammad Yunus Yunus's account of lending his own money to basket weavers in 1976 and what grew from it. Barn 8 Deb Olin Unferth A novel set among the hens of an industrial egg farm that takes the personhood of chickens seriously. 1 recommender Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians Brandon Sanderson, Janci Patterson The long-awaited finale of Sanderson's absurdist middle-grade series, narrated this time by the knight Bastille, resolving the war against the world-ruling Librarians. Batman: Hush Jim Lee A tour of Batman's entire mythology, and the artwork that made it the standard entry point. Battle for the Soul Edward-Isaac Dovere An inside account of the Democratic campaigns and infighting that led to the 2020 election. 1 recommender Battle Ground: Ten Conflicts that Explain the New Middle East Christopher Phillips Ten conflicts, from Syria to Yemen, explained for readers who gave up following them years ago. 1 recommender Be a Sales Superstar Brian Tracy Twenty-one short chapters of sales fundamentals, written for someone who needs something to use this afternoon rather than a theory. Be Obsessed or Be Average Grant Cardone Cardone reframes obsession as a virtue: rather than taming your ambition to fit in, he argues you should feed it, and channel that intensity into building the life you want. Be Useful Arnold Schwarzenegger Schwarzenegger distils an improbable life into seven tools he insists anyone can use, starting with having a clear vision and thinking big. Beach Read Emily Henry A literary novelist and a romance writer end up in neighbouring beach houses, and bet they can write each other's genre. 1 recommender Beartown Fredrik Backman In a small town that lives for hockey, a violent act by a star junior player tears apart the community that has pinned its hopes on him. Beatles Lars Saabye Christensen Lars Saabye Christensen's 1984 novel following four Oslo boys devoted to the Beatles from 1965 to 1972, translated by Don Bartlett. 1 recommender Beautyland Marie-Helene Bertino A girl born the night Voyager launched reports back to her home planet by fax. 1 recommender Becoming Michelle Obama Michelle Obama's best-selling memoir, tracing her path from the South Side of Chicago to the White House, and her reflections on identity, family, and public life. 1 recommender Before We Were Innocent Ella Berman Two women were acquitted of a friend's death in Greece a decade ago, and the press never let it go. Now one has come back. 1 recommender Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo A boy who makes his living sorting the airport slum's garbage, reported over three years with nothing invented. 1 recommender Behind the Cloud Marc Benioff, Carlye Adler Benioff's playbook of 111 plays for building Salesforce, from a rented apartment to an enterprise giant. 1 recommender Behold the Dreamers Imbolo Mbue Imbolo Mbue's novel follows a Cameroonian immigrant family in New York whose fortunes tangle with a Lehman Brothers executive during the crash. 1 recommender Behold, America Sarah Churchwell The surprising and troubling history of two phrases, America First and the American Dream. Beijing Coma Ma Jian Ma Jian's 2008 novel of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, narrated by a man left in a coma, translated by Flora Drew. Bel-Ami Guy de Maupassant A charming provincial nobody climbs Parisian society on other people's wives and no talent at all. 1 recommender Belladonna Daša Drndić A retired Croatian psychologist sifts through illness, memory, the Second World War and the breakup of Yugoslavia. 1 recommender Beloved Toni Morrison A woman who escaped slavery is haunted, literally, by the daughter she killed to keep from being taken back. 2 recommenders Benjamin Franklin Walter Isaacson The printer, scientist and diplomat who invented the American character, told as the life of the country's first self-made man Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders Warren Buffett The collected annual letters of Warren Buffett, chronicling decades of Berkshire Hathaway and his investing philosophy in his own words. Best Evidence David S. Lifton A controversial best-selling investigation of the JFK assassination, arguing the medical evidence was altered between Dallas and the autopsy. 1 recommender Betsy and the Great World Maud Hart Lovelace A young writer sails for Europe in 1914 to gather material, and finds rather more than planned. 1 recommender