The Examined Life – Stephen Grosz
Fascinating vignettes from the psychotherapy couch, after 50,000 hours of treating clients. Makes you realise what curious creatures human beings really are.
Illyrian Spring – Ann Bridge
If you’re going to Croatia for your holidays, take this with you. Its beautiful descriptions of the Dalmatian Coast – and its scandalous (in those days) older woman/young man love story – prompted King George and Wallis Simpson to visit, followed by the rest of the English aristocracy.
The Winter Vault – Ann Michaels
Written by a poet. A love story set against the building of the Aswan Dam, poignantly describing the ‘resettling’ of the all the Egyptians whose homes were flooded when the dam was built. If you love the English language, this a rare treat.
Fear – Tich Nat Hahn
A Vietnamese Buddhist monk with a gift for making pain and terror seem manageable. Written in simple language, yet very thought-provoking. Provides useful mantras for those of us who still worry … about everything!
The Elephant Keeper’s Children – Peter Hoeg
This Danish writer is one of my all time favourites. After Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow, I was hooked. I think I’ve read every one of his books since then, but The Elephant Keeper’s Children is one of the funniest, told by a teenage boy with a very dry sense humour and a very un-average family.
