FANTASTIC FICTION – Escapes to other places and other times

Dutch born Catholic priest and writer Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen wrote some of the most profound yet accessible works about the spiritual life in the twentieth century. This is one such, about the spiritual life in three movements. Our best chance at salvation is found in reaching out to others. ISBN 978-0006280866

If you have never tried a novel by Thomas Hardy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy) start with The Return of the Native (1878). Its themes of sexual politics, thwarted desire, and the conflicting demands of nature and society mark it out with a modern character. Still underlying is the trademark sense of foreboding and classical tragedy. Hardy’s landscape descriptions of

Barnes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Barnes and http://www.julianbarnes.com/) may have equals on the English language literary scene but none, I think, better. Here he dissects the sense of his own mortality in a crafted prose that is breathtaking in its poise and elegance. He asks if the fear of death is ‘the most rational thing in the world’, how does one contend

The Natural History of Human Co-operation If you have ever been worried by the argument that all human behaviour is ‘genetically determined’, this could be the antidote. Without ever departing from the theory of evolution Pagel (Head of Bioinfomatics at Reading University) argues that art, music, religion and morality have truly constituted what it is

If you enjoy your crime fiction hard boiled and street tough try this one for size. The synopsis is as follows. Maureen Coughlin is in a rut. At twenty-nine, the strong Staten Island native fears she may become a ‘lifer’ at the Narrows, the faux-swank bar where she waits tables five nights a week. Nursing

For the lover of travel writing Patrick Leigh Fermor is iconic, an intriguing blend of romance and mindfulness. He could be Matthew Arnold’s scholar gypsy of the twentieth century. In ravishing prose he recalls adventures walking all over Europe in titles such as A Time of Gifts, Between the Woods and the Water, and Mani:

The runaway success of last year. Even if you do not read this for its fictional value it might offer protective insight into the sexual fantasies (one must be careful to say) of some women. Overwhelmed by the wealth and sophistication of businessman Christian Grey, ingénue Anastasia Steele is lured into a simpering compliance with

Nothing is more natural than to believe we have conscious control over our choices. Indeed most of social behaviour including the criminal justice system is predicated on that conviction. Harvard professor of psychology Daniel Wegner (d.2013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Wegner and http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~wegner/) argues that our actions ‘happen to us’ rather than us being in control of them. Wegner is no

“Try always,” says theworldly Cardinal Wolsey in Wolf Hall, ­Hilary Mantel’s fictional portrait of Henry VIII’s turbulent court, “to find out what people wear under their clothes.” Katherine of Aragon, the queen who can’t produce an heir, wears a nun’s habit. Anne Boleyn, the tease eager to supplant her, won’t let the King know what