What to read this summer by Mark Haddon, Zadie Smith and more

Zadie Smith praises Margaret Busby’s Part of the Story: Writings from Half a Century as the record of one woman’s lifelong passion for African literature and its diaspora, and calls it a beautiful collection. She also names Black Bag by Luke Kennard as the funniest and smartest novel she’s read in a while.

Mark Haddon urges readers toward Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated by Lin King, noting it won the International Booker prize and joking that you are “legally obliged to read it.” He highlights three other shortlisted books: The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Ross Benjamin, which fictionalises the life of film director WG Pabst; On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated by Padma Viswanathan, a short, sharp cleaver-blow of political horror set in a Brazilian prison camp; and She Who Remains by Rene Karabash, translated by Izidora Angel, about a woman who escapes an arranged marriage by living as a sworn virgin under the Kanun.

zadie smith, margaret busby, black bag, luke kennard, mark haddon, taiwan travelogue, international booker, daniel kehlmann, the director, wg pabst