Max Porter Recommends #YourNextBook
By Burley Fisher Books
By Burley Fisher Books
Way back in March when we were biking books around E8, some of our favourite writers and publishers stepped up as guest booksellers on Twitter, making recommendations for #YourNextBook based on something you'd recently read and loved.
Max Porter (Lanny, Grief Is the Thing With Feathers) brought his insatiable knowledge of literally everything about books to a wild, unstoppable Twitter thread that we'll unroll here.
These are Max's recommendations – check the annotations to see which recent read he was responding to & why he thinks you'll love these books.
Sea Monsters
Chloe Aridjis
£8.99 £8.36Max recommends Chloe Aridjis' novel if you liked… All Our Yesterdays by Natalia Ginzburg (sadly out of print)
The Ancient Woods of Helford River
Oliver Rackham
£14.00 £13.02Max recommends Oliver Rackham's "oh so good and wise and fascinating" study of the last ancient British coastal woods if you liked… Animalia by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo
This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health: A journey into the heartland of psychiatry
Nathan Filer
£9.99 £9.29Max recommends award-winning writer Nathan Filer's study if you liked… Another Planet: A Teenager in Suburbia by Tracey Thorn
Surge
Jay Bernard
£10.00 £9.30Max recommends "best book of last year (2019)" if you liked… Artful by Ali Smith
Erato
Deryn Rees-Jones
£9.99 £9.29Max recommends Deryn Rees-Jones' evocative poetry if you liked… At the Source by Gillian Clarke
The Quarry: Essays
Buffalo) Howe Susan (State University of New York
£12.99 £12.08Max recommends *anything* by Susan Howe (these essays are a good place to start) if you liked… Bento's Sketchbook by John Berger
Now, Now, Louison
Jean Fremon
£12.00 £11.16Max recommends Jean Frémon's meditation if you liked… Charlotte by David Foenkinos
The Lost Books of the Odyssey
Zachary Mason
£9.99 £9.29Max recommends Zachary Mason's haunting of the classics if you liked… Circe by Madeline Miller
Strange Weather in Tokyo
Hiromi (Y) Kawakami
£8.99 £8.36Max recommends Hiromo Kawakami's "gorgeous book" if you liked… Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Lost Property
Laura Beatty
£8.99 £8.36Max recommends this "strange and brilliant" novel if you liked… Laura Beatty's Darkling
Time Song: Searching for Doggerland
Julia Blackburn
£25.00 £23.25Max recommends Julia Blackburn's travel in time if you liked… Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda
Sisters: the exhilarating new novel from the Booker prize shortlisted author of Everything Under
DAISY JOHNSON
£14.99 £13.94Max recommends Sisters if you liked… Daisy Johnson's previous novel, Everything Under
Cleanness
Garth Greenwell
£14.99 £13.94Max recommends Cleanness as "a masterpiece [by] one of the greatest prose stylists alive" if you liked… Flesh and Blood by Michael Cunningham
Strandloper
Alan Garner
£8.99 £8.36Max recommends this as "My favourite of his. A visionary whack about the head." if you liked… Folk by Zoe Gilbert
Independent People
Halldor Laxness
£9.99 £9.29Max recommends Halldor Laxness' "mighty mighty work of art, will keep your busy for a few days" if you liked… Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys
Murmur
Will Eaves
£8.99 £8.36Max recommends "next level literary artistry" of Murmur if you liked… Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh
The Tradition
Jericho Brown
£10.99 £10.22Max recommends Jericho Brown's scorching poetry if you liked… Homie by Danez Smith
Commonwealth
Ann Patchett
£8.99 £8.36Max recommends a trip with Ann Patchett if you liked… House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe
Recollections of My Non-Existence
Rebecca (Y) Solnit
£16.98 £15.79Max recommends Solnit's latest memoir if you liked… How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee
The Bandini Quartet: Wait Until Spring, Bandini: The Road to Los Angeles: Ask the Dust: Dreams from Bunker Hill
John Fante
£16.98 £15.79Max recommends catching up with Bandini if you liked… Hunger by Knut Hamsun
The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping
Samantha Harvey
£12.99 £12.08Max recommends Harvey's incisive memoir if you liked… In the Wake: On Blackness and Being by Christina Sharpe
Permission
Saskia Vogel
£8.99 £8.36Max recommends Vogel's debut if you liked… In the Fold by Rachel Cusk
Eileen: Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016
Ottessa Moshfegh
£8.99 £8.36Max recommends Booker shortlistee Eileen if you liked… Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin
There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbour's Baby: Scary Fairy Tales
Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
£9.99 £9.29Max recommends dipping into Ludmilla Petrushevskaya's weird world if you liked… Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector
The Wild Laughter
Caoilinn Hughes
£14.99 £13.94Max recommends the "positively Barryish energy" of The Wild Laughter if you liked… Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry
Train Dreams
Denis Johnson
£8.99 £8.36"For 'how does anyone write that well?' feelings" Max recommends Train Dreams if you liked… On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Untold Night and Day
Bae Suah
£12.99 £12.08Max recommends Bae Suah's strange journey if you liked… Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Díaz
How Much of These Hills is Gold: Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2020
C Pam Zhang
£14.99 £13.94Max recommends Zhang's anti-Western if you liked… Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
Mixed-race Superman
Will Harris
£6.00 £5.58Max recommends the "masterful" Mixed-Race Superman if you liked… Will Harris' poetry collection, Rendang
Sudden Traveller: Winner of the BBC National Short Story Award
Sarah (Author) Hall
£8.99 £8.36Max recommends this "exquisite" collection from the Sunday Times Short Story award winner if you liked… Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
Vertigo & Ghost
Fiona Benson
£10.00 £9.30Max recommends this as a follow-up if you liked… The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson: "Ooooof, what a book"
Known and Strange Things
Teju Cole
£12.99 £12.08Max recommends Teju Cole's essays as "magnificent. Very good on Baldwin" if you liked… The Cross of Redemption by James Baldwin
The Ice Palace
Tarjei Vesaas
£7.99 £7.43"Possibly my favourite novel." Max recommends Veisaas' chilly classic if you liked… The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
Pedro Paramo
Juan Rulfo
£8.99 £8.36Max recommends Rolfo to follow if you liked… The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas (his favourite novel)
Fracture
Andres Neuman
£14.99 £13.94Max recommends Neuman's multifaceted memory work if you liked… The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
The Years
Annie Ernaux
£12.99 £12.08Max recommends this "flawless" follow up if you liked… The Other Name: Septology I-II by Jon Fosse
Once Upon a River: The Sunday Times bestseller
Diane Setterfield
£8.99 £8.36Max recommends "great engaging addicting distraction reading" if you liked… The Overstory by Richard Powers
A Good Enough Mother
Bev Thomas
£8.99 £8.36Max recommends this feminist chiller if you liked… The Power by Naomi Alderman
Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel
£9.99 £9.29Max recommends getting started on Mantel's trilogy if you liked… The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Radetzky March
Joseph Roth
£9.99 £9.29Max recommends "a classic" if you liked… Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Flame Alphabet
Ben Marcus
£8.99 £8.36"Blends headfuckery with tenderness in a really good way." Max recommends all of Ben Marcus if you liked… Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell
Big thanks again to the amazing Max Porter. Check our Twitter @burleyfisher for upcoming Guest Booksellers to get #YourNextBook