Alison Louise Kennedy is a Scottish writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction. She is known for a characteristically dark tone, a blending of realism and fantasy, and for her serious approach to her work. She occasionally contributes columns and reviews to UK and European newspapers and writes essays for BBC radio's Luwak hour.
My favourite books of the decade are:
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The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo
This a thoughtful and fascinating explanation of why apparently normal people do appalling things. It'll change the way you look at parliament, education, the law, military training and any feelings of moral superiority you might harbour. It's a properly disturbing and yet ultimately very positive book by a passionate expert. Supported by a great website.
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House of War by James Carroll
Carroll - who played as a boy in its newly-finished corridors of power - has a unique insight into the workings and mindset of the Pentagon. He offers a shocking, bewildering and strangely poetic blend of observation, history and mature insight into a massively influential organisation and its way of life
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59 Seconds by Prof. Richard Wiseman
A massively sensible and generous book, designed to remove much of the parasitic nonsense from your life in order to leave extra time for pleasantness and health. Like keeping a wise and almost irritatingly cheerful advisor in your book cupboard. Combines perfectly with Ben Goldacre's Bad Science
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Marina Lewycka was born of Ukrainian parents in a refugee camp in Kiel, Germany, at the end of the war, and grew up in England. She teaches at Sheffield Hallam University. She is married, with a grown-up daughter, and lives in Sheffield.
My favourite books of the decade are:
The last ten years have produced such an abundance of wonderful books, it's hard to choose just three, but ones which stand out for me are:
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The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Atwood is such a skilled writer she just captures you and whirls you along in this extraordinary multi-layered story of family intrigue, passion and tragedy, set in Ontario in the 1930s.
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The Human Stain by Philip Roth
The Human Stain by Philip Roth, set in a fictional American university, raises difficult questions about race, identity and integrity, to which Roth provides no easy answers.
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The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski
The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski describes some of the major political events in Africa from 1957 onwards, which he witnessed as a journalist, but even more engrossing and moving are his descriptions of encounters with ordinary people, his vivid eye, ear and nose for the texture of everyday life in that amazing continent.
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