Producer, DJ and former Artist in Residence at Faber & Faber; Andrew Weatherall’s  appetite for reading is insatiable. We asked him for his highlights from 2019’s publications and this is what he said….

        1. Life And Fate  by Vassily Grossman.

        A breathtaking study of both humanity and inhumanity that has within its

        pages one of the most moving episodes I’ve ever read.

        2. Lonely City by Olivia Laing.

        An investigation of creativity inspired by isolation and a study of people

        who exposed their own pain to help reduce ours.

        3. When The Clyde Ran Red by Maggie Craig.

        The story of the Glaswegian brothers and sisters who stood up to the

        grubby little opportunists during the early part of the 20th century.

        4. The Surrender Of Silence by Ironfoot Jack [edited by Colin Stanley]

        An insight into a marginal lifestyle now nigh on impossible to live courtesy

        of gentrification and homogenization of cities.

        5. Muscle by Alan Trotter

        Existential noir where Raymond Candler and Dashiell Hammet meet Albert Camus.

        With a hint of Philip K Dick.

        6 Murmur by Will Eaves.

        An investigation of human consciousness seen through the prism of

        Alan Turing’s dreams and a moving exploration of what happens when

        art and science collide.

        7. I Met Lucky People [The Story Of The Romani Gypsies] by Yaron Matras

        A knowledge of a people’s history stops you falling for the concept of

        ‘otherness’ fostered by the grubby little opportunists who would use

        it to scapegoat and demonize.

        8. Free Your Mind [The Mystic Sixties & The Dark Side of the Age Of Aquarius] by Gary Lachman

        Ever wondered how and why the decade of peace, love and understanding ended with Altamont

        and Charlie’s Hollywood murder spree ? If so Mr Lachman’s cast of rock n’ rollers and occultists

        that includes Ron L. Hubbard, Mick Jagger, Brian Wilson, Anton Le Vey and Timothy Leary, to

        name but a few, are joined together to help provide an answer.

        9. Out by Kirono Natsuo

        A grisly slice of Japanese noir which is both dark murder tale and political commentary

        on the problems that women face in Japanese society.

        10. Night Boat To Tangiers by Kevin Barry

        I can’t sum this up in a sentence any better than writer Alan Warner who describes the book thus.

        ” This is no liberal forgiveness tract for naughty boys:it is a plunging immersion into the parlous

        souls of wrongful men”.