Mesopotamia, the fertile region between the Tigris and the Euphrates, is a hugely significant part of human history, yet has often been left out of the classical civilisations curriculum. Here, Moudhy Al-Rashid, author of Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History, recommends five recent books about Mesopotamia that shed light not only milestones of history, but on individual lives thousands of years ago.

Knitting provides a slow, screen-free creative outlet, and opens up a wealth of style choices that you can’t buy on the high street. We asked the author and knitting teacher Rosie Fletcher to recommend five knitting books to take you from total beginner to jumper enthusiast, via troubleshooting manuals, easy-knit projects, stitch dictionaries, and vintage patterns.

Sci fi with a touch of humour can help us explore the oddities of existence, argues bestselling author Andrew Hunter Murray. He picks five books that made him laugh, from dystopias to outer space to crime thrillers, each with a unique perspective to make us chuckle – sometimes at ourselves.

James Baldwin was a hugely influential figure in 20th-century writing – "one of the foremost American authors of his generation" – explains the literary scholar Ahmed Honeini, as he offers an overview of Baldwin's remarkably varied output, which comprises "extraordinarily creative" fiction and playwriting as well as a body of searing social commentary.

The weapons and tactics of war may change, but the human experience of battle does not, argues Iain MacGregor, author of Battle: The Moments that Transformed Warfare from Ancient Greece to Ukraine. He highlights five books that bring that experience to life, from the ordinary soldier at Agincourt to the brutal realities of the Pacific War and the Falklands.

Historical fiction can be both a valid and a valuable mode of examining unrecorded or forgotten figures in history, argues the award-winning novelist Alice Jolly. That is especially the case for women's history, which is so often thinly documented. Here she highlights five immersive novels that foreground female stories.

When Jenny Evans was writing her memoir, Don't Let It Break You, Honey, she read lots of other memoirs to figure out how best to go about it—studying how their authors shaped a life into a story, recreated the past and navigated the line between memory and fact. Here, she shares the five memoirs that taught her the most.

Society is facing an honesty crisis, argues Christian B. Miller, a professor of ethics and moral philosophy at Wake Forest University. Plagiarism, fake news and political deception are all commonplace in contemporary culture—and even the little white lies we tell every day are more problematic than you might think. Here, he recommends the best books on honesty and dishonesty.

Chinese science fiction is increasingly available in English, and mirrors the country’s philosophical and historical developments. Chinese literature scholar Mingwei Song, a professor at Wellesley, talks us through his top five choices—from 1905 to the present day—and tells us about the ‘new wave’ taking the Chinese literary world by storm.

Since 2023, the Pulitzer Prize jury has awarded $15,000 annually to "a distinguished and factual memoir or autobiography by an American author." We've put together a list of the exceptional books that have received this honour since the prize's inauguration—plus the finalists who have been singled out for particular praise.