FOR the best in modern writing compiled over much of the past decade just tick the 101 button to the right, a compendium of independent recommendations from my book shelf, fairly scrupulously curated, in no order because each rewards the reading, the only criteria being that these are fiction and non fiction written and published in this century, so for the most part living authors. Some isolationist highlights/recommendations for this week:

In Love with George Eliot by Kathy O’Shaughnessy,  perhaps the ioslationist’s book of choice by way of an introduction to the great Eliot, who wrote Middlemarch which is often said to be one of the novels of that century which is often said to be the century of the novel. A book-ish delight

For conspiracy theorists and for those who want to flex their paranoia The Unathutorised Biography of Ezra Maas by Daniel James is a cult in the making, a journalistic detective story set in the art world that fairly races along…

Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor might also encourage you to read other works by O’Connor. This is a gentle paced Victorian romp through theatre with typically lyrical paragraphs on which you can dwell or return to between cups of tea. For rock’n’roll, especially those of a David Bowie persuasion,  there was the much underated pastiche The Thrill of It All and the American trilogy which starts with the Star of the Sea.

Plenty more recommendations of all sorts are here from unrequited Japanese love to Australian killers to Booker prize winners, perhaps outshone by inimitable Toni Morrison.