PAPERBACKS

READ THIS WEEK

NOTES ON GRIEF by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 96pp, Fourth Estate, £6.99 ÌÌÌÌÌ

In this exquisite essay, the Half of a Yellow Sun writer explores the death of her father – and the surreal dislocations of mourning via Zoom – finding that, ultimately, “grief is a celebration of love”.

THESE PRECIOUS DAYS by Ann Patchett 336pp, Bloomsbury, £9.99

In this raconteurish memoir-inpieces, the American novelist recalls how knitting helped her stop smoking, her flying-mad husband – and why she ended up nursing Tom Hanks’s assistant through a terminal illness.

THE BOOK OF ALL BOOKS by Roberto Calasso,

Tim Parks (trans) 464pp, Penguin, £12.99 ÌÌÌÌÌ

A feat of cosmic chutzpah, this unclassifiable book retells the Old Testament – but, being Calasso, the late scholar also takes on life, the universe and everything else.