What We’re Reading: Writers and readers about the books they enjoyed in February | books

Paul, Guardian reader

I was reading a very short book by Claire Paglen, translated by Jordan Stamp, around the clock. Set on the edge of somewhere in Brittany, all rundown buildings, dual roads and drive-in restaurants, it’s a dark and sometimes funny story of a working-class family and a young woman who starts working in a fast food restaurant. Through a few short scenes, we get a real idea of ​​the day-to-day soullessness of the work.

It’s a quick read, but while there’s not much to celebrate about anomie, or false friendship, in the workplace, it is full of compassion and heart. By keeping her focus so narrow, Paglen has more to say about today’s world than a much longer story might. The two heroes and their perilous lives seem very real. It has the touch of a handheld film: raw, immediate and with something important to say.

Francis Spofford, author

The best things I’ve read recently have been by Melissa Harrison The given worlda novel about to be published but not yet fully published, is at once an elegy for the death of the English countryside and also a beautiful demonstration of how a piece of realistic literary fiction can subtly borrow from fantasy, weaving in threads of the mythical and mystical that enrich the otherworldly meaning that writers make. Conversely, but adjacently, I just read Kate Whitfield’s book All hollow heavena sweeping fantasy novel from a former British SFF star, now back in great form, which shows how immense emotional intelligence enriches and builds a completely magical story, set in an enchanted counterpart to the English countryside. Kind of bookends for each other, really.

Nothing by Francis Spofford is published by Faber (£20). To support The Guardian, order your copy from guardianbookshop.com. Delivery fees may apply

JJ, Guardian reader

juice Written by Tim Winton is over 500 pages of terrifying, inventive and witty writing, imagining a post-apocalyptic world, with eerie similarities to our current predicament albeit without the scorching temperatures that send the characters underground during the summer months. I hesitated to read this. It’s so far removed from his other works, of which I’m a huge fan (you can’t go wrong with Dirt Music, Cloudstreet or Breath). What was I thinking? A man can write, the message is clear and he is very anxious. So we should be.

Manish Chauhan, author

I read recently Untouchable Written by Malak Raj Anand, which depicts a day in the life of a toilet cleaner. It is a sad and shocking book about the caste system in Indian society, and although its style is Dickensian and published in 1935, it feels contemporary.

Now I enjoy Tash Aw’s Southa coming-of-age story set in Malaysia in the 1990s. Between these two books I read All four by Miranda July, which was interesting and wild in the best ways. I was so impressed by the heroine that I felt like following in her footsteps and checking into a hotel so I could make one of its rooms my own.

And don’t forget the short stories (which I love). Recently I re-read Grief management By Bharati Mukherjee, and The ugliest woman in the world Written by Olga Tokarczuk They are both great!