Read This: Books under the Radar is a weekly post written by a guest author – often a friend of mine, someone I’ve met on my writerly travels, or an author I admire – who recommends three books they think deserve more recognition. If you’re interested in buying any of the books, please click on the covers and give these hidden gems some love. You can see the full list of books which have been selected, as well as the author’s latest book on Bookshop.org, where you can have a browse and buy any that take your fancy. Happy reading!

Read This: Nussaibah Younis

A confession: Nussaibah’s novel is sitting on my to-be-read shelf, glaring at me. What can I say? I have been writing and editing my own, I have been collating Read This: Books Under the Radar for all of you? I am sorry; I will get to it soon. Here’s what she has to say about herself:

Nussaibah Younis is the author of Fundamentally, a dark comedy about a heartbroken academic who accepts a UN job deradicalising ISIS brides in Iraq. The novel has been chosen by Jonathan Coe as one of his top five political novels of all time, and has been described by Dolly Alderton as ‘funny, gripping, and compassionate.’ 

Find Nussaibah here on Instagram.

Read on to find out which three books Nussaibah recommends.

The Appointment by Katharina Volckmer

A young German woman embarks on a bonkers, hilarious, and wicked-smart monologue about everything from the disappointment of ageing bodies to the performative pro-semitism of contemporary Germany. It’s genius, uninhibited, totally original and made me laugh out loud. And I loved how unpredictable it was, I never knew what the next sentence would bring. 

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

It’s New Year’s Eve and four strangers are planning to jump off the same rooftop, but their plans are thwarted when they bump into each other. Instead, they try to form an absurd support group, despite having nothing in common except a will to die. I think it’s by far the best Nick Hornby novel, and I can’t understand why more people haven’t read it! The characters are so vivid and distinct, and the story is insanely funny as well as being deeply moving. It’s a comedy about suicide that really works. I bow down to you Nick Hornby.

The Coin by Yasmin Zaher

An unhinged young Palestinian woman living in New York obsesses about cleaning and befriends a homeless man. A phenomenal addition to the canon of novels about the unravelling of women in their mid-twenties, told with wit and verve and sophistication. The novel delights and finds joy amidst the absurdity of its subject matter, and it’s social critique is smart and includes a welcome international dimension. 

  

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I’ve only read a Nick Hornby out of these three authors, and it wasn’t this one. I also met him at [famous actor’s – redacted] wedding many years ago, but I shouldn’t think he’d remember. Isn’t the cover of The Coin arresting? I can’t stop looking at, trying to work it out. Any of these three catch your eye? And if you’d like to be told about future Read This recommendations, you can follow me on Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter.

More Read This: Books Under the Radar

Lou Morrish author of Women of War
Francesca Ramsay author of Pinch Me
Sarah Leipciger author of Moon Road
Tim Chapman university librarian
Juliet West author of The Faithful
Lindsay Hunter author of Hot Springs Drive
Gina Chung author of Sea Change
Susmita Bhattacharya author of Table Manners
Vanessa Harbour author of Safe
Freya North author of The Unfinished Business of Eadie Browne
Judith Heneghan author of Birdeye
Clare Mackintosh author of I Promise it won’t always Hurt like This
Barney Norris author of Undercurrent
Jo Leevers author of The Last Time I saw You
Alice Winn author of In Memmoriam
Anna Mazzola author of The House of Secrets
Alice Peterson author of The Saturday Place
Jenna Smith bookblogger
Lucy Atkins author of Windmill Hill
LV Matthews author of To Love a Liar
Jo Furniss author of Dead Mile
Ruth Thomas author of The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line
Clare Pollard author of The Modern Fairies
Nina Stibbe author of Went to London, Took the Dog