I have spent the majority of the last few weeks working from home. And that’s where a lot of my books are. I really have all kinds of books.

So I’ve been thinking about which book I’d recommend for World Book Day. But just one won’t do! So here are three recommendations for different moods.

I love Neal Stephenson’s books. They’re usually big and complex but tell incredibly exciting stories. In times of corona I reread Seveneves. It tells a story about the end of the world – and how everything goes on afterwards. At first, the global community works together, only to disintegrate into tribes later on. A really interesting story!

Locus Solus by Raymond Roussel offers a completely different, more romantic and magical read. The novel was first published in 1914 but out of print for a long time. Many artists have enjoyed Locus Solus, one wrote: „No one was so close to the secrets that govern human life.“ Like the famous Arabian Nights tales, the novel is similar to a string of fairy-tale stories that help you escape from reality.

But sometimes I also like to read non-fiction. A recent publication following the Natural Writing trend is The Gospel of Eels by Patrik Svensson. I was sceptical how anyone can write 246 pages about eels – and in a beautiful and captivating way. But it works. Patrik Svensson spans the arc from Aristotle to fishing quotas today. But the book also tells a touching father-son story. And it shows that there are still many mysteries to discover in our modern world.