I don’t know about you, but I read more novels during the summer than any other time of year. I probably can fit in a few more before the school year begins. What have you read lately that you like? As for me, two recent fiction reads stand out as being of particular interest to philosophers: The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt. I finally got around to reading this book, which was published in 2000. No, it’s not about samurais. Rather, it’s the story of an extremely bright young boy living in late 20th century London with his eccentric mother, a woman of idiosyncratic high standards and low tolerance for idiocy, no matter how common. The book explores learning, freedom, art, courage, and relationships in a way that’s explicitly informed by John Stuart Mill’s autobiography and, implicitly, his On Liberty. It’s smart, funny, and very well-written. It also regularly references the 1954 movie Seven Samurai. I had never seen the film, but about halfway through reading the book, I decided I should watch it. It holds up, and I recommend watching it at some point during your reading of the book. On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle. This is actually a series of seven short novels, four of which have so far been translated from Danish into English. The first book was published in 2020. (I’ve read the first four.) This is the story of a woman, Tara, who keeps waking up on November 18th. You may be thinking, “oh, like Groundhog Day.” Not really. Groundhog Day is an amusing movie. On the Calculation of Volume is a rather remarkable and patient exploration of what life would be like if you kept waking up to the same day, surrounded by people who, unlike you, are experiencing the passage of days as we normally do. It’s a story of confinement, of the challenges of living under certain kinds of constraints, of how one should live under these unusual circumstances. And of course there is the question of whether the lessons of this odd form of life hold for our own. It’s very much a story about paying attention, in more ways than one. Your recommendations welcome.

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