Summer Fiction Reading

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 novels 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…