PERATING OUT OF A LITTLE SHOP in London’s Bloomsbury neighborhood, The School of Life
( theschooloflife.com) leads adults in the art of living well. We’re not talking tips for crashing Valentino’s
yacht: The focus here is on ge;ing the most out of daily life by intellectually engaging in topics ranging
from the overarching (relationships and career) to the situational (“How to Be Cool” or “How to Be Alone”).
Founded by former Tate Modern curator Sophie Howarth, the school employs a dedicated team of bibliotherapists
whose job it is to prescribe books to “patients” based on their reading preferences and life goals. Armed with
personal targets just begging for literary pairings, ReadyMade’s editors enlisted bibliotherapist Ella Berthoud to
prescribe back-to-school reading treatments guaranteed to improve their lifelong-learning. (To schedule your own
bibliotherapy session—available in person, by phone, email, or Skype—email bibliotherapy@theschooloflife.com.)
—Melissa Goldstein
O
Name: Andrew Wagner,
Editor in Chief
Loves George Orwell’s
Down and Out in Paris
and London. Longs to get
out of debt and one day
own property.
RX:
Cocaine Nights by
J. G. Ballard: “It’s about
a holiday community
in Spain where people
lead cushy lives but are
actually really bored. It’s
not directly about debt,
but a warning toward
the idea of long-term
complacency.”
The Year of the Hare
by Arto Paasilinna: “A
journalist goes out one
night in his car and
accidentally hits a hare.
He then takes it traveling
with him for a year.
Andrew’s favorite Orwell
novel is about meeting
your true inner self on
the streets, and I think
he’d enjoy reading about
living on nothing in the
middle of nowhere.”
A House for Mr. Biswas
by V. S. Naipaul: “A key
book from the ’60s
about a journalist who
grows up in Trinidad
and comes from a
background of having
nothing—he desperately
wants his own house and
independence. It speaks
to the side of Andrew
that wants to be settled.”
Name: Amy Palanjian,
Deputy Editor
Loves mountaineering
memoirs. Wishes she
could relinquish more
control and balance her
creative life with her
work and personal lives.
RX:
Breath: A Novel by Tim
Winton: “It’s about two
surfers who are obsessed
with holding their breath
and pushing themselves
against the elements—
about control and loss of
control. It’s intense but
very much about letting
go and giving yourself up
to the forces of nature.”
Shiver: A Novel by Nikki
Gemmell: “A female
journalist goes to the
Arctic for a scientific
expedition, but in the
end it’s mainly a love
story. The descriptions
of the ice are really
absorbing, and I think it
would fit in with Amy’s
adventurous spirit.”
Notes From an Exhibition
by Patrick Gale: “An artist
in her sixties dies at the
beginning of the book,
and each chapter starts
with a blurb about one
of her paintings—as if
you’re walking around
her retrospective. It
describes what was
going on during her life
at the time she did that
painting. It’s about that
balance, and whether it’s
possible to be an artist
and a homemaker.”
Name: Katherine
Sharpe, Online Editor
Loves Moby Dick. Yearns
to grow herbs on her fire
escape and publish her
own book.
RX:
How to Be an Explorer
of the World: Portable
Life Museum by Keri
Smith: “A manual/art
book/sketchbook with
exercises about looking
around you—it is very
much aimed at that idea
of making the most of
your small part of an
enormous city.”
Hotel World by Ali
Smith: “A novel about
a swimming champion
who dies in an accident.
It’s written as if it’s
short stories—five
different voices telling
the same story. I always
recommend Ali Smith,
a real wordsmith, to
people who want to
write.”
Gould’s Book of Fish:
A Novel in 12 Fish by
Richard Flanagan: “Based
on a true story about
a thief who was put
in prison for forty-nine
years and spent his
time painting fish,
it’s a rambling, epic,
postmodern book that
has a lot in common
with Moby Dick. What’s
happening on the
surface is not what’s
happening underneath.”
Name: Alexa Fornoff,
Assistant Editor
Loves The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn. Wants
to be really good at one
thing (not passable at
many) and to live in the
moment.
RX:
Flow: The Psychology of
Optimal Experience by
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi:
“Shows you how to make
your life flow in a kind of
Zen fashion—living in the
moment and making the
most out of everything.
It uses examples
from ancient Chinese
philosophers, plus more
modern thinkers.”
Jitterbug Perfume
by Tom Robbins:
“About a cocktail
waitress who is a
perfume maker
and obsessed
with finding
the perfect
base note.
It’s about
making the most
of your talents and
focusing.”
The Bloody Chamber
and Other Stories by
Angela Carter: “Fairy
tales for grown-ups with
the sex and the death
kept in. It’s very visceral,
intense, and magical but
believable at the same
time.” RM
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Levi Brown
