Best books… Gavin Turk

The artist Gavin Turk selects his five favourite books. He is one of the artists whose work will feature at the Vauxhall Art Car Boot Fair, Folkestone, on 2 September (www.artcarbootfair.com)

Darke by Rick Gekoski, 2017 (Canongate £16.99). This first novel by my friend, the book dealer Rick Gekoski, tells the story of an anti-social intellectual who must begrudgingly come to terms with the death of his wife. The basic structure is minimalist, yet the end result is both readable and moving.

Artwash: Big Oil and the

Arts by Mel Evans, 2015 (Pluto Press £12.99). These days, art galleries are plastered with corporate logos, often linked to the fossil fuel industry. What does this mean for the future of the arts? This well-researched book by the artist Mel Evans shines a light

into the shadows created by the sponsorship of art by big oil companies.

“A” by Louis Zukofsky, 1978 (New Directions £18.99). This has to be one of the best names of any book. It’s a life work – a kind of sprawling beatnik stream of consciousness, a long poem, which, in a way that often verges on automatic writing, covers all the author’s human preoccupations.

Things I Don’t Want To

Know by Deborah Levy, 2014 (Penguin £5). This beautifully written volume consists of a series of lovely autobiographical vignettes. The strands combine to form a delicate

net which captures an entire life, while also comprising a fascinating study of the artistic process.

Sapiens: A Brief History of

Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, 2014 (Vintage £9.99). Reading this wonderful book feels like looking at life down the bigger end of the telescope. Its scope – which incorporates the history of our species and the question of what the future may have in store – is so magisterial, one has an increasingly godlike feeling while reading it. Suitably, the second volume, on which I’m about to embark, is called Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow.