The New Yorker Book Club has chosen Shirley Hazzards’s masterpiece The Transit of Venus as its June selection, which gives me yet another opportunity (with apologies to friends and fellow-writers) to bully, cajole, and bore everyone senseless again about this gem – I don’t bandy about the term ‘masterpiece’ often. The novel’s first four sections appeared in The New Yorker before its publication in 1980, and you can join the discussion on their Book Club blog. It’s certainly open to debate whether this book is loved more by writers than readers, though I think it rewards anyone willing to approach it with patience and care. It changed my writing life.