[1] The book includes pieces written between 2003 and 2020, many of them never previously in print and engaging with a variety of subjects such as storytelling, literature, culture, myths, language, migration and censorship.

[3] Languages of truth reflects on novels and novelists ranging from Leo Tolstoy, Philip Roth, Cervantes and Samuel Beckett to Kurt Vonnegut.

[1] In a lukewarm review for The New York Times, Dwight Garner described the book as "a defensive castling move", referring to the author's suggestion that the turn in literary culture from brio-filled imaginative writing toward the humbler delights of "autofiction" is the reason for misunderstanding and mistreatment of his works.

Garner goes on to conclude: "If his arguments about the state of fiction in Languages of Truth don't convince, at least they're genuine signs of life.

"[9] Paul Perry, in The Independent, described the book as interesting, engaging and entertaining, mentioning that many of the essays were delivered as lectures and "even though they have been revised for print they maintain a kind of erudite breeziness in their tone".