Tag Archives: what to read

The Folio Society’s Top 10 Books for Social Distancing

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As the UK continues in this unprecedented period of social distancing, more and more people are looking for productive ways to spend their time at home. On the top of many people’s lists, no doubt, is reading new books that they may not have gotten around to. Reading has many benefits and has been proven to help reduce stress and boost wellbeing.

 

To help book-loving Brits find their next read, Tom Walker, Publishing Director at The Folio Society, who, for over 70 years, has been publishing beautifully illustrated editions of the world’s greatest fiction books as well as thoroughly picture-researched non-fiction books, has pulled together his top 10 picks of books to read whilst in self-isolation.

 

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Being stuck at home and only allowed out to go to the shops seems a good time to read about feminism, and this is arguably the first feminist novel. Wildly surprising in its modern sensibility, Brontë rages against a society that held women shackled to men and the home.

 

The Little Prince

I can’t help thinking of how the Little prince would respond to our world right now. An enigmatic, compassionate but sad creature of the stars, I sometimes imagine the weight of his judgement on us all for the job we’re doing of keeping our little planet safe.

 

The World Turned Upside Down

The English Civil War of the 1640s shook the nation to its core, and in the process out scattered a legion of radical ideas and philosophies which have formed the national identity ever since. One wonders how our current upheaval will reshape us.

 

Dr Zhivago

What better time to re-engage with this great Russian epic? The recent translation by Boris Pasternak’s nephew returns the lyricism and colour to this beautiful novel of love, war and the Russian soul.

 

Moby-Dick

What an opportunity, if you never have, to read this bulking leviathan of a novel. From the first pages in Nantucket, where Ishmael befriends trusty Queequeg, Melville loops his crazed tale of ambition and revenge, culminating in scenes of terror on the high seas.

 

His Dark Materials

Pullman might be the purest storyteller of our times, and His Dark Materials is his masterpiece: a truly addictive adventure story which leads us into other worlds.
Handmaid’s Tale

Turning to Margaret Atwood in times of trouble is always a good decision. Prophetic or not she is wise and compassionate, and laces those qualities with a killer wit.

 

Maigret

If all else fails, pick up a Maigret. With plots as light as a feather and a stripped-down style, Simenon’s thrillers are beautifully evocative of the underground tensions of a mid-century Paris.

 

Persuasion

It’s always a good time to re-read Austen, to get lost in that luscious prose and arch wit. Persuasion is her last-completed, and perhaps her most mature novel, and a joy to revisit.

 

I am Legend

In the current circumstances this is not a book for the faint-hearted: Matheson’s vision of a post pandemic future doesn’t contain many people, and even fewer who are not zombie-vampires, but there is a glimmer of hope at its end…

 

Mirror & The Light

My eleventh choice is not yet available as a Folio Society edition, but I do hope that it will be one day. This is my current quarantine reading. A nine-hundred-page masterwork of astonishing delicacy and intelligence which draws one back through the eyes of Cromwell to a Tudor London infested with plague and political instability.

 

 

March Reading Round-up.

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Kitty. 

I finished Circe by Madeline Miller this month and I cannot do justice to how much I loved it. The story of Circe, a woman locked in by her divinity whilst also dealing with the very female roles of mother, daughter, sister and lover. This retelling made Circe much more accessible and empathetic than the male-centric version that I grew up with. Full of self-discovery, courage and empowerment it turns the myth of vicious witch into a story of a true heroine. I loved it so much that having read it once I am going to store it, like a secret treasure, for a re-read in a few months so I can wallow in it slowly and feel the magic again. 

I’m also reading Lionel Shriver’s Property, a collection of short stories. I very rarely read short stories and have such a marmite reaction to Shriver’s novels (sometimes I adore her, others not so much – I am, however, always in awe) that I wanted to read these. As ever, her writing is taut, crisp and twisty with each story leaving me admiring her incisive skill and her insight into the reality of the human condition. Sometimes unnerving, sometimes a little bleak but razor-sharp. Quite remarkable. 

Kirsten.

It’s been non-fiction for me this month. I am researching London during World War One for a possible upcoming WIP and I stumbled across A Home Front Diary by Lillie Scales. Lillie lived in Hornsey and ‘she wrote about everything that came to mind … the result is an intimate and honest portrayal of day to day like for a middle-class family’. It’s fascinating – from the difficulty of getting food and the introduction of rationing, to the fear of the ever-increasing bombing raids. It’s all much more as I imagined the Second World War – sheltering from bombs in the Underground Stations and such like. I have also been reading Round About A Pound A Week by Maud Pember Reeves which concerns itself with the other end of the social scale. To quote the preface ‘for four years between 1909 and 1915, Maud Pember Reeves and other members of the Fabian Women’s Group visited 42 families in and around Lambeth-Walk to record in minute detail exactly how they survived on their low incomes.’ Reading about their daily struggle to survive makes absolutely fascinating – yet sober and harrowing – reading. It’s also so uplifting to read about the cheerful and loving homes that many women created in the midst of appalling poverty and depravation. Inspirational and humbling! 

Cass.

In Stolen Sister, the latest release from Linda Huber, the contrasting actions of two people many years earlier result in repercussions no one could have imagined.
When young parents, Paula and Joe, head off to a reunion with their barely days old daughter, they have no idea of the tragedy about to befall them. Their two older children, Vicky and Jamie (who suffers from disabilities and needs constant care), were to be cared for by Paula’s aunt, Maisie – just for a couple of days, or so it was assumed.
The tragedy has a far-reaching impact, with both Aunt Maisie and the young couple’s friend, Sylvie (also at the reunion) making decisions in a moment of crisis that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.
With siblings torn apart without their knowledge, a ‘mother’ who seems intent on history repeating itself and a race against time to protect a child, Linda Huber has crafted an excellent, gripping family drama!

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Recommended Reads: This Child of Ours By Sadie Pearse

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this child of ours sadie pearse

A timely book that is both thoughtful and beautiful. 

 

If you’ve been watching and enjoying Butterfly on ITV then this book is perfect for you.
———————
You know what’s best for your child.
Don’t you?

Riley Pieterson is an adventurous girl with lots of questions. There’s plenty she doesn’t know yet; what a human brain looks like. All the constellations in the night sky. Why others can’t see her the way she sees herself.

When Riley confides in her parents – Sally and Theo – that she feels uncomfortable in her own skin, a chain of events begins that changes their lives forever. Sally wants to support her daughter by helping her be who she dreams of being. Theo resists; he thinks Riley is a seven-year-old child pushing boundaries. Both believe theirs is the only way to protect Riley and keep her safe.

With the wellbeing of their child at stake, Sally and Theo’s relationship is pushed to breaking point. To save their family, each of them must look deeply at who they really are.

A story of a marriage in crisis and a child caught in the middle, this is a beautiful novel of parents and their children, and how far we’re prepared to go in the name of love.
Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Laurie Frankel, Kate Hewitt and Jill Childs.

 

Available here.

The Waterway Girls By Margaret Graham | Recommended Reads

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Frost likes to think we know what we are talking about when we recommend books, and, the fact is: we do. Written by writers and authors, we read hundreds of books every year. So Frost editor Catherine Balavage here to recommend The Waterway Girls By Margaret Graham. You can read the review here. Milly Adams also writes for Frost and we are very proud of that.

THE FIRST NOVEL IN MILLY ADAMS’ BRAND NEW SAGA SERIES. Perfect for fans of Daisy Styles and Nancy Revell. 
War lands them in the same boat. Can they pull together?

October 1943, West London
Nineteen-year-old Polly Holmes is leaving poor bombed London behind to join the war effort on Britain’s canals.

Stepping aboard the Marigold amid pouring rain, there’s lots for Polly to get to grips with. Not least her fellow crew: strong and impetuous Verity, whose bark is worse than her bite, and seasoned skipper Bet.

With her sweetheart away fighting in the RAF and her beloved brother killed in action, there’s plenty of heartache to be healed on the waterway. And as Polly rolls up her sleeves and gets stuck into life on board the narrowboat – making the gruelling journey London up to Birmingham – she will soon discover that a world of new beginnings awaits amid the anguish of the war.

 

 

In the World’s Shadows By Christopher Hamilton | Recommended Books

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In the world's shadowsSYNOPSIS

In the World’s Shadows is a testimony to the redemptive power of love, creating hope in the bleakest of times.   It follows Christopher’s life, from a young child in colonial India, who moves with his glamorous mother to South Africa during World War II.  After she gets involved with a domineering, heavy drinking businessman, Christopher is packed off to England, to boarding school and a father he can’t even remember, a father whose lack of warmth stems from his own suffering in fighting against the Japanese in Burma and taking the surrender of the Japs at Kuala Lumpar in 1945.

While telling the story of a family, the book sets their individual tragedies (and comedies) in the context of momentous events of the 20th century. It is told through people who lived with the tribulations wrought by the abhorrent evils of World War II and of Apartheid. It is largely a story of South Africa, recognising Mandela’s tortuous path to freedom for his beliefs. It shows the suffering of the black peoples, but also the dedication of some whites, such as Christopher’s Aunt Babs, in working to support them in their quest for survival and freedom.

In England, Christopher hungers for his beloved South Africa, his family, the farm he knew.

Eventually he does return, bereft after the loss of his beloved wife, Anne, taken by a crippling illness. He must now attempt to find a new path through life, alone.  His desperate grief leads him to take many wrong turns, but family and friends – not least Aunt Babs, now a nun, offer Christopher a glimpse of a less troubled, more bearable, future. Finding inner strength, he is able to offer support to Sarah, a woman trapped in her own unhappy world, and they build a new life together – not a “happy ever after” ending but a loving relationship that makes life worth living.

The book is an unflinching record of human cruelty and frailty, but also of resilience, love and the ultimate victory of hope over despair.

Reviews:

The novel is an easy read, with writing that creates vivid pictures of various places and people depicted. It movingly describes quite a lot of suffering, directly through the experience of Christopher as he grows up, and indirectly through the background of war, apartheid and debilitating illness. However, it is not a depressing read, but is a book of hope and faith and humour.

Pauline Ashall’s review on Goodreads

When I read the Synopsis of “In the World’s Shadows” by Christopher Hamilton I immediately wanted to buy a copy. I was not disappointed. The novel is well written with an easy style. It is a very moving story and whilst if depicts the suffering and grief of a young boy growing up in different continents, it is a story full of hope, love and comedy with a “Happy Ever After” ending.                                                                                                       It was an amazing book which I couldn’t put down. When my grandfather read the book for a second time he said it was even better than the first.

Tori Burman’s review on Amazon

The Synopsis and Preface are a great beginning to a story that gripped me more as I kept turning the pages. I found tit compulsive and comfortable reading. Very soon I had a good knowledge of the real characters from saint to sinner, sending out a message of cruelty, despair, love and hope. The novel depicts the suffering and grief. It is also a story full of hope, passion, love and comedy, with a “Happy Ever After” ending. The author paints a picture as vivid as any film. My family and friends will be buying the book at the Launch Party on July 19th in Bath.

George Morgan’s review on Austin Macauley (publisher)

 

“In the World’s Shadows” author Christopher Hamilton (nom de plume for Chris Doveton-Gerty) is published by Austin Macauley and is out now.

The book will be available in Hardback (ISBN 9781787108226) Paperback (ISBN 9781787108219) E-Book (ISBN 9781787108233)

 

Five Books To Read This August

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The Upstairs Room is one of our favourite books of the year. Now out in paperback. Read it now.

 

A very clever and well written book with a message. An environmental wake up call for a fragile planet.

 

A engrossing and fun novel. Perfect for fans of Call The Midwife. The second book in the Nurses of Steeple Street series.

 

A stunning book from Lisa Jewell. An edge of your seat unputdownable thriller. One of the books of the year. You won’t forget it.

 

A smart take on the original classic. Written in an unconventional way that works. The story of one woman and her life. Well observed and entertaining.

All available from amazon.co.uk

Lucky Us by Amy Bloom

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Lucky-Us-Amy -Bloom

When Eva’s mother abandons her on Iris’s front porch, the girls don’t seem to have much in common – except, they soon discover, a father. Thrown together with no mothers to care for them and a father who could not be considered a parent, Iris and Eva become one another’s family. Iris wants to be a movie star; Eva is her sidekick. Together, they journey across 1940s America from scandal in Hollywood to the jazz clubs and golden mansions of Long Island, stumbling, cheating and loving their way through a landscape of war, betrayals and big dreams.

Set in 1940s America, this is a thrilling and resonant novel about loyalty, ambition and the pleasures and perils of family.  Iris has grit and the determination to escape her surroundings;  she wants a different life and Eva soon becomes a part of, and important to, those new horizons. Bloom artfully covers such detail in so few words that it read like a huge sweeping novel rather than the slim volume it was. Clever and deft writing, sharp and witty by turns, the characters and their circumstances are finely observed and I cared about each one of them, willing them to overcome the obstacles that littered their paths.

Iris and Eva are full of guts and the determination to not only  survive, but thrive. The book explores what is possible when we refuse to give up and are willing to be flexible and adapt to conquer life’s twists and turns. Something that resonates with the challenges we face at the moment.

A totally satisfying and superb read. I look forward to reading more of Amy Bloom’s writing now that I’ve found her.

www.grantabooks.com

 

 

Month 6 of My Reading Challenge by Frances Colville

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Recently I went to a wonderful performance of Louis De Bernieres’ play for voices entitled Sunday Morning At The Centre Of The World.  I’ve read and enjoyed Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Birds Without Wings and various others of De Bernieres’ books but I’d never come across the play before and I went straight out and picked up a second hand copy to read. It’s such a vivid evocation of life in multi-cultural London and it’s a quick read which is useful for someone trying to read as much as possible in a year.  I realised it must have been based on Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood, an old favourite of mine, so of course I then had to re-read that as well. Both plays stretch the boundaries of language, putting together combinations of words which are highly original as well as being thought- provoking and hugely enjoyable.  And both authors distill the essence of a community they know very well into just a few pages.  To give you a taster, this sentence is taken from the first page of Under Milk Wood  ‘It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters’-and-rabbits’ wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea.’  Magnificent!

Month 6 of my reading challenge by Frances Colville

There’s a series of books written by Chris Stewart, one-time Genesis drummer, (Driving Over Lemons, The Parrot in the Pepper Tree and The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society) which are laugh-out-loud funny.  They tell the story of how Chris and his partner Ana buy a rundown farm in Las Alpujarras, a region of southern Spain, and how their life develops over a period of years.  I first read them years ago and have recently been dipping in to them again.  Very enjoyable, but also well written and perceptive.  I see there is a recent addition to the original trilogy – The Last Days of the Bus Club – which I have now added to my list of books to read.

Month 6 of my reading challenge

What’s next?  H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald has been in my pile since it won The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction and the Costa Book of the Year in 2014.  It’s not an easy read but it is one of the most sensitive and incisive portrayals of grief I have ever come across.  For me, the training of the hawk Mabel is almost incidental to the proceedings but I can see that it is also a vital part of the book and will no doubt be completely absorbing for anyone who knows about hawks and falconry.   The use of language and the descriptive passages throughout the book are quite simply outstanding.

Month 6 of my reading challenge goodbooks

Wild by Cheryl Strayed  was an obvious follow up since it too tells of a passage through grief and depression by returning to the wild and searching for healing in the natural rather than the human world.  It’s the story of a walk taken by the author along the Pacific Crest Trail. It isn’t as powerful a book as H is for Hawk, and at times I found it to be over-focused on the author and her feelings (so many paragraphs beginning with ‘I’!) rather than giving  a wider picture of the trail.  But it is very readable and I think actually resonated more with me – partly at least  because I can see myself setting out on a long walk or other adventure to assuage grief far more easily than I can see myself trying to train a hawk.

Month 6 of my reading challenge wild

So this month my reading choices  have, purely by chance, been  pretty much entirely about people and the different ways they live their lives.  I’ve been by turn amused, saddened, educated, enlightened, inspired and always entertained.  I suspect it would not be at all difficult to continue finding books in this genre for the rest of the year, but I’m not going to do that.  Something different is calling.