Title: English Pastoral Author: James Rebanks What I Think So Far: Like an overwhelming 600+ books, James Rebanks’ new book English Pastoral was published following the Covid-19 lockdowns, on September 3rd. I happened upon English Pastoral in a shop window, glowing with a collaged display of new works begging to be read. Rebanks’ previous book, […]Read More
Title: The Constant Rabbit Author: Jasper Fforde What I Think So Far: Jasper Fforde’s latest book, The Constant Rabbit, offers readers an escapist novel that is smothered in both pure whimsy and wit. Set in the small fictional English village of Much Hemlock in 2020, The Constant Rabbit paints a clever and detailed picture of […]Read More
Title: Sorry I’m Late I Didn’t Want To Come Author: Jessica Pan What I Think So Far: To most, the idea of performing stand-up comedy or travelling solo is probably a scary prospect. To introverts, this is what the most terrifying of nightmares are made of. Jessica Pan’s book Sorry I’m Late I Didn’t Want […]Read More
Title: I Was Born For This Author: Alice Oseman What I Think So Far: Alice Oseman’s third novel, I Was Born For This explores the two sides of extreme fandom, following Angel, whose perceived life purpose is to love The Ark, a globally famous British boy-band, and Jimmy, the band’s frontman. The main topic of […]Read More
Title: How Do We Know We’re Doing It Right? Author: Pandora Sykes What I Think So Far: From wellness to fast fashion to social media personas, the essays of Pandora Sykes’ new book, How Do We Know We’re Doing It Right? reflect on issues and anxieties relating to modern life. As a fan of both […]Read More
Title: Dark, Salt, Clear: Life in a Cornish Fishing Village Author: Lamorna Ash What I Think So Far: I was immediately entranced by the premise of Dark, Salt, Clear after scrolling past an advertisement for the book on Instagram. In a season muffled with lockdowns and quarantines, reading about another place can be a nice […]Read More
Title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Author: Gail Honeyman What I Think So Far: Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine empty, lonely and a total outsider. Thirty-year-old Eleanor lives alone, works in a busy office, rarely engages with her co-workers and spends her weekends drinking two bottles of vodka while speaking to no one at all […]Read More
Title: The Vanishing Half Author: Brit Bennett What I Think So Far: I’m always a little cautious when it comes to picking up a book that everyone is raving about, or that has an enormous amount of hype surrounding it – I always think to myself, will its popularity influence my thoughts? What if I […]Read More
Stacey Dooley's career has spanned over a decade and during that time, she has met dozens of incredibly inspiring women around the world. On The Frontline With The Women Who Fight Back tells some of those stories.Read More
Title: Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life Author: Nina Stibbe What I think so far: In 1982, Nina Stibbe moved from Leicester to London to become nanny to Mary-Kay Wilmers’s children. Working (somewhat informally, it has to be said) for the editor of the London Review of Books clearly gave this book’s twenty year old […]Read More
Title: The Radetzky March Author: Joseph Roth What Do I Think Of It?:If you’re a long-time reader of mine you’ll know that I’m a big fan of 20th-century European literature: my favourite author is Fallada (German), the book I last read was by Francoise Sagan (French) and the book I’m looking at today is by an Austrian […]Read More
Title: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman Author: Laurence Sterne What Do I Think Of It?: What do you get when you cross Jonathan Swift with Daniel Defoe and throw in a splash of Carrollesque surrealism? You get Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne, clergyman-turned-author. This is a riotous, 18th-century mock-autobiography of the fictional wag Tristram Shandy, who […]Read More
Title: The Undercover Economist Author: Tim Harford What I think so far: This is the second time Tim Harford has proved to me that non-fiction books can be hooking. Having read Freakonomics previously, which he wrote alongside Steven Levitt, my expectations were high, and were instantly met in the introduction; the fact that I actually […]Read More
Title: Nina is Not Ok Author: Shappi Khorsandi What I Think So Far: Nina is Not Ok is comedian Shappi Khorsandi’s first fiction novel. It follows the story of Nina, a seventeen-year old A Level student with an alcohol dependency. The book begins at the start of a rough year for Nina, having recently broken […]Read More
Title: Narcissus and Goldmund Author: Hermann Hesse What I Think So Far: Narcissus and Goldmund is the epitome of a rich tale. Set in the medieval world of Germany, or the Holy Roman Empire as it is called at this point in history, it tells the tale of two men over a lifetime. Narcissus is the intellectual, […]Read More
