‘Hamnet‘ by Maggie O’Farrell

‘On a summer’s day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home?

Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that one of the children will not survive the week.

Hamnet is a novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright. It is a story of the bond between twins, and of a marriage pushed to the brink by grief. It is also the story of a kestrel and its mistress; a flea that boards a ship in Alexandria; and a glovemaker’s son who flouts convention in pursuit of the woman he loves. Above all, it is a tender and unforgettable reimagining of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.’

I think this will be a brilliant look into Shakespeare’s life that differs from the usual context normally given. (It also has such a beautiful cover, which is definitely not the only reason I bought it :s)

‘Anti-social’ by Nick Pettigrew

‘Anti-Social is the diary of a local authority worker whose job it is to keep people happy, or at least away from each other’s throats. That’s hard enough at the best of times, but when your day features secret hoarders, violent disputes over dance music and litigious arms dealers, the total breakdown of local society is never far away. The only thing keeping it together are the chronically underfunded officers charged with patching the fraying threads of civilisation, and they have a hard enough time keeping themselves together.

This is an urgent, timely but, most of all, hysterically funny memoir of a life spent working with the people society wants to forget and the problems that nobody else can resolve. This book will make you laugh, cry and boil with rage, all within a single sentence.’

I love reading about others’ jobs so this seems right up my street!

‘The Testaments’ by Margaret Atwood

‘Margaret Atwood’s dystopian masterpiece, The Handmaid’s Tale, is a modern classic. Now she brings the iconic story to a dramatic conclusion in this riveting sequel. 

‘Dear Readers: Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we’ve been living in.’ – Margaret Atwood

Launched to widespread acclaim at our flagship Piccadilly shop, Margaret Atwood’s Booker-winning sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale is undoubtedly the story for our times.

Picking up ten years after its predecessor’s tantalisingly open-ended conclusion, The Testaments provides a new window into Atwood’s dystopian world, as seen through the eyes of three women of Gilead: a girl brought up within its confines, another on the run beyond its walls, and a woman at the very heart of the regime’s dark designs with secrets of her own. Each has a unique perspective on the world of Gilead and each will be crucial in deciding its fate.

Effortlessly combining a piercing critique of gender, oppression and authoritarianism with the whip-smart pace of the purest literary thriller, The Testaments is devastating in its immediacy whilst remaining a timeless piece of faultless storytelling.’

If you’ve read some others of my blog posts you’ll know that I love ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’; I’ve heard mixed reviews on it’s sequel so I’m intrigued to see what I think.

‘The Psychopath Test’ by Jon Ronson

‘What if society wasn’t fundamentally rational, but was motivated by insanity? This thought sets Jon Ronson on an utterly compelling adventure into the world of madness.

Along the way, Jon meets psychopaths, those whose lives have been touched by madness and those whose job it is to diagnose it, including the influential psychologist who developed the Psychopath Test, from whom Jon learns the art of psychopath-spotting. A skill which seemingly reveals that madness could indeed be at the heart of everything …

Combining Jon Ronson’s trademark humour, charm and investigative incision, The Psychopath Test is both entertaining and honest, unearthing dangerous truths and asking serious questions about how we define normality in a world where we are increasingly judged by our maddest edges.’

A friend of mine recommended this to me a year ago, so it’s about time I got round to reading it! I’m very interested in psychology also, so I think I’ll like this book.

‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’ by Reni Eddo-Lodge

‘I’m no longer engaging with white people on the topic of race. Not all white people, just the vast majority who refuse to accept the legitimacy of structural racism and its symptoms… You can see their eyes shut down and harden. It’s like treacle is poured into their ears, blocking up their ear canals. It’s like they can no longer hear us.

In 2014, award-winning journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote about her frustration with the way that discussions of race and racism in Britain were being led by those who weren’t affected by it. She posted a piece on her blog, entitled: ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’.

Her words hit a nerve. The post went viral and comments flooded in from others desperate to speak up about their own experiences. Galvanised by this clear hunger for open discussion, she decided to dig into the source of these feelings.

Exploring issues from eradicated black history to the political purpose of white dominance, whitewashed feminism to the inextricable link between class and race, Reni Eddo-Lodge offers a timely and essential new framework for how to see, acknowledge and counter racism.

It is a searing, illuminating, absolutely necessary exploration of what it is to be a person of colour in Britain today.’

From what I’ve heard this book is one that everyone should read, it’s incredibly important.

‘Much Ado About Nothing’ by William Shakespeare

‘Beatrice and Benedick both claim they are determined never to marry. But when their friends trick them into believing that each harbours secret feelings for the other, the pair begin to question whether their witty banter and verbal sparring conceal something deeper. Schemes abound, dangerous misunderstandings proliferate and 
matches are eventually made in this dazzling, dark-edged comedy of mature love and second chances.’

I’ve studied a few of Shakespeare’s tragedies, but I don’t think I’ve ever fully read a comedy before, so I probably should! I’m also trying to get better at reading Shakespearean English, so this should help with that.

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ – Margaret Atwood

I’m sure you will have heard of this book, and for some of you it will be one of your A level texts (I wish)! I’ve included ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ as I remember after the first few pages being absolutely in love with it, and this feeling only grew as I read on.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone, not because it has a brilliant and page-turning plot, or because the writing is absolutely exquisite (both are true), but because, although it was written over 30 years ago the themes it discusses are still so relevant today, and it’s important that they are thought about by as many people as possible.

It’s not for younger readers but as I said, I would ask anyone to read it, especially if you enjoy dystopian fiction.

“A chair, a table, a lamp. Above, on the  white ceiling, a relief ornament in the shape of a wreath, and in the centre of it a blank space, plastered over, like the place in a face where the eye has been taken out. There must have been a chandelier, once. They’ve removed anything you could tie a rope to.

Offred lives in The Republic of Gilead. To some, it is a utopian vision of the future, a place of safety, a place where everyone has a purpose, a function. But The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed.

If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire – neither Offred’s nor that of the two men on which her future hangs.”

I’ll be honest, I started reading this book very on and off over about 3 months and only got to page 60. However, once I decided to sit down and read it properly I couldn’t put it down! I read the remaining 150 pages in one sitting and it was incredible. At first (and throughout) it is quite strange and slightly confusing (in a great way), but by the end you can’t help but be enthralled by the story and get emotional over how it celebrates the beauty of nature.

Again, it’s not for younger readers but if you like interestingly formatted and incredibly clever books I’d highly recommend.

“A child, a family, a village; a community built on ancient soil, shelter to generations of lives and the tales they tell. For all time, Dead Papa Toothwort has forever walked amongst them all. Now, he is drawn again from his slumber, drawn to something new and precious. The boy. Lanny.”

This book is so powerful. I read it on holiday a few years ago and couldn’t put it down. It’s a beautiful lesson on the power of kindness and empathy, and also has some incredibly funny moments. I feel so strongly that everyone should read it!

“When people ask me what I do – taxi drivers, dental hygienists – I tell them I work in an office. In almost nine years, no one’s ever asked what kind of office, or what sort of job I do there. I can’t decide whether that’s because I fit perfectly with their idea of what an office worker looks like, or whether people hear the phrase work in an office and automatically fill in the blanks themselves – lady doing photocopying, man tapping at keyboard.

Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live

She leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend. Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything.

One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself.

Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – whilst searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.

Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than… fine?”

‘How to Stop Time’ was the first fiction book I read by him and I was absolutely hooked. The way he introduces plot points is incredibly clever, and there are so many moments that make you laugh out loud because they are just. So. Good!

“I am old. That is the first thing to tell you. The thing you are least likely to believe. If you saw me you would probably think I was about forty, but you would be very wrong.

Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret.

He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he’s been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. It’s a life he once had, long-since buried but buried secrets have a habit of catching up with you and nobody can outrun their own past.

Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover – working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he can teach the kids about wars and witch hunts as if he’d never witnessed them first-hand. He can try to tame the past that is fast catching up with him. The only thing Tom must not do is fall in love.”

‘The Midnight Library’ is the latest novel from Matt Haig! I’m sure you’ve seen it around in multiple places and have heard that everyone who has read it has fallen in love with it – and I am no exception. I sobbed for the last 50 pages and it’s one of those books where I just ended up sitting there for half an hour after I had finished. It’s so incredibly powerful and has changed so many lives – all I can say is please read it!

“Between life and death there is a library.When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren’t always what she imagined they’d be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger. Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?”