Books About Books!

Here are just a few of the titles recently published – you can find these on our library catalogue, and find many more recommendations, on our Pinterest board.

A Bookshop in Algiers by Kaouther Adimi

In 1936, a young dreamer named Edmond Charlot opened a modest bookshop in Algiers. Fast-forward to 2017 and young Ryad arrives at Charlot's beloved bookshop. Once the heart of Algerian cultural life, where Camus launched his first book and the Free French printed propaganda during the war, it has been closed for decades, living on as a government lending library. Now it is to be shuttered forever. But as Ryad empties it of its books, he begins to understand that a bookshop can be much more than just a shop that sells books. 

What Writers Read: 35 Writers on their Favourite Book by Pandora Sykes

Time and again, writers are asked the same questions about their favourite books: What are they? What's the book you wish you had written? What's the book that changed your life? In 'What Writers Read', Pandora Sykes - herself a voracious, omnivorous reader - collects short essays from bestselling and beloved writers to discover the books they hold most dearly and made them who they are.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Following three storylines: Anna and Omeir, on opposite sides of the formidable city wall during the 1453 siege of Constantinople; teenage idealist Seymour and gentle octogenarian Zeno, in an attack on a public library in present day Idaho; and Konstance, on an interstellar ship bound for a distant exoplanet, decades from now. A single copy of an ancient text - the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to the paradise of Cloud Cuckoo Land - provides solace, mystery and the most profound human connection to these five unforgettable characters.

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life after the loss of his wife Naina. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his disinterested granddaughter, Priya, who tucks herself away reading whilst he watches David Attenborough. Aleisha is working at the local library on Harrow Road for the summer when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of 'To Kill A Mockingbird' with a list of books that she's never heard of before - let alone read. In turn, each story on the reading list gives up its magic, transporting Aleisha away from the painful realities she's facing at home. And when Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with his bookworm of a granddaughter, Aleisha discovers that the reading list will be a lifeline for him too.

Bibliomaniac: An Obsessive's Tour of the Bookshops of Britain by Robin Ince

Why play to 12,000 people when you can play to 12? In Autumn 2021, Robin Ince's stadium tour with Professor Brian Cox was postponed due to the pandemic. Rather than do nothing, he decided he would instead go on a tour of over a hundred bookshops, from Wigtown to Penzance; from Swansea to Margate. Packed with anecdotes and tall tales, Bibliomaniac follows Robin up and down the country in his quest to discover just why he can never have enough books. It is the story of an addiction and a romance, and also of an occasional points failure just outside Oxenholme.

Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson

Meet Nora Hughes - the overworked, underpaid, last bookish assistant standing. At least for now. When Nora landed an editorial assistant role at Parsons Press she thought it would be the dream job. But after five years of admin, lunch orders and as per my last emails, Nora has come to the conclusion: dream jobs do not exist. Your next book club read touching on mental health, happiness and the ups and downs of being a young woman trying to figure it all out.

Why We Read

Why read non-fiction? Is it just to find things out? Or is it for pleasure, challenge, adventure, meaning? Here, in seventy new pieces, some of the most original writers and thinkers of our time give their answers. From Hilton Als on reading as writing's dearest companion to Nicci Gerrard on reading for her life; from Malcolm Gladwell on entering the minds of others to Michael Lewis on books as secret discoveries; and from Lea Ypi on the search for freedom to Slavoj Zizek on violent readings, each offers their own surprising perspective on the simple act of turning a page. The result is a celebration of seeing the world in new ways - and of having our minds changed.

The Book of Eve by Meg Clothier

In the name of the Father, not a word of this. Her letters are forbidden. Beatrice is the convent's librarian. For years, she has shunned the company of her sisters, finding solace only with her manuscripts. Then, one carnival night, two women, bleeding and stricken, are abandoned outside the convent's walls. Moments from death, one of them presses something into Beatrice's hands: a bewitching book whose pages have a dangerous life of their own. But men of the faith want the book destroyed, and a zealous preacher has tracked it to her door. Her sisters' lives - or her obsession. Beatrice must decide. The book's voice is growing stronger. An ancient power uncoils. Will she dare to listen?

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