Books
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
This book follows a London group of 'friends' connected by music as they form a band in 1967 in London. It's a blast from the past with psychedelic moments crashing down to reality; the characters are very believable and amiable. It seems like an ordinary story of the everyday struggles of booking gigs, writing songs and playing at venues (in amazing detail) however as the story unfolds it clearly takes a different turn and we learn more and more about one of the characters and the coincidences that later have a huge impact on one of the other characters. I love books with an unexpected ending and this is definitely one of them!
Recommended by Ann Cochrane
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Phenomenal book, a natural history, coming of age, love story with a murder mystery at the heart of it all. Beautifully written.
Recommended by Alison Booth and Jude Watson
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Recommended by Alex Dean
What was lost by Catherine O'Flynn
The story of a young girly who lives with her dad and spends a lot of her time as an undercover detective with her toy monkey. Twenty years later she appears on a CCTV camera in a shopping centre. Mysterious and ghostly we begin to question what it means to lose something or someone.....
Recommended by Ann Cochrane
Rich dad poor dad - What the Rich Teach their Kids About Money That The Poor And Middle Class Do Not by Robert T.Kiyosaki
It's a classic financial self help book (which is positive in this time we are living and struggling). It's sold over 30 million copies worldwide and was the New York times bestseller for many years. I would say it completely opens your mind up to how the other side lives so you get a better understanding of it. I have personally never read a book that has been more eye opening than this one, I was flabbergasted for a week after reading it because I couldn't wrap my head around all the new information. I didn't even know how much I didn't know about the world until I read this book. Definitely life changing.
Recommended by Mirza Fazlic
Things I Learned from Falling by Claire Nelson
This is the true story of a woman escaping her hectic London life for some 'time out' in California which ends in disaster. Despite being an experienced hiker, Claire fell 30 feet, seriously injuring herself and lying in a secluded gully, all alone in the desert. An inspirational and gripping first-person account of determination, adversity and survival.
Recommended by Jude Watson
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Who hasn't thought about what they might be doing in another life, another universe?
Recommended by Alison Booth & Ailish Byrne
All the Light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr
Novel set in occupied France during World War II, which centers on a blind French girl who flees Paris with her Father upon the Nazi occuapiton and a German orphan boy who has a keen interst in radios and is subsequently enlisted due to his talents. It is a slow start but as things progress I found myself really wanting to find out what happened to them both.
Recommended by Alex Dean
Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce
An uplifting story of female friendship against the odds. Entertaining, easy read.
Recommended by Karen Glerum-Brooks
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
Meet Willa Knox, a woman who stands braced against a world which seems to hold little mercy for her and her family - or their old, crumbling house, falling down around them. Willa's two grown-up children, a new-born grandchild, and her ailing father-in-law have all moved in at a time when life seems at its most precarious. But when Willa discovers that a pioneering female scientist lived on the same street in the 1800s, could this historical connection be enough to save their home from ruin? And can Willa, despite the odds, keep her family together?
Entertaining, easy read.
Recommended by Karen Glerum-Brooks