Looking for your next favourite book? Including fiction, non-fiction, memoir, and poetry – we’ve rounded up a selection of six books to inspire and move you this summer
Is there any better match than a long summer day and a great book? We don’t think so. This is why we’ve put together a quick guide to six books that are guaranteed to get you thinking this season.
Whether you’re drawn to character-led fiction that tugs at your heartstrings and immerses you in the lives of its characters, or you prefer fascinating non-fiction that opens you up to whole new ways of thinking, we think we’ve got something for everyone.
So, which will be your next read?
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1. ‘Soldier Sailor’ by Claire Kilroy
This book may be short, but it packs a real emotional punch that will resonate with any reader, regardless of whether they can relate to its focus on the experience of early motherhood. A mother tells the extremely difficult experience of raising her son in the early days of his life, who she refers to as Sailor. Her marriage is under pressure, and she struggles with the big questions of love, identity, and womanhood. This is a book that will move and impassion you.
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2. ‘Landlines’ by Raynor Winn
Author of the million-copy bestselling The Salt Path, The Wild Silence, and now Landlines, Raynor Winn’s books tells a story that began in 2016 when she and her husband Moth were made homeless, at the same time as receiving the news that Moth had an incurable neurodegenerative disease called corticobasal degeneration (CBD).
Landlines is her latest publication, though you don’t necessarily need to have read her other two before diving in. At the start of Landlines, Moth’s health is declining. During a time when hope feels scarce, the couple turn to the tool that worked before: walking. They set off to walk the Cape Wrath Trail, more than 200 miles through Scotland’s mountains and lochs. Moments of vulnerability mixed with humour and tenderness are played out on the page.
Read our interview with Raynor Winn.
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3. ‘The Orange and Other Poems’, by Wendy Cope
Often heralded as Britain’s ‘wittiest poet’, Wendy Cope has the gift of creating poems that can be in equal parts hilarious and deeply moving. ‘The Orange’ is one of her stand-out, most famous poems, loved for its beautiful simplicity and the way it captures everyday joy and relationships. And there’s more from where that came from.
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4. ‘Love and Other Thought Experiments’ by Sophie Ward
A fascinating exploration of a series of famous thought experiments, this book is one that will leave you pondering long after you turn the final page. One night, Rachel wakes up and tells Eliza that an ant has crawled into her eye and is stuck – but Eliza, a scientist, is sceptical. Suddenly their entire relationship is in doubt. The book then explored a sequence of interlinked stories that ask some of life’s biggest questions.
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5. ‘The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness’ by Suzanne O’Sullivan
A fantastic exploration of ‘mystery’ illnesses, this book is bound to change your perspective on psychosomatic illnesses, the relationship between stress and the body, and the breadth of human experience. Inspired by an encounter with the ‘sleeping refugee children of Sweden’ award-winning neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan travels the world to visit communities affected by outbreaks of ‘mystery illnesses’.
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6. ‘Convenience Store Woman’ by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori
A woman who works in a convenience store thinks she’s the happiest she can be. But when her social circle starts putting pressure on her to give up stacking shelves to marry, the pressure mounts and she’s forced to make a choice between the job she loves and a husband. This unusual, questioning, critical book will provide you with plenty of food for thought.
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