Summer Reads

as recommended by Fiona Kennedy, Pitshanger Books.

1. One Day I Shall Astonish the World by Nina Stibbe: A wise and witty novel about the ups and downs of long-term female friendship

2. The Midnighters by Hana Tooke: this new novel features a girl called Ema who feels that she doesn’t fit in with the rest of her family, but on a trip to stay with her uncle in Prague, she meets Silvie,with whom she has all sorts of covert adventures.

3. The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman: The third novel in this very popular and gentle crime series set in a retirement village, now out in paperback.

4. None of this is Serious by Catherine Prasifka: A debut novel set in Dublin about a group of young people confronting the enormity of life after leaving university.

5. La Vie: A Year in Rural France by John Lewis-Stempel: The author’s account of his first year as a peasant farmer in France, learning to make his own wine and the secrets of truffle farming.

6. Good Pop, Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker: A paperback edition of the author’s entertaining life story about the fascinating jumble of assorted objects he came across when sorting out his loft.

7. Looshkin: Oof! Right in the Puddings! by Jamie Smart: The second book in the hilarious Looshkin series from the author of the ever-popular Bunny vs Monkey range.

8. Friend: Poems by Young People by Kate Clanchy: Poems about love, loss, parents, God and growing up written by a diverse group of teenagers from their own experiences.

9. Constructing a Nervous System by Margo Jefferson: A fusion of memoir and cultural analysis which takes in jazz and blues icons, Black dancers and athletes, white supremacy in fiction and much more viewed through the spectrum of the author’s own life experiences.

10. Breathe: Tackling the Climate Emergency by Sadiq Khan: Seven ways that environmental action can get blown off course and how to get back on track.

11. A Line Above the Sky by Helen Mort: A woman who has always loved the exhilaration and risk of climbing re-evaluates this enthusiasm on becoming a mother. A fascinating insight into the art of climbing as well as beautiful descriptions of the natural world.

12. A Kidnapped West: The Tragedy of Central Europe by Milan Kundera: An examination of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, arguing that their place in history has been overlooked by the major powers of Western Europe.