#BookLoverSpotlight: Books I Loved From First Page to Last
By From First Page to Last
#BookLoverSpotlight: Books I Loved From First Page to Last
By From First Page to Last
It's always hard to choose a favourite book. Trying to cast my mind back over the hundreds I have read over the years, I've chosen ones that stand out in my memory, for a myriad of reasons. They are eclectic in their range but that reflects my reading. If I like the sound of a book and it fits my mood, I'll pick it up. Hopefully there's something here that will appeal to you.
Over My Dead Body: 'I couldn't put this fabulous, first class, five star read down.' JANICE HALLETT
Maz Evans
£16.99Miriam Evans has been murdered. And she absolutely livid about it. I adored this book from the opening line to the final word. Each page made me laugh, often that whole body shaking, trying to keep it in laugh. There is brilliant banter between Miriam and mortal enemy Winnie, who begin to grow close as they race around town dealing with local gangsters, randy octogenarians and the little issue of who killed Miriam. The trouble is the list of possible suspects is a long one. Miriam was happy being alone and vicious when she was alive. Or so she thought. It took dying to figure out who she really was. One of those books you don’t want to end, I had huge fun spending time with Miriam, Winnie and mortality. I only hope we don’t have to wait an eternity for a sequel.
Beach Read
Emily Henry
£9.99 £9.49There are all the elements to a lovely, cosy read. Small town location, a meet not so cute, a few secrets to reveal, quirky family members to fall for and skeletons in closets to be discovered. I was soon wrapped up in the book, thoroughly enjoying myself. There were moments when I laughed out loud. A lovely read, whether you are on the beach or stuck inside in the rain.
All The Sinners Bleed: the new thriller from the award-winning author of RAZORBLADE TEARS
S. A. Cosby
£20.00 £19.00This book holds a vice like grip on the reader, pulling them along in the maelstrom of violence, willing Titus Crown and his fellow officers to find out the truth and stop the carnage. The writing is masterful. S A Cosby has a way of writing even the most horrid ways humans can inflict damage on each other in a way that makes the reader stop and think. The issue of racism is a huge theme here and lifts the lid on how it is hidden, behind tradition, denial and history. A poetic, lyrical look at the darkest side of human nature. Simply outstanding.
Mrs Porter Calling: The feel good novel of the summer
AJ Pearce
£16.99 £16.14Now if you are new to these books I would highly recommend starting at the beginning with Dear Mrs Bird. This is not just because the story established Emmy and her friends and Mrs Porter Calling references things but because you will be missing out on a treat if you don’t read it. And then read Yours, Cheerfully, the second book. And then read this. Your heart will be so warmed it will show up on a thermal imaging radar. It’s often difficult to describe exactly what it is about a book you loved that made it a book you loved. It can be the great storyline, as it is here. It can be the characters that you fall for, that seem like friends, or people you would love to know in real life, as it is here. It can be the setting, the feeling of comfort the book brings, the entertainment, the joy of being in a book you can’t wait to get back to, as it is here. It is also an indefinable, personal something, where a book just matches with you. Some secret alchemy of words transferred from one person’s imagination onto a page and meeting another person, a stranger and simply working a magic spell. All this is a long winded way of saying I loved Mrs Porter Calling for reasons I can explain and also just because I did.
Found in a Bookshop: 'Heartwarming, emotional and full of kindness . . . life-affirming' Sara Nisha Adams
Stephanie Butland
£10.99 £10.44This is a book about reading, an ode to bookshops, booksellers and book readers. It explores the love and comfort books can bring, the challenges, entertainment and solace they offer to millions. It’s never just a book. To someone that book is a gateway to a new world, a respite from the real one. A truly wonderful read. I loved it.
Persuasion (Vintage Classics Austen Series): NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM
Jane Austen
£8.99 £8.54This is my desert island read, the book I would choose if I could only read one book ever again. I read it multiple times a year (yes, a year!) and if I was pressed to say why I love it so I would find it hard to find the right words. It speaks to my heart. Each time I read it I feel like I am being welcomed back by old friends and I find new things to love about it, this the quietest but perhaps most defiant of Austen's books. Anne Elliot has done as society expected and it failed her. Now she is going against those conventions and expectations but without fanfare. She finds the strength to be true to herself. It also has the best love letter ever written.
Leonard and Hungry Paul
Ronan Hession
£9.99 £9.49There is a delight hidden beneath this unassuming cover. The story of two quiet friends and their every day lives, Leonard comes to terms with losing his mother, whilst Hungry Paul comes to terms with life in general. Full of lovely scenes of every day life, there's a magical quality to the story, which draws you in immediately. It's a quiet, gentle tale about friendship and self-discovery. A wonderful novel that's a balm for the soul.
The Eyre Affair: Thursday Next Book 1
Jasper Fforde
£9.99 £9.49I love books about books. They are infinitely appealing. So a book where the main character is a literary detective who can travel into books and has to find a kidnapped Jane Eyre? Yes please. Set in an alternate 1985, Thursday Next has my dream job, travelling through books, figuring out literary mysteries. It also has one of my favourite opening lines.
Death at La Fenice
Donna Leon
£9.99 £9.49This is really a recommendation for a series, so I've started at the very beginning. Over 31 novels the reader follows the investigations of Commissario Guido Brunetti as he protects the calles and canals of Venice. These are much more than crime novels. Very often the crime takes a back seat. More often it is a social, environmental or political commentary and it is always about the characters. The reader sees Brunetti's children grow, his friendships deepen and his relationship with his wife Paola flourish, for he is one of those rare fictional detectives; a happily married one.
Things in Jars
Jess Kidd
£9.99 £9.49It is a marvellous thing, this Things in Jars. Part mystery, part steam punk, part romance, part adventure, it is all of this and more. It is a book you savour, get lost in and turn the last page with that mixture of contentedness and sadness that it’s over. There is something wonderful about stumbling across a book that is an unexpected joy. I’m envious of those who get to read it for the first time.
A Month in the Country
J L Carr
£9.99 £9.49A truly lovely read, a calm, contemplative short novella that allows the reader to reset and rebalance, before setting out again into the maelstrom of the present.
Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books
Cathy Rentzenbrink
£10.99 £10.44Dear Reader is a love letter to the written word. It puts it’s finger on that undefinable feeling that readers everywhere will recognise, one that encompasses the comfort, the challenge, the joy that getting lost in a good book can bring.
Small Pleasures: Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction
Clare Chambers
£9.99 £9.49Inspired by a real life story of a woman who claimed her daughter was the result of an immaculate conception, Small Pleasures is not a sensationalist novel. It is a kind, compassionate, bittersweet tale of love, friendship and acceptance.
Life After Life: The global bestseller, now a major BBC series
Kate Atkinson
£9.99 £9.49This is story telling at its finest. Kate Atkinson builds the story layer upon layer, subtly adding in details in each of Ursula’s lives so that the story and characters develop and evolve
The House in the Cerulean Sea
TJ Klune
£10.99 £10.44A gentle, magical story about acceptance, love and being true to yourself.
Jane Eyre (Vintage Classics Bronte Series)
Charlotte Bronte
£8.99 £8.54This story needs no introduction. An engrossing gothic tale of love and fortitude it is also a story of a girl finding her true self and her inner strength at a time when to be a woman, and to be poor, meant you were nothing.
Let Me Tell You About A Man I Knew
Susan Fletcher
£9.99 £9.49A fictional look at the relationship between Vincent Van Gogh and Jeanne Trabac, the wife of the director of the asylum Van Gogh is staying at. A well-written, engaging, wonderful tale of friendship, love and acceptance.
The Last Thing to Burn: Longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and shortlisted for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year
Will Dean
£7.99 £7.59A master-class in creating tension and suspense between two characters and four walls. Extraordinarily powerful, impacting, challenging and a portrait of just how cruel humans can be to fellow humans.
The Last House on Needless Street: The Bestselling Richard & Judy Book Club Pick
Catriona Ward
£9.99 £9.49It sounds trite but this is story-telling at it’s finest. There isn’t a page where the story lags. Deftly written, intricate, absorbing, The Last House on Needless Street draws the reader into it’s web. It’s futile to resist it.
The Secret Bridesmaid: The laugh-out-loud romantic comedy of the year!
Katy Birchall
£8.99 £8.54There is a wonderful sense of humour weaved throughout the book. There were points where I laughed out loud. In fact at one stage I woke my husband up as I tried to simultaneously stop myself from guffawing and wipe the tears of laughter away. It is light-hearted but never frothy. Romantic but not doe-eyed. It is the perfect feel-good novel. Sometimes we need a book that is there to simply entertain us, to keep us hooked as we become friends with the characters, an invisible uninvited guest to nuptials of Cordelia and Jonathan. I wanted to keep on reading and I looked forward to getting back to the story when I wasn’t. If that isn’t the sign of a good book, I don’t know what is.
Dear Mrs Bird: Cosy up with this heartwarming and heartbreaking novel set in wartime London
AJ Pearce
£9.99 £9.49This is a novel that envelops the reader and one in which you struggle reluctantly to leave it’s embrace. I read slowly, wanting to eek out being a part of Emmy’s world. A sign of a great story is that you want to reach the end to see what happens all the while dreading reaching the final page. Such was the case with Dear Mrs Bird. I could happily read a sequal that simply shows Emmy and her friends go about their everyday lives. There’s joy to be found on every page of Dear Mrs Bird.. Simply wonderful.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
£9.99 £9.49The moment I turned the last page I wanted to immediately return to the beginning, so loath was I to leave the characters behind. A warm, moving, funny, all-encompassing novel.
The Reader on the 6.27
Jean-Paul Didierlaurent
£9.99 £9.49This book celebrates the magic of words and of story-telling. It’s a beautiful tale about the love of books and how they can open up new avenues and adventures for readers. Perhaps even leading to love.
Piranesi: WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2021
Susanna Clarke
£9.99 £9.49I often think that as a reader I get an instinctive feeling for a book, almost before I even start to read, a knowledge that I am discovering literary treasure. I got that feeling when I started to read Piranesi. Quite simply I loved it. I hope that if you decide to read it you do too
A Place Called Winter: Costa Shortlisted 2015: The epic and tender bestselling novel of love, compassion and living again
Patrick Gale
£10.99 £10.44Not one word in this book is wasted. Literally. Each page holds something to savour. I didn’t care if the narrative was at a crucial juncture or simply giving a glimpse into farming in turn of the century Canada. Each page was fascinating. I found myself completely absorbed in Harry’s world from first page to last.
Agnes Grey
Anne Bronte
£11.99 £11.39There is beauty, sadness, love, loss and poetry contained within its few pages. Sometimes it is hard to express why one finds a novel appealing, why it is loved. Sometimes it is just a feeling, a contentment from picking up it’s pages. And no more words are really needed
A Marvellous Light: A dazzling, queer romantic fantasy
Freya Marske
£9.99 £9.49Magic, queer love and sinister machinations. I was soon drawn into this Edwardian set adventure.
Murder on the Orient Express
Agatha Christie
£9.99 £9.49This is one of the most famous of Agatha Christie’s work. Few people will be lucky enough to start reading the book without any clue as to the denouement. But even if you do know the outcome, this is a book you can still enjoy for the sheer skill of the story-telling.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas
£9.99 £9.49I read this many years ago and what remains is how deeply I fell into the story. It has everything from a prison break to buried treasure, romance to revenge.