SL’s Resident Bookworm Shares Her All-Time Favourite Reads

“This is one of the best books I’ve read this year. Not high brow at all, it follows a 63-year-old washed up lottery winner as he travels across the country in an attempt to fulfil one last dream. His travel companions include two grandchildren he’s accidentally adopted, his grown-up daughter and a stray cat. It’s funny, charming and full of heart.”

Available at AMAZON.CO.UK

“Another standout from this year, Allegra Goodman has had a varied career, first as a short story specialist, then a historical fiction writer and now with what I believe is her strongest work to date. This Is Not About Us is an acerbic, insightful and often funny look at modern family life in America.”

Available at AMAZON.CO.UK

“I read this ten years ago but can still remember exactly how I felt at the time – it’s never left me. Last year, the New York Times named it the best book of the 21st century and I’m inclined to agree. A multi-generational story that starts in post-war Naples, it’s a sweeping epic about a period of enormous change in Italy but also a very intimate and nuanced look at the nature of female friendships.”

Available at AMAZON.CO.UK

“I’m not a huge non-fiction reader as I don’t always find it very relaxing or escapist – which are the primary reasons I read. That said, Adam Kay’s personal experience of being a junior doctor in the NHS is one of my most memorable reads of recent memory. Its runaway success was highly deserved. Before the year is out, I’m really keen to read Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankel – a moving true story of the psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor’s time as a prisoner in Auschwitz. It sounds bleak but I’m told it’s incredibly uplifting and life-affirming.”

Available at AMAZON.CO.UK

“I’m not a big crier with books but this made me shed a tear – yes, I’m as surprised as anyone. Having endured a few health battles of my own in recent years, I related to Lena’s – admittedly far more serious – experience with chronic pain, all while trying to maintain her increasingly public life during the filming of Girls. Her last book was much criticised but this reminded me why she is, in fact, the voice of her generation.”

Available at AMAZON.CO.UK

“Funny books are such a personal choice but there’s real wit in a lot of Agatha Christie’s work. I read Murder On The Orient Express this year – just to say I had, I admit – but was surprised at how clever and humorous it was. There’s very little gore or gratuitous violence either, so if you like your mysteries on the cosier side, her work really stands up.” 

Available at AMAZON.CO.UK

“I really don’t have words to describe my experience with this book. It’s so quiet but also so poignant. You might get to the end and think ‘What was all that about?’ but you have to read between the lines to understand the horror unfolding at this country estate in the inter-war years. I can’t wait to watch the movie starring Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins.”

Available at AMAZON.CO.UK

“Donna Tartt is famous for writing about one book every decade and while some people love The Goldfinch, I personally think The Secret History can’t be bettered. It takes place at a liberal arts college in Vermont – there’s a group of elite students, a mysterious murder and some seriously unhinged fallout. It’s just… brilliant.”

Available at AMAZON.CO.UK