Books and Reading

If you love books and reading then this is the place to be! Libraries offer a huge and varied selection of books - old favourites and brand new. Why not try some of our good reads or suggest some yourself. You can tell other readers what you think of the books you have been reading and find out what they thought of them. There are also a variety of websites that will be of interest to you and help you to develop your reading tastes even further.

Something Different?

You know how it is. You want a really good absorbing read but all the books on the shelves look dreary, or you’ve read them, or they just don’t appeal somehow. What you really need is for someone to come up and say “I’ve just finished this and it was the best thing I’ve read in ages!"

Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale is wonderfully melodramatic and immensely gripping. You will not want to put this down once you start!!! Get yourself an open fire, an armchair and a box of chocolates - you won't move for hours.

In similar vein is The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by G. W. Dahlquist – if you loved The Prisoner of Zenda and you don’t mind a bit of sex in the mix this is the book for you. It is an absolutely riveting, edge of the seat yarn. Order it now!

Peripheral Vision by Patricia Ferguson is a totally different kind of story. The book links three very different women from different classes and eras although the links only become clear towards the end of the novel. What a beautifully written book but such a sad story –do read it.

A book published by the local publisher The Gift of Rain is a first novel by Eng Tan Twan and was longlisted for the ManBooker prize. Don’t let any of that put you off – it is a totally intriguing and engrossing novel about Malaysia and the Japanese invasion during the second world war – about love and loss, loyalty and fate. It should have won the prize!

Finally an absolutely stunning book The Road by Cormac McCarthy is one which stays with you long after you have finished it. A father and his young son walk alone through burned America. Their relationship is depicted in the most simple, stark language with a bleak and relentless intensity that I found deeply moving.

If you want to recommend titles you have enjoyed please let us know. Note that all of the books listed can be borrowed from your local library or reserved online via Library Online. You can find details of reading groups in your area on your local library web page.

Please contact us if you have any comments or ideas relating to these web pages.