Life & Style
Oh, The Places You’ll Go!
The greatest adventures we embark upon are often those found between the pages of a book. From novels set in far-away continents to essays with international appeal, our World Book Day round-up promises to take readers on the journey of a lifetime…
For Dreamers…
Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
The new novel from the award-winning author of Americanah tells the stories of four African women, connected to one another but living very different lives, in Nigeria, Guinea and the US. Each grapples with questions of identity and the constraints imposed by the cultural practices around them. How much agency do these women have and how do they come to terms with so many missed opportunities? Adichie addresses the questions with intelligence and verve in this magnificent ‘big read’.
For Working Mums…
Maternity Service: A Love Letter to Mothers from the Front Line of Maternity Leave by Emma Barnett
Is it shameful to admit that looking after your baby is boring? Are your aches and pains from childbirth ever-present but you say you’re fine? Are you so shattered you can barely think? Broadcaster and journalist Barnett, never one to shy away from difficult questions, wrote this manifesto after her second child was born and she says it like it is. It’s not maternity leave, it’s maternity service – a tour of duty that’s more often than not bloody tough.
For Armchair Travellers…
Elegy, Southwest by Madeleine Watts
Lovers Eloise and Lewis set off on a two-week road trip from Las Vegas, following the course of the Colorado River across the American Southwest. Against a richly evoked backdrop of raging wildfires, gaping canyons and lonely stretches of drought-riven wilderness, they must address the problems in their own crumbling relationship as much as their connection to their environment. Part searing love story, part thought-provoking chronicle on climate change, Watts’s narrative is a lament for loss.
This title will be released on 13 March.
For Budding Chefs…
Kapusta: Vegetable-Forward Recipes from Eastern Europe by Alissa Timoshkina
‘Kapusta’ means cabbage in several Slavic languages and features in dishes from simple slaw to soups and strudels. Beetroot, potatoes, carrots and mushrooms share the limelight with the ‘wonder vegetable’, alongside recipes for dumplings, pickles and ferments. Who knew you could bake beetroot into a dense, rich chocolate cake? Recipes are beautifully captured by photographer Laura Edwards, and described with love by Timoshkina, who is originally from Siberia and now London-based.
For Thinkers…
Alive: An Alternative Anatomy by Gabriel Weston
A scintillating medical memoir that sings for its supper from the start. Surgeon Weston takes us into morgues, operating theatres, delivery rooms and scanners, as well as into almost every crevice of the human body. She’s a naturally gifted writer who switched from English to study medicine, and can turn the goriest operation into a scene of profound beauty and meaning. Her son’s illness and her own ailments are woven into the mix, along with glimmers of history and philosophical musings.
For Interiors Fiends…
Dopamine Home by Rachel Verney
If you long to ring the changes and need inspiration, this book, billed as a bold guide to mood-boosting interiors, is a great start. Written after personal tragedy and illness, Verney describes transforming a ‘brown’ house into her dream home. It’s packed with pictures, colour clashes that’ll have your eyes out on stalks, mix-and-mismatch pastel appliances, a nod or two to Wes Anderson – and there’s even a section on the dopamine joys of white. Yes, it’s possible.
If You Love a Short Story…
Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
Sittenfeld’s second short story collection centres around the trials and tribulations of ordinary, white, mostly middle-aged American women. In ‘White Women LOL’, the protagonist – think an American Amanda from Amandaland – shows a stunning lack of self-awareness, while in ‘The Richest Babysitter In The World’, a professor reflects back on when she worked for a couple who became Bezos-style billionaires. It’s the way she tells it, blending the caustic with the quotidian that makes Sittenfeld a cut above.
A Coming-Of-Age Tale…
Flesh by David Szalay
Hungarian teenager István becomes romantically involved with an older, married woman who lives opposite him and his mother. Things happen, and the aftermath of the affair will stain the rest of his life. Later, he enlists in the army and later still moves to London, where he becomes a driver to the super-rich. In his trademark understated prose, Szalay captures István’s unresolved traumas and detachment from what’s going on around him as he moves through his life pitilessly, perfectly.
