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Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes?

Teen/Young Adult

Prescribing kindness for dark days

‘My heart feels like it’s been sliced down the middle and every painful thing that’s ever happened is oozing from it.’ Olive is standing on the edge of a cliff, screaming up at the sky. Screaming because she feels scared and worthless and wants that feeling to end. The outstretched hand of a policeman coaxes her away from oblivion, and Olive finds herself agreeing to a month’s trial treatment at a teenage mental health facility. We join her at Camp Reset, as she struggles with therapy, relationships, and the biggest dilemma of all, how to make this crazy world a kinder place. Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? by Holly Bourne is the latest from one of our most popular YA authors.

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Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami

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Killing Commendatore

An intense and magical novel about creativity and meaning

Disconcerting, mysterious and riveting, Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami is the story of a nine month period in the life of a portrait painter. Newly separated from his wife, he holes up in a mountaintop retreat where his discovery of a hidden painting sets in train a circular series of extraordinary events that reveal aspects of himself – and the world of instincts and ideas – that both change him forever and give him back his future.

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BookTubers for us over 21

Welcome to our occasional series of bookish delights. In Part One, we’d like to introduce you to a couple of our favourite BookTubers that we’ve been following lately. BookTube often seems like such a YA phenomenon, teeming with enthusiastic young vloggers, and we wondered what was out there for inquisitive readers over the age of 21.

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The 2018 Man Booker Prize short-list

Yesterday saw the announcement of the 2018 Man Booker Prize short-list, a huge event in the literary calendar, particularly for those who made it from the long-list. A short-list nomination usually means a significant jump in sales and the opportunity to emerge out of the shadows and into the literary limelight. So which books made it to the short-list and what did we make of them?

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Normal People by Sally Rooney

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Normal People

Wonderful old-fashioned love story with a modern twist

Sally Rooney’s much acclaimed debut Conversation With Friends just didn’t appeal to me. It felt like a book aimed at someone half my age, which it probably was (Rooney is 27). Her latest book, Normal People, on the other hand, had me utterly hooked. It’s a wonderful old-fashioned love story but with a modern twist that shows you what it’s like to be young today. It also somehow transported my back to my own fumbling first experiences with love. Highly recommended.

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Kirstin’s picks for children’s summer reading

Packing your suitcase ready for your summer hols? Don’t forget to slip in the odd paperback or two for your kids. Starting off with our favourite reads so far in 2018, here are the books we can guarantee your kids will love!

 

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Best books for summer 2018

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What to read summer 2018?

What are the best books for summer 2018? We’re thrilled to present our summer reading list. A list full of great reads for every mood. Funny and sad, light and heavy, it’s all here. Happy summer from all of us at Bookstoker!

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Wilful Disregard

Love, in theory

Ester Nilsson, respected poet and writer, has spent too much time being an intellectual and too little being a human. Everything changes when she falls head-over-heals in love with successful artist Hugo Rask. But how will Ester reconcile her critical/analytical brain with her biological urges? And what are Hugo’s intentions? Is he looking for love or just someone to stroke his ego? I was engrossed by Andersson’s intelligent and wickedly funny portrayal of the nature of relationships. A book for anyone who has loved without being loved back.

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The Lido by Libby Page

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The Lido

A charming summer read

There’s nothing new or stand-out special here but somehow this manages to be a happy heart-warming book. Featuring stock characters and an abundance of clichés, it also encompasses some of the big themes that several books of the moment (Eleanor Oliphant I’m looking at you) favour. Loneliness, anxiety, community spirit and kindness all make an appearance with a dash of gentrification issues and activism.

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Less

Playful Pulitzer Prize winner

Arthur Less is having a massive mid-life crisis. His last book proposal has been turned down, his boyfriend Freddy of eight years has dumped him only to announce he will marry his new beau instead. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the big five-O is lurking on the horizon. What to do? Escape seems the sensible option. Less by Andrew Sean Greer, which won the Pulitzer Prize last week, gets off to a bit of a slow start but picks up once Arthur hits the shores of Europe. A perfectly pitched comic portrayal of other cultures through the eyes of an American. I grew fond of anti-hero Arthur, his insecurities and fumbling efforts to rebuild his life. A heart-warming, funny and original read.

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