Isaacson, Walter (2017) Leonardo Da Vinci. Simon & Schuster. A comprehensive biography of an artist and creative genius who was obsessed with knowledge. Leonardo was a "man without letters" and a "disciple of experience". Anatomy was his abiding specialism but his natural curiosity led him to pursue 'enthusiasms' across multiple disciplines. He was insatiable in his imagination, a perfectionist,… Continue reading February Picks
Category: Popular reads
January Picks
Clinton, Hillary Rodham (2017) What Happened. Simon & Schuster. Hilary Clinton's memoir shares her journey, memories and insights of the 2016 US presidential campaign. She reflects on Trump’s campaign and his presidency so far, the sexism she experienced on the campaign trail, and interference by former FBI director James Comey and the Russian government. Whilst factors surrounding… Continue reading January Picks
December Picks
Hoffman, Alice (2017) The Rules of Magic. Simon & Schuster. In the prequel to Practical Magic Hoffman introduces us to Franny and Jet, the relatives who raised Sally and Gillian Owen, and a four-hundred year old family curse. Franny, Jet and their brother Vincent are children of the sixties, ever mindful of the rules of magic set… Continue reading December Picks
November Picks
Harper, Jane (2017) Force of Nature. Pan Macmillan. The Dry was one of my favourite books of 2016, now Jane Harper has released her new mystery where Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk is again the unlikely hero. Five women are reluctantly part of a corporate retreat in the rugged Giralang Ranges. As they hike deeper… Continue reading November Picks
October Picks
Zomorodi, Manoush (2017) Bored and Brilliant: How spacing out can unlock your most productive and creative self. St Martin's Press. Bored and Brilliant builds on a 2015 experiment where listeners of a popular podcast and radio show unplugged their devices to get bored and jump-start their creativity. Zomprodi explores the concept of boredom and original… Continue reading October Picks
September Picks
Meyer, Stephanie (2016) The Chemist. Sphere. As a fan of the Twilight saga I was keen to read Stephanie Meyer's little hyped latest offering. Interrogator and medic, Alex, tortured terrorists for a shadowy US government organisation before the agency turned on her. Now she is on the run carrying various chemical compounds to keep the assassins at… Continue reading September Picks
August Picks
Foster, Sara (2017) The Hidden Hours. Simon & Schuster. When publishing executive Arabella Lane is found dead in the Thames suspicion points to the new office temp, Eleanor, who had been partying with Arabella prior to her death. Eleanor has travelled to London to start a new life and escape the trauma of her youth.… Continue reading August Picks
July Picks
Hughes, Bettany (2017) Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Istanbul, the metropolis nestled on the banks of the Bosphorus, is the gateway between east and west. Hughes' epic is a biography of the city's three incarnations - Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul, taking us from prehistory to the modern day, and exploring the city's legends, magic… Continue reading July Picks
June Picks
Halson, Penrose (2016) Marriages are made in Bond Street: True stories from a 1940s Marriage Bureau. Macmillan. Before Tinder, and sex-before-marriage, there was marriage and match-making. Mary Oliver and Heather Jenner set up the Marriage Bureau in the late 1930s on London's Bond Street and clients from all walks of life soon started queuing. They devised their own esoteric formula… Continue reading June Picks
May Picks
Graham, Lauren (2016) Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between). Ballantine Books. As an intrepid fan of the Gilmore Girls I waited with great anticipation for the Netflix 2016 reboot Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (even got a Netflix subscription so I could view!). Lauren's (Lorelei) mémoire on growing up, her… Continue reading May Picks
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