Reading & Libraries
Inspire Online Book Club | Members' Reviews
Our club members have taken pen on paper to review our latest monthly reads.
If you'd like to join our online book club drop us a line at reading@inspireculture.org.uk
Did you know the online Book club now has a Facebook page.
Each month we bring you a recommendation of a title we have in our large collection of e-resources, both as an e-book and an e-audiobook that we can all read together. This will be followed up with the opportunity to join an online discussion at the end of the month.
Keep updated on Facebook and Twitter @NottsLibraries, and follow #InspireOnlineBookClub. You can also join our NEW Inspire Online Book Club Community on Facebook.
We always welcome new online book club members. If you're interested in getting involved, then get in touch and let us know by email at reading@inspireculture.org.uk
The Sunday Times Bestseller – As featured on Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild.
Join Christian Lewis as he walks the entire coastline of the UK – his dog Jet in tow – and rebuilds his life, step by step. With a foreword from longtime supporter Ben Fogle, Finding HIldasay is his inspiring true story of reconnecting with nature and finding hope along the way.
Ex-paratrooper Christian Lewis had hit rock bottom, suffering with depression so severe he would shut himself in his bedroom for weeks. Then while surfing – his sole respite – he cast his eyes along the coastline and realized it was the only place he really wanted to be.
Then, Chris made an impulsive decision. He set himself a challenge: to walk the entire coastline of the UK. He gave himself a few days to rustle up a tent and walking boots, then left for good with just a tenner in his pocket and two days’ worth of food. Little did he know at the time just how long it would take to cross the finish line – and the encounters lying ahead would turn his life around.
Almost six years later, Chris has navigated the West Coast, Northern Ireland, the hard-rock cliffs of Scotland and the perimeters of the Scottish Islands. He spent three months on an uninhabited island called Hildasay, with beloved dog Jet. It was there, the most barren his route had become, that he found within himself the pride and respect he needed – and his journey became all the more remarkable. Happiness and hope was just around the corner . . .
The word “inspiration” is often overused; Chris really is an inspiration. I urge you to read his tale -- Sir Andrew Gregory, CEO of the SSAFA charity
Exhilarating ― The Observer
The real journey here is one of self-discovery ― The Mail on Sunday
A gripping mystery with a classic feel: And Then There Were None meets The Silent Companions.
Winter 1917. As the First World War enters its most brutal phase, back home in England, everyone is seeking answers to the darkness that has seeped into their lives.
At Blackwater Abbey, on an island off the Devon coast, Lord Highmount has arranged a spiritualist gathering to contact his two sons who were lost in the conflict. But as his guests begin to arrive, it gradually becomes clear that each has something they would rather keep hidden. Then, when a storm descends on the island, the guests will find themselves trapped. Soon one of their number will die.
For Blackwater Abbey is haunted in more ways than one . .
.
An unrelentingly gripping mystery packed with twists and turns, A House of Ghosts is the perfect chilling read this winter.
'Almost unbearably creepy and beautifully written' Liz Nugent, bestseller author of LYING IN WAIT
'A splendid tale of wartime skullduggery, featuring both kinds of spooks - perfect fireside reading' Mick Herron, CWA Gold Dagger Award Winning author of DEAD LIONS
'Hugely enjoyable, A House of Ghosts has the bones of a taut thriller wrapped up in the gorgeous romance of its ghostly island setting' Jane Casey
Winter 1917. As the First World War enters its most brutal phase, back home in England, everyone is seeking answers to the darkness that has seeped into their lives.
At Blackwater Abbey, on an island off the Devon coast, Lord Highmount has arranged a spiritualist gathering to contact his two sons who were lost in the conflict. But as his guests begin to arrive, it gradually becomes clear that each has something they would rather keep hidden. Then, when a storm descends on the island, the guests will find themselves trapped. Soon one of their number will die.
For Blackwater Abbey is haunted in more ways than one . .
.
An unrelentingly gripping mystery packed with twists and turns, A House of Ghosts is the perfect chilling read this winter.
'Almost unbearably creepy and beautifully written' Liz Nugent, bestseller author of LYING IN WAIT
'A splendid tale of wartime skullduggery, featuring both kinds of spooks - perfect fireside reading' Mick Herron, CWA Gold Dagger Award Winning author of DEAD LIONS
'Hugely enjoyable, A House of Ghosts has the bones of a taut thriller wrapped up in the gorgeous romance of its ghostly island setting' Jane Casey
'Perfect for a dark and stormy evening: a truly creepy and ingenious ghost story and murder mystery with an irresistible setting' Ragnar Jonasson
On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate her husband, Larry, a trade unionist.
Ireland is falling apart. The country is in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny and when her husband disappears, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a society that is quickly unravelling. Soon, she must decide just how far she is willing to go to keep her family safe.
Ireland is falling apart. The country is in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny and when her husband disappears, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a society that is quickly unravelling. Soon, she must decide just how far she is willing to go to keep her family safe.
Exhilarating, terrifying and propulsive, Paul Lynch's Booker Prize-winning novel is a devastating vision of a country falling apart and a moving portrait of the resilience of the human spirit when faced with the darkest of times.
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE * SHORTLISTED FOR THE AN POST IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 * SHORTLISTED FOR THE STREGA EUROPEAN PRIZE
A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR'S CHOICE
A Book of the Year for 2023 according to the Guardian, FT, Irish Independent, Irish Examiner, Sunday Independent, Economist, Big Issue, Daily Telegraph, Irish Times and Waterstones
'A CRUCIAL BOOK FOR OUR CURRENT TIMES... BRILLIANTLY HAUNTING.' OBSERVER
When private detective and former cop Henry Kimball is hired to investigate a cheating husband, he senses all is not quite what it seems, and before he knows it he's gotten far too close to the other woman.
As the case rapidly gets ever more dangerous, he's forced to turn to the only person he can trust, the sociopathic Lily Kintner, the woman who once stabbed him, but with whom he shares a peculiar bond.
"Smart, surprising, cool, and fun, with a deeply satisfying ending. I loved it!" -- Gillian McAllister, New York Times bestselling author, on The Kind Worth Saving
"A complex tale of multiple killings over many years involving at least one, and possibly more, murderous psychopaths. The story is told in alternating timelines. . . How those two stories converge, and the shocking sleight-of-hand twist that is, trust me, impossible to predict, are just two of the many balls that Swanson juggles in this entertaining story." -- Sarah Lyall, New York Times Book Review, on The Kind Worth Saving
"The Kind Worth Saving is another superb slice of Neo-noir, a genre in which Peter Swanson is pretty much peerless." -- M. W. Craven, Sunday Times bestselling author
Another Life is a powerful, moving and hopeful story of the life-changing impact of the connections we form, by the international number one bestselling author Kristin Hannah.
Angie DeSaria has spent years of her life trying to have a child. Now, her marriage has crumbled under the strain. Adrift and alone, she returns to her childhood home, a small coastal town in the Pacific Northwest, to help try and rescue the beloved, failing family business.
Lauren Ribido is a senior in high school. She dreams of an Ivy League education, escaping her hometown and her troubled mother.
When Angie hires Lauren to work at the restaurant, they form an immediate bond, which deepens when Lauren’s mother abruptly leaves town and Angie offers her a place to stay. But nothing could have prepared Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of this act of kindness. Together, these two women – one who longs for a child and the other who longs for a mother’s love – will be tested in ways that neither could have imagined.
'A master storyteller' Delia Owens, Author of Where the Crawdads Sing
'Utterly Compelling, Powerful and unforgettable Kristin Hannah is an exquisite storyteller.' Christy Lefteri, Author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo
'Compelling. Moving.' Karen Swan, Author of The Last Summer
Angie DeSaria has spent years of her life trying to have a child. Now, her marriage has crumbled under the strain. Adrift and alone, she returns to her childhood home, a small coastal town in the Pacific Northwest, to help try and rescue the beloved, failing family business.
Lauren Ribido is a senior in high school. She dreams of an Ivy League education, escaping her hometown and her troubled mother.
When Angie hires Lauren to work at the restaurant, they form an immediate bond, which deepens when Lauren’s mother abruptly leaves town and Angie offers her a place to stay. But nothing could have prepared Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of this act of kindness. Together, these two women – one who longs for a child and the other who longs for a mother’s love – will be tested in ways that neither could have imagined.
'A master storyteller' Delia Owens, Author of Where the Crawdads Sing
'Utterly Compelling, Powerful and unforgettable Kristin Hannah is an exquisite storyteller.' Christy Lefteri, Author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo
'Compelling. Moving.' Karen Swan, Author of The Last Summer
'A rich, compelling novel' Kate Morton, Author of The Clockmaker's Daughter
Bird is a woman on the run. One minute, she's in a meeting in her office in Birmingham - the next, she's walking out on her job, her home, her life. It's a day she thought might come, one she's prepared for. But nothing could prepare her for what will happen next.
As Bird tries to work out who exactly is on her trail, she must also decide who - if anyone - she can trust. Is her greatest fear that she will be hunted down, or that she will never be found?
'A page-turning read. Kept me reading well past bedtime!' VAL McDERMID
'Pacey and propulsive.' Guardian
Trang and Quynh: sisters who leave their rural village for the bustling city of Saigon, desperate to find work to help their impoverished parents. When they take jobs as ‘ bar girls’, paid to flirt with American GIs, they must decide whether they are willing to turn their backs on the people they used to be.
Phong: one of the thousands of mixed-race children abandoned by their American fathers and Vietnamese mothers. Phong grows up surrounded by rejection, insulted as a ‘Black American imperialist’, and a ‘child of the enemy’. But he never gives up hope of finding his parents and proving he is more than a ‘bui doi’: more than the ‘dust of life’.
Dan: A former American helicopter pilot still plagued by regrets about his actions during the Vietnam war. Now he has returned in the hope of confronting the demons that refuse to fall silent.
Set between the Vietnam war and the present day, Dust Child is a sweeping epic of family secrets and hidden heartache, from an internationally celebrated author.
'Powerful and deeply empathetic... A heartbreaking tale of lost ideals, human devotion, and hard-won redemption.' Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of The Sympathizer
