Welcome back to Book Break. It is the most exciting time of the month again, it is book
haul time. So the package has just come in, this box is stuffed full with some of the
most exciting books that we have published this month, so I'm so excited to see what's
inside.
OK so the first book on top of the box is a beautiful new MCL. And this is of Bleak
House by Charles Dickens, so I'm really excited, I really want to read more Charles Dickens
now. I recently went to see the David Copperfield movie and absolutely loved it, and then I
made a video which I will link below, on classics that you never knew were so funny, and a lot
of that was about Charles Dickens as a comedy writer. Obviously a lot of his books are very
sad, but he has a really funny way of writing. So I've never actually read Bleak House so
this is perfect timing, I really want to read this one.
And the other MCL that's in this box is The Warden, this is a classic Anthony Trollope.
This one's got an introduction by Margaret Drabble, and the quote on the back is 'what
on earth could be more luxurious than a sofa, a book, and a cup of coffee?' I mean has anything
ever been more relatable?
OK, then we have The Mercies. I have been talking a lot about The Mercies on this channel
so I'm sure you know what this one's about, but basically this is a historical fiction
set on a Norwegian island called Vardo, and it starts Christmas Eve 1617 when there is
this terrible storm that kills all of the men of the village who are currently out fishing.
And so the island becomes this place of women, into which a man arrives and is very suspicious
of the women who are just fending for themselves. So like I said, I've been talking so much
about this one, it's such a fun story, and such a sad story, and it's based on a true
life story that really did happen so it's absolutely fascinating. And these finished
copies are finally here and they are just so beautiful.
And they just coming, this box is just full of my favourites. So this is the paperback
of The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective. This was one of my favourite books that we
published last year, and I did a whole video with Susannah Stapleton, the author, so I
will link that below, do go and watch it, it's very funny, it involves me getting all
dressed up in various detective disguises, and becoming, I think, completely unrecognisable.
So Maud West was basically a golden age detective living in London, and her life is so bizarre,
so in this book Susannah Stapleton basically becomes a detective herself, and delves into
trying to work out the truth of Maud West's life. And some of it is stranger than fiction,
I promise.
OK, next we have a Lucy Diamond, this is An Almost Perfect Holiday, with this very recognisable
scene on the cover of raining down on the beach huts. So this one is about various different
characters going on a seaside holiday, and the holiday not quite going as planned. And
it says here, with friendship, heartache, and secrets in the mix, will this holiday
turn out to be a scorcher, or simply too hot to handle? Lucy Diamond's always a lot of
fun, so perfect time to pick this one up while you're booking your holidays.
OK this one, this is Where's My Happy Ending? So you've probably seen on Instagram, Mother
Pukka and Papa Pukka, who have these great Instagram accounts that are really funny,
talking about the harsh realities of being parents. So in Where's My Happy Ending, they
talk about being parents, they talk about their marriage, basically everything that
comes after the happy ever after, and how life isn't always that perfect. So they confront
these questions in their own life, they also go and interview various people, like a former
sex worker and her ex-gigolo husband, celibate monks and free-loving hippies. And they're
absolutely brilliant, this pair, I love their Instagram accounts, so I'm really excited
to read this one.
OK, this is Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky, so this is the sequel to Children of Time.
This is a sci-fi series, I haven't yet read the first one, but I think the first one is
about humans having to leave Earth to find a new planet where they can live on. So then
this book takes place thousands of years after humans settled on this planet, so it's set
in the same universe as the original but it has gone through the ages so it's a whole
new cast in this one.
This next one, oh I've been absolutely desperate to read this. So this is Amnesty by Aravind
Adiga, and this one is about a man called Danny who is an undocumented migrant living
in Sydney, he's come from Sri Lanka, and he's working as a cleaner, and the book all takes
place over the course of one day, when Danny becomes the sole witness to this murder. And
so basically throughout the day he has to grapple with this question of whether he should
come forward for what he knows, but then he risks being discovered and deported, or whether
he should keep lying low from the authorities, but then not helping bring justice to this
crime. And it's kind of this question of whether he still has responsibilities in this country
where he doesn't even have rights.
Oh the next one is such a sweet one, I haven't actually got my hands on this in person yet,
this is The Book of Tea. So this is all about the importance of the tea ceremony in Japanese
daily life. And it's such a pretty book, look at it. I'm really interested in this one,
and learning a bit more about it, because we are planning something for National Tea
Day, so watch this space for that one.
And another one I've been excited for, this box is just brilliant today. This is Mountain
Road, Late at Night by Alan Rossi, this is another one that I haven't yet read but I'm
so desperate to. So this one sounds like it will be very moving, it's about this couple
who live in this remote cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains with their four year old son.
And one morning the couple are driving home from a party when their car crashes on a deserted
road and they're killed. So the book basically follows the aftermath of this, and all of
the relatives coming to the family home and deciding who's going to take care of the son,
and just kind of dealing with their grief, but also working through their own issues.
And the book spends a few days in the mind of each family member, and I've heard such
good things about this one. And also that the setting is just described amazingly, this
really isolated mountain town. So this is exactly the kind of book that I love.
OK what's this? Oh this is the paperback of It's Not About the Burqa! This is absolutely
brilliant. I read this one when the hardback came out. So this a collection of essays edited
by Mariam Khan, all contributed by different Muslim women, and like it says in the title,
it's not about the burqa, so these essays are Muslim women speaking to themselves about
all sorts of topics, whether it's about their faith, or about their feminism, their sexuality,
about love, it's a really diverse collection of essays that all speak out against the stereotypes
that we hear most often of Muslim women. I absolutely loved this one.
Oh it's a big one here, oh this is The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood, I've been hearing a lot
about this one. This is the first in a new fantasy duology, and what I remember about
it is it's about a teenage girl who was raised in this magical death cult, so it sounds really
dark. Yeah so she's basically always known on her 14th birthday she will become a sacrifice
to the gods. Before her birthday, she is offered a different fate, by this powerful wizard
who asks her to come and work for him and become an assassin. But it says at the end
here, 'but if you live long enough, all debts become due'. So this one sounds really dark
and scary, I think fantasy lovers will love this.
Then we have an Ann Cleeves, this is the paperback of The Long Call, so Ann Cleeves is the author
of the Vera series and the Shetland series, and this is the first novel in a new series
about Detective Matthew Venn. So this has all the ingredients of a great Ann Cleeves
book. Detective Matthew Venn grew up in this really strict, evangelical community that
he left behind, but now a murder case is drawing him back in to discover the deadly secrets
that lurk there. And the murder case in this one starts with a man found dead on the beach
with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck. So that is very mysterious. And then while
we're talking crime novels, this is a crime novel from the other side of the pond, Blood
in the Water by Jack Flynn. This one is set in Boston I believe, yep, in the gritty world
of Boston mob bosses, con artists, and gangs. And our main character here is a Homeland
security agent. So this is a thriller about terrorism threats, it's really international.
Also follows this agent tracking down her nemesis, who is one of the world's most ruthless
and dangerous criminals, who killed her husband and young son. So a lot going on in this one,
this is action packed.
Oh and talking of action, here's a book I loved, A Window Breaks by CM Ewan. This one's
absolutely terrifying. It all takes place over the course of one night, and it starts
with somebody waking up in the middle of the night and realising that someone has broken
into their home. So this is the stuff that nightmares are made of, but it's a really
fun, fast paced story of this man trying to defend his wife and daughter from intruders.
And of course we uncover this whole mysterious backstory of who these intruders are and how
they're linked to the family. It's a really exciitng one.
Here's a book that I just featured in a Book Break video, so this is A Place for Everything
by Judith Flanders, I just talked about this one in our weird and wonderful nonfiction
video which I will link to below. So this is about the curious history of alphabetical
order, which is such a cool idea for a book, because the alphabet is something that we
use like every day but never really think about, but actually for a long time alphabetical
order was not the way things were organised. And now it's kind of hit its peak and is declining,
because now in the age of google and the internet, we no longer need to use alphabetical order
in the same way to store our knowledge. So it's actually like a really interesting history
of something that I never have thought about before.
And then finally the last book in here is a lovely one, this is Kika & Me, How One Extraordinary
Guide Dog changed my world. So Amit Patel is a doctor who got this really rare condition,
which caused him to lose his sight literally within 36 hours, it must have been absolutely
terrifying. So this book is the story of him getting his guide dog Kika, and their journey
to learning to understand each other. And a video of them actually went viral of somebody
on the underground really rudely asking Amit Patel to get out of the way. So after that
video went viral and people were really shocked by it, this book is Amit's way of spreading
positivity by telling his story.
So that was one of the best book hauls yet, I've loved so many of those books and I'm
really excited to read some of the others. So do leave a comment letting me know which
of these you're most excited about, or also just what you've hauled this month, I would
love to know. And of course, give this video a thumbs up if you liked it and hit that subscribe
button below for new videos every week. See you next time.