I am here to tell you the perfect book you need to read next. So this Book Break video,
we are following up from a video we did a few weeks ago, where we asked you for your
super specific book requests, and we got so many comments. So I have spent the last few
weeks trying to track down the perfect book for everyone who wrote in, that meets their
requirements. And we got so many comments, so I'm not going to be able to go through
everyone's today, but I will do as many as I can, I'm going to do about 20.
So Dane Reads asked for a book about a French woman and an English man. So I hope this one
isn't too cliche, but Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks is kind of the ultimate French woman
English man story. So this is the story of a British soldier in WW1 called Stephen, who
falls in love with a married French woman, and they have an affair. And then throughout
the book, we check in on them at various times throughout their life. And there's also a
timeline in the 70s where we're following Stephen's granddaughter Elizabeth, who is
reading his journals and finding out more about his life.
So it's a really lovely moving story that hopefully you haven't already read, because
it fits your requirements really well.
Sick of Reading asked for a poetry collection that retells myths or fairytales, so for that
one I'm going to recommend Kate Tempest's Hold Your Own. So this is a poetry collection
about Tiresius, who is this blind prophet from Greek mythology, but Kate Tempest makes
this story feel really contemporary and relevant, it's really clever. And Kate Tempest is great
at this stuff, she also wrote Brand New Ancients, which is a dramatic poem, that braids together
various Greek myths. So yeah, if you love poetry that retells mythology, go down a Kate
Tempest rabbit hole.
Alex Reed asked for a literary dystopian novel, preferably with zombies or plagues. And so
the second I heard that I knew exactly what I was going to recommend to you, this is Severance
by Ling Ma. So this is a really unique literary zombie novel, which I absolutely loved even
though I don't usually read zombie books. So this is told flashing between two different
timelines, the first half is kind of before and during the start of this apocalypse, when
this plague is spreading that turns people into zombies, but it's a really different
way of portraying these zombies that's really creepy and I loved it. And then we also flash
forward to after the apocalypse, when our main character is one of the few survivors
and they're trying to make their way to safety. So it's a really bizarre book but I loved
it and hopefully you will do. But then I also got a comment from Dominique Duguay, who also
wanted an apocalyptic novel, but she said she'd already read and enjoyed Severance and
Station Eleven, and this time she wanted a book set during the apocalypse, not after.
So, it's a classic, but have you read War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells? This one is an
alien invasion novel that has inspired several film remakes, but I think it's always more
fun reading the original. So I'm going to recommend that one.
Wendy Luvs Books wanted a mystery by a British author set between multiple timelines, so
this was another no-brainer for me, I'm going to recommend The Clockmaker's Daughter by
Kate Morton. There are loads of timelines in here, lots of different generations of
people who lived at this incredible manor house, all the way back to the 1860s when
a group of artists lived there for a summer and a woman was shot. And there are so many
interweaving mysteries, it is brilliant, and so much fun trying to work out how they're
all going to fit together, so many puzzle pieces.
Nikolettapr wanted a book set in present day Newcastle. So I've got two options for you
there. Firstly, a lot of Ann Cleeves's books are set in Newcastle where she lives, so for
instance The Seagull is set in Whitley Bay, which is a place I have such fond memories
of from when I was at uni in Newcastle. And this one is about a detective investigating
corruption in the community, and at the centre is this once grand but now derelict nightclub
called The Seagull. Or, if you want something set more in the city centre, Mari Hannah sets
a lot of her books in Newcastle, so The Scandal for example is a murder mystery set in the
run up to Christmas.
And then moving around the country a bit more, boojingleful wanted a book that celebrates
the Midlands, so I'm going to recommend here The Rotters' Club by Jonathan Coe. So this
is set in 1970s Birmingham, about a group of school kids who become the editors of their
school magazine. So it's a comedy, but it's also about political upheaval, it's about
punk rock, and it's about the experience a teenager in the 70s. And, it also has within
this book the record for the longest sentence in English literature.
Now Theadora asked for a book where the central couple are in a committed relationship and
stay that way throughout the book. And this was so hard to find. I actually had to go
to Twitter and ask for recommendations there. But so many of the replies were just other
people saying 'Why is this so hard?! Why can't we think of any?'. Apparently just nobody
wants to write about happy couples. But we did find one.
No True Believers by Rabiah York Lambard isn't actually about the couple, the story is actually
about a Muslim American teenager called Salma who is framed for a crime that she didn't
commit. So it sounds amazing and I'm definitely going to read this book after this recommendation,
but Salma has a boyfriend called Amir who is one of the only people who believes her
and sticks with her through this. So their relationship is kind of portrayed as this
really strong foundation throughout the book.
Now I got loads of requests for twisty thrillers that haven't already been really hyped up.
So, I'm going to recommend The Neighbour by Fiona Cummins. So this one is set in an Essex
suburb where a serial killer is on the loose, and we go round in turn, meeting the different
neighbours, and the secrets they're all holding, and they're all really suspicious for different
reasons, so you find you just don't know who to trust. I absolutely loved this one, one
of my favourite thrillers, because I just didn't know what was going to happen next.
Javeria Shafiq asked for a book with the enemies to lovers trope, so I thought a great one
for this would be Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, because Tomi Adeyemi has
said that she herself loves the enemies to lovers trope, but because it often can be
so predictable, she wanted in this book to go really deep with making them proper enemies.
So this is a really fun spin on that trope from an author who loves it as much as you
do.
Melanie Peters asked for historical fiction based on a real woman, something along the
lines of Burial Rites and Alias Grace. So, are people bored of me mentioning The Mercies
yet? I just think it fits this so well! Because this is based on a bunch of real women who
were accused of witchcraft in the 17th century, on this remote Norwegian island. So it's really
reminiscent of Burial Rites, I think you'll love it.
Now I had quite a few requests from moon book, so I'm going to go through a few of those.
Firstly, she wanted a book about the importance of reading, and I love books like that as
well. The Girl Who Reads on the Metro by Christine Feret-Fleury is this really quirky French
novel about a young woman who is hired by a mysterious bookseller, and her job is to
give people the perfect book that they need at the exact right time of their life. So
kind of what I'm trying to do right now. So it's a book all about the importance and power
of books and reading.
Moon book also asked for a book where there is a non-romantic friendship between characters
of different gender identities, and again, this is another one that was so hard to find.
It's a bit ridiculous how hard that was to find. But from browsing online, one book that
came up quite a lot in the recommendations was the Lunar chronicles. Apparently the friendship
between Cinder and Thorne is really nice to read about. I haven't read that but I have
read Love is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann, and this has a really nice friendship in it
between the main character Phoebe and a boy called Alex who she meets through her work.
It's not like the central friendship of the book but it was a really lovely one to read
about. So there you go, that's two options.
And one more from moon book, she also wanted a book to help you learn history in a fun
way. So for that I'm going to recommend 1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke,
which is this really funny nonfiction book about French history but all told through
the perspective of the constant Anglo-French rivalry, so it's really funny and jokey and
quite rude sometimes, but a fun way to learn French history all the way back to 1066.
Sissireads wanted a historical fiction book set in Russia or Soviet Union era, so I'm
going to recommend The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes. This is a novel about the Russian
composer Dmitri Shostakovich, just after his latest opera has been denounced by Stalin
and he now fears that he will be exiled or even worse executed. I haven't read this one,
but the reviews are absolutely amazing and Julian Barnes is great so this sounds like
just what you need.
Now mopplemopple set me a real challenge. She said she basically wanted relic hunter
in a book, with a female lead who's also a really awesome professor. So, I think the
closest comparison I could find to relic hunter is the Vesper Holly series by Lloyd Alexander.
Vesper Holly is basically the female Indiana Jones, and these books were written in the
80s and I think they have all the ingredients you were looking for. Or, an alternative recommendation,
which isn't as close a comparison but this is one that I've read so I can give you a
more direct recommendation, is the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman. So this
is about a magical librarian called Irene, and what she's hunting is books. But it's
books that only exist in parallel universes. And along the way she comes along dragons
and fae and she goes to all these parallel universes and different time periods and different
countries, so it's a bit different but really fun in a lot of the same ways.
And I think we have time for just one more. head in the pages asked for a book with a
loveable character, a heartwarming easy read, but with no romance. So I'm going to recommend
Maggsie McNaughton's Second Chance by Frances Maynard. So this is about an ex-con called
Maggsie McNaughton, trying to turn her life around. So it's about the friends that she
makes along the way, including one who teaches her how to read, it's about her starting her
new job, and all of the mistakes that she makes as she goes. So she's this really loveable
but imperfect main character, who you're really rooting for every step of the way.
If you want more reading recommendations from Book Break, do click the playlist here, we've
got tons of them. And leave me a comment if you want me to scout out some super specific
book requests for you too.
See you next time.