At Readings, we don't just love books, we are also big music lovers! And we love a good playlist to listen to while we read. I asked our staff what their 'daylist' titles were throughout the week and picked a book to match each title and its vibe …
'Spiritual African Gospel'
Small Worlds
Caleb Azumah Nelson
The one thing that can solve Stephen's problems is dancing. Dancing with his best friend Adeline, two-stepping around the living room, crooning and grooving, so close their heads might touch. Dancing alone, at home, to his father's records, uncovering parts of a man he has never truly known.
Stephen has only ever known himself in song. But what becomes of him when the music fades? When his father begins to speak of shame and sacrifice, when his home is no longer his own? How will he find space for himself – a place where he can feel beautiful, a place he might feel free?
Set over the course of three summers in Stephen's life, from London to Ghana and back again, Small Worlds is an exhilarating and expansive novel about the worlds we build for ourselves, the worlds we live, dance and love within.
'Alternative indie chin-stroking'
The Topeka School
Ben Lerner
Adam Gordon is a senior at Topeka High School, class of ‘97. His parents are psychologists, his mom a famous author in the field. A renowned debater and orator, an aspiring poet, and – although it requires a lot of posturing and weight lifting – one of the cool kids, he’s also one of the seniors who brings the loner Darren Eberheart into the social scene, with disastrous effects.
Deftly shifting perspectives and time periods, The Topeka School is a riveting story about the challenges of raising a good son in a culture of toxic masculinity. It is also a startling prehistory of the present: the collapse of public speech, the tyranny of trolls and the new right, and the ongoing crisis of identity among white men.
'Clean girl passenger princess'
Rytual
Chloe Elisabeth Wilson
Marnie Sellick is adrift when she lands a job at the coveted, mysterious beauty brand rytuał cosmetica.
The enigmatic founder and CEO, Luna Peters, takes a liking to Marnie, and as the two grow closer Marnie becomes intoxicated by the life that Luna, and rytuał, can offer her.
But all is not what it seems at rytuał. Luna has a cult-like hold over the all-female staff, and that's not to mention what happens at their weekly Friday Night Drinks.
As Marnie edges closer to the darkness at the centre of rytuał's millennial pink facade, cracks begin to show. Luna is hiding something, but will Marnie uncover the truth – and the role Luna has cast her in – before it's too late?
'Eclectic dinner party'
Woo Woo
Ella Baxter
Sabine is having a moment. Her new exhibition, Fuck You, Help Me, is opening soon and, as her gallerist says, 'Hell is an artist three days before their exhibition opens.' But it's not only this coming milestone that is causing Sabine to melt down.
She is being stalked. As exhibition day draws closer, so too does the man who has been watching her. As his approaches become more overt and threatening, Sabine's fear amplifies and transforms into something feral and primal. And then things start to get really strange.
'Pumpkin Spice Delicate'
The Pumpkin Spice Cafe
Laurie Gilmore
I've gone pretty on the nose for this one! But how could you go past such a combo?!
When Jeanie's aunt gifts her the beloved Pumpkin Spice Cafe in the small town of Dream Harbor, Jeanie jumps at the chance for a fresh start away from her very dull desk job.
Logan is a local farmer who avoids Dream Harbor's gossip at all costs. But Jeanie's arrival disrupts Logan's routine and he wants nothing to do with the irritatingly upbeat new girl, except that he finds himself inexplicably drawn to her.
Will Jeanie's happy-go-lucky attitude win over the grumpy-but-gorgeous Logan, or has this city girl found the one person in town who won't fall for her charm, or her pumpkin spice lattes...
'Uplifting inspirational morning'
The Let Them Theory
Mel Robbins and Sawyer Robbins
What if the key to happiness, success, and love was as simple as two words?
If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with where you are, the problem isn't you. The problem is the power you give to other people. Two simple words – Let Them – will set you free. Free from the opinions, drama, and judgments of others. Free from the exhausting cycle of trying to manage everything and everyone around you. The Let Them Theory puts the power to create a life you love back in your hands – and this book will show you exactly how to do it.
In her latest groundbreaking book, The Let Them Theory, Mel Robbins – New York Times bestselling author and one of the world's most respected experts on motivation, confidence, and mindset –teaches you how to stop wasting energy on what you can't control and start focusing on what truly matters: YOU. Your happiness. Your goals. Your life.
'Crunchy Campfire'
Into the Wild
Jon Krakauer
In April 1992, Chris McCandless set off alone into the Alaskan wild. He had given his savings to charity, abandoned his car and his possessions, and burnt the money in his wallet, determined to live a life of independence. Just four months later, Chris was found dead. An SOS note was taped to his makeshift home, an abandoned bus.
In piecing together the final travels of this extraordinary young man's life, Jon Krakauer writes about the heart of the wilderness, its terribly beauty and its relentless harshness. Into the Wild is a modern classic of travel writing, and a riveting exploration of what drives some of us to risk more than we can afford to lose.
'Romcom relationship'
Love on the Air
Ash London
Radio young gun Alex York is used to knowing – and getting – exactly what she wants.
But when she blows up her glamorous career and retreats to a tropical island, for the first time in her life she has no plan, no prospects and, increasingly, no money.
Lured back to the real world by the breakfast radio gig of a lifetime, she promises herself she'll never let anyone throw her off course again – not her patronisingly old-school CEO, her network arch-nemesis or even her unexpectedly attractive new boss …
Laugh-out-loud funny and bursting with heart, Love on the Air is a deliciously escapist rom-com set in the dazzling world of commercial radio and celebrity musicians.
'East Coast Hip Hop New York Rap'
On the Come Up
Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died right before he hit big, Bri’s got massive shoes to fill. But when her mom unexpectedly loses her job and homelessness is staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it – she has to make it.
Angie Thomas is the internationally bestselling and multi-award-winning author of The Hate U Give.
'Glam rock cult classic'
Our Lady of the Flowers
Jean Genet
Our Lady of the Flowers, often considered Genet’s masterpiece, was written in the cell of a French prison where he was being held for theft. Here is the darker side of Montmartre, a world of pimps, thieves, prostitutes, queens and blackmailers, where ‘morality’ in the common sense of the word has no meaning. The story of Divine, a drag-queen prostitute, is interwoven with that of one of his lovers, a young man due to be arrested for murder. A story of sex, crime and death, Our Lady of the Flowers is a powerful and original debut novel, which put Genet into the front rank of French writers.
